David Fizdale acknowledges the Knicks should hear perspectives besides his, and has already brought in Walt Frazier, Patrick Ewing, Chris Bosh and Rasheed Wallace to speak with the team.
On Tuesday, the legends tour received arguably its most impressive guest yet, with former U.S. senator and Knicks All-Star Bill Bradley speaking to the team for roughly 25 minutes.
“It was unbelievable. Selfishly I wanted him just because I’m a fan of his and I’m in awe of the man,” Fizdale said. “I think the guys heard him. I know for all of us that work here it was a real treat and his message was great.”
Fizdale said Bradley stressed multiple points, including Knicks tradition, voting, community service and players saving their money.
“The guys were sitting on the edge of their seat, listening,” Fizdale said. “I don’t know if it was because it was a Knick, or a senator in the room, but they were like, ‘Whoa, this is heavy.’
“It don’t get better than that. Bill Bradley … what a life … to be so selfless throughout his whole life, as a player, as a senator, as a guy that served in the military. One of our core values is service, and who better exemplifies that than Bill Bradley.”
Rookie Kevin Knox knew little of Bradley’s remarkable life, but was impressed before the introduction.
“His name’s up in the rafters. Every time you come across one of those people, you gotta listen,” Knox said. “My eyes were locked in the whole time on him, making sure I was just locking in everything he was telling me and just taking it in. He’s a great person, a senator, he worked in the military, a two-time champion, so he knows what he’s talking about. I’m young and I want to be where he is one day, so that’s something I really look forward to.”
Courtney Lee’s (neck) season-debut is too far away to pinpoint. Even his next practice remains a mystery.
“It’s at a crawl right now,” Fizdale said. “We’re just waiting to see how he reacts to everything … but it’s frustrating for him. The one thing I give him credit for, he comes in here every day and he’s got a positive energy. He’s grabbing the young guys, helping them, teaching them on the film. He’s at every film session. He doesn’t miss a minute of practice. So I know it’s just really frustrating for him. But at the same time we’re all just trying to keep him encouraged.”
Damyean Dotson didn’t see one second of action in the first two games of the season. Since then, the second-year guard — who has started the past two games — is averaging 13.2 points and 6.4 rebounds.
“I didn’t give him anything. He took it. He really earned his way,” Fizdale said. “Again, I couldn’t more proud of any kid on this team than Dot because he really was down on his summer league. He really thought he had a bad summer league.
“But he came back here for that six or seven weeks and he really locked in to getting better. When I wasn’t playing him, he was making it hard on me not to play him. It was just a matter of time before he broke though.”