It's way too early for David Fizdale to be getting the ax as Knicks head coach, so why not bring one into the locker room?
That's right: Fizdale imported a literal ax for his players to autograph as part of a bizarre (yet original) motivational tool.
"I promise I'm not going to kill anybody,'' Fizdale said reassuringly on Thursday, per the New York Post. "That's why I keep the rubber tip, in case someone wants to come after me over playing time.''
With the way things are going, playing time isn't the only thing that should be frustrating the Knicks. The team dropped to 4-11 after Wednesday's 128-103 loss to the Thunder, their third straight blowout defeat.
Here's what Fizdale is getting at:
"My thing to these guys is what we're trying to do, we're trying to chop down a big tree," he explained, per Newsday. "If you're paying attention to if the tree is falling, you're never going to get that tree down. We signed a covenant as a group, every guy. I said, 'Hey, let's make a commitment that no matter what happens that we stick together and we keep chopping this tree together.'
"So the ax is just a symbol of us chopping this tree. Every day putting in the work with the right attitude. The right respect for what we're trying to accomplish. And not let things linger but keeping our eyes on the task of getting better."
Fizdale said the ax idea came from a quote that was shared by one of the team's trainers.
"When you're a coach trying to motivate this group, I already had this thing about chopping a tree,'' Fizdale said (New York Post). "We had a quote, 'If you give me six hours to chop a tree, I'm going to spend four of those hours sharpening my ax.' I thought, 'That's a good idea. Let me get an ax.' Coaches come up with stuff. Hopefully some of it clicks. As you can see we're pretty together and connected.''
A picture of the ax hasn't hit the internet quite yet, but there will be plenty of time for that: The ax will stick around with the team for the rest of the season.
