David Fizdale on Getting Knicks Players to Sleep: ”Fortnite’ Is Tougher Than the Celtics’

When David Fizdale officially accepted the position to become the next head coach of the New York Knicks, he knew what he was getting himself into. Well, for the most part. Fizdale understood that he was expected to turn around a rebuilding Knicks organization that hasn’t made a playoff appearance since the 2012-13 season. What Fiz may not have been fully prepared to encounter was stressing the importance of getting a good night’s sleep to his players. 

The current Knicks roster isn’t doing him any favors either. With a good amount of young players on the team, Fizdale has discovered that the game Fortnite may be a more formidable foe than most teams in the league. “‘Fortnite,’ that’s my competitor right now,” he told The Athletic. “‘Fortnite’ is tougher than the Boston Celtics.” 

“‘Fortnite’ is undefeated,” Fizdale conceded. Even though Fiz runs the risk of coming across as the old man in the room trying to control his players’ lives, he wants to make it clear that he has their best interest at heart. “It’s everything,” he said. “We actually do a lot of education about sleep with our guys because everything is happening in your sleep—the healing of your brain, the healing of your body, the growth of muscle. That rest affects reaction time, decision-making, all of those things. We really stress it to the guys. We try to teach them the things that will affect their sleep and hurt their sleep.”