As long as Sparks general manager Penny Toler doesn’t force him to run the triangle, this should work.
Derek Fisher, still beloved in Los Angeles as a Lakers’ point guard who helped the team to five championships, has been named the head coach of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.
“I am thrilled to name Derek Fisher our next head coach,” Sparks Executive Vice President and General Manager Penny Toler said in a statement. “Derek is a champion and proven leader on and off the court. With his wealth of experience as a former player and head coach, I can’t think of a better steward for our basketball team moving forward.”
“I’m excited to be the new head coach of the LA Sparks,” Fisher said. “There is no finer organization in the WNBA and I can’t wait to work with our ownership group, front office, talented players and staff to cement a culture of sustained excellence, which is what LA basketball fans demand – and deserve.”
It’s a hire the Los Angeles fan base will eat up, it was a great move on the PR front.
Now Fisher needs to show it was a smart one on the basketball front.
Fisher does have coaching experience, Phil Jackson hired him to be a leader of men and coach the New York Knicks despite Fisher having no coaching experience. It did not go well. Jackson wanted a prophet to teach and preach his beloved triangle offense, while Fisher wanted to run a more modern style of game. All while Fisher was learning on the job about coaching in the NBA, trying to guide a team not exactly deep with elite NBA talent (to put it kindly). Fisher also had off the court scandals, including a dating player Matt Barnes’ estranged wife, which led to a physical confrontation, and a DUI. Both cost Fisher credibility in the New York locker room.
After going 40-96, Fisher was fired midway through his second season.
With the Sparks, Fisher will have talent on the roster, starting with two-time MVP Candace Parker. This team last won a title in 2016, and last season was 19-15, eventually falling to Washington in the second round of the playoffs.
Fisher knows the game and is respected, he earned that as a player and president of the players’ union. While he struggled to coach in New York that was about more than just him, that was an impossible situation. Fisher is also smart, he learned from that situation and the Sparks will benefit from that.
