It’s been a minute since we heard from Derek Fisher. He was fired by the Knicks a month ago. He quickly ghosted.
But Fish broke his silence today with what was billed as a candid open letter. In the letter, published at The Cauldron, Mr. 0.4 addressed what happened with Matt Barnes—sort of.
Here’s a key part of Fisher’s comments:
As far as Matt goes, to say that we had history before the incident would be an exaggeration. We played together for the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2010–11 season, and a couple months in the lockout-shortened 2011–12 season. That’s it. That’s the history.
During that time, we were teammates, and never had any issues. We never had any real relationship off the court, either. Our kids didn’t hang out, our families didn’t interact. There were no birthday parties. There were no post-game dinners. We weren’t friends and we had no mutual friends.
When Gloria and I started dating, she and Matt had already been separated and living apart for more than a year. Same thing for me. My wife and I were long separated; she was in L.A., I was in New York. Matt and Gloria were not trying to work things out, and I certainly wasn’t seeing her behind Matt’s back or in secret. The relationship wasn’t something I was trying to publicize, but it also wasn’t something I was trying to hide, either. There was no reason to.
I don’t know what was going through Matt’s mind that day in October when he showed up unannounced at Gloria’s house, and started swinging. I didn’t retaliate. No one who was there did anything but try to get him to calm down, particularly because Matt and Gloria’s children were present. There was no fight.
That’s it. There’s nothing more to what happened than that.
At the time, I had no intention of saying anything about what happened, and I definitely didn’t wish for the incident to become public knowledge. As far as I was concerned, it was something I was willing to let pass, and as an NBA head coach, I was more than aware that actions off the court might reflect upon many others beyond just me.
Then suddenly, the story of a “fight” leaked to the media. I’ll let you speculate on who leaked it and why, and the nature of their character. My reputation speaks for itself.
Fisher also talks about why the powers-that-be at MSG let him go and his integrity and character. Quite the 180 from the often solemn and guarded coach that became so popular for not ever saying anything to the media.
Courtesy of The Cauldron
