With the Miami Heat in full offseason mode now, things will start to take shape for next year sooner than later. The NBA Draft is set for later in June, players will need to be re-signed or renegotiated in cases like P.J. Tucker, potentially, while the now-infamous NBA Moratorium Period begins on July 1st.
The Miami Heat won’t certainly be players in all three parts of that equation, but they can and should be. While that has everything to do with the players and their movement, there are other transactions that are currently taking place.
With the new Los Angeles Lakers head coach, Darvin Ham, in tow, things are starting to move and shake over there along the sidelines. Here is the report in question.
Reporting with @wojespn: New Lakers coach Darvin Ham has started to shape his coaching staff by informing assistants David Fizdale, Mike Penberthy and John Lucas III they will not be retained.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) June 7, 2022
While this is just any other run-of-the-mill report on most occasions, there is a name in the above reporting that should stick out. Former Miami Heat associate head coach, David Fizdale, is among the coaches being let go by Ham as he assumes his duties as the leader for the purple and gold portion of Tinseltown pro hoops.
The Miami Heat breed winning, bring out the best in players, and in their leadership. So, after being let go by LA, David Fizdale won’t be out long.
Only surviving one year in LA, Fizdale’s last coaching gig was as the head coach for the New York Knicks back in 2019-20, where he only lasted 22 games into his last season. He was there for parts of two years, with a record of 21-83 across 104 games.
Before landing the New York Head gig, he was the head man over in Memphis. He lasted parts of two years there as well, leaving with a record of 7-12 across 19 games in his last year, with a total record of 50-51 across his 101 game tenure.
In the eight years before that, he served as a key assistant for Coach Spoelstra and the Miami Heat, making him a huge part of two title teams. He was the “associate head coach” of the Miami Heat in those last two years, from 2014 to 2016.
Prior to joining the Miami Heat, he served four years as an assistant coach in Atlanta, after one lone season as an assistant for Golden State in 2003-04. With all this in mind though, could there be a spot for him back on the Miami Heat’s bench?
You have to think that there might be. For a guy that has the respect of the players the way that he does, with head coaching experience, and has been a figure in title runs for the Miami Heat, it wouldn’t be a shocker to see him back.
You hope he lands on his feet with a new job sooner than later if those are even his future intentions. He’s a coach though, so you have to assume those are still his ambitions.
Bring him home. The Miami Heat could certainly use another bright mind along the sidelines, now, “take that for data”!