Jazz Hire David Fizdale As Associate General Manager
Jun 28, 2022, 1:28 PM | Updated: Jul 22, 2022, 2:37 pm
Head coach David Fizdale of the New York Knicks works the sidelines against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center on January 01, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz have hired former NBA head coach David Fizdale as associate general manager.
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The Jazz announced the move on Wednesday, shortly after announcing that they’d hired Will Hardy to be their next head coach.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski originally broke the news that the Jazz planned to hire Fizdale.
“The Jazz are making a hire to the front office too: David Fizdale has agreed to become an associate GM, sources tell ESPN,” Wojnarowski reported. “After 18 seasons as an NBA head and assistant coach, Fizdale will move into management and work closely with GM Justin Zanik and CEO Danny Ainge with Jazz.”
We have hired David Fizdale as associate general manager 🖋https://t.co/3QiD8048yU pic.twitter.com/6TSqNsovkQ
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) June 29, 2022
Fizdale previously served as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies and New York Knicks.
Last season, he was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Fizdale has coached in college and the NBA since 1998. He began his career as an assistant coach with San Diego from 1998-02 before joining the Fresno State coaching staff from 2002-04. The Los Angeles, California native made the jump to the NBA in 2003 as an assistant for the Golden State Warriors until 2004.
After a brief stint with the Warriors, Fizdale joined the Atlanta Hawks coaching staff from 2004-08. His longest stint with any organization was with the Miami Heat from 2008-16, where he won two NBA titles in 2012 and 2013 when the Heat had LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
LeBron James and Jayson Tatum both took to Twitter to applaud the @utahjazz for hiring Will Hardy and David Fizdale. #takenote https://t.co/hA8zj6sQuq
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) June 28, 2022
As one of the top NBA assistants at the time, Fizdale got his shot as a head coach when he was at the helm for the Memphis Grizzlies from 2016-17. After taking one season off, Fizdale was named the head coach of the New York Knicks from 2018-19. He then took two seasons off before joining Frank Vogel’s staff with the Los Angeles Lakers this past season.
When Darvin Ham was named the head coach of the Lakers, Fizdale was not retained.
In four seasons as head coach, Fizdale coached 205 games and had a record of 71-134. His first season with the Grizzlies, they finished with a 43-39 record and lost in the first round of the NBA playoffs. After 19 games into the 2017-18 season, Fizdale was fired following a 7-12 start.
In New York, Fizdale and the Knicks had a 17-65 record in his first season in 2018-19. Just 22 games into the 2019-20 season and a 4-18 start, the Knicks fired Fizdale.
