Derek Fisher has yet to coach a game for the New York Knicks, but expectations are already starting to mount in the city that never sleeps.

At a NBA Cares event on Monday afternoon in Staten Island, Coach Fish heard all about those expectations from the leader of NYC, mayor Bill de Blasio, who made a light-hearted plea for the new Knicks head coach to bring the Larry O’Brien Trophy back to New York.

As he gets set to begin his first season as coach of the Knicks, Derek is acutely aware of the challenge ahead of him and the expectations that come with being part of a New York-based franchise. But he noted that outside pressure—from the mayor or anybody else in the Big Apple—isn’t something that will get to him. Instead, he’ll focus on putting the best possible basketball team on the court at Madison Square Garden and try to give New York a team to be proud of.

“Pressure is an internal thing. I’m rarely good at controlling what others think of what I’m doing or what the team is doing,” Derek said. “So we just have to always focus on the things we can control, and that’s playing good basketball and trying to represent the city the way it deserves to be represented. That’s what we’re going to do every day.”

Derek, de Blasio and NBA commissioner Adam Silver were among those on hand for the league event, which unveiled a refurbished playground in the Midland Beach, Staten Island neighborhood that was severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

In his remarks at the ceremony, de Blasio noted that in a recent discussion with Coach Fisher, he reminded the New Knicks coach how long it’s been since the NBA champion last resided at Madison Square Garden in 1973, and how passionate New York fans are about reclaiming their position at the top of the sport.

“As a New Yorker, I want to say that we love the Knicks,” de Blasio said at the event. “I said before: ‘Derek, there’s no pressure on you at all. Because people really, really, really, really want a championship again. But no pressure. I know enough about your career to know you’re a specialist in last-minute pressure situations, so I think you’re going to blend in fine.’”

But as de Blasio mentioned, Derek is known for his performance under duress and his response to the mayor’s request showed that Fish will be taking that signature aplomb with him to the coach’s chair.

D-Fish also spoke at the event about what his expectations are as he prepares for his first season as a head coach.

“It’s different,” he said. “I won’t be out there on the court playing, but a lot of the things that factor into the NBA season still have to be managed. So now just being in a position to make a lot of the decisions that go into managing the season properly, that’s different, but I’m enjoying it and just trying to do the best job I can to put our players in the best position to be successful.”

The Knicks will open training camp next Tuesday, September 30th in West Point, N.Y., and Fish commented on his mentality ahead of the beginning stages of the season.

“Just working,” Derek said. “Just getting in the office every day and getting better. I think regardless of what position you hold — player, coach, CEO, whatever — every day

[is] trying to find a way to improve the situation if you can, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do each and every day.”

As excited as Fish is to get the ball rolling on his first coaching campaign, the rest of the Knicks organization is optimistic as well. Guard Tim Hardaway Jr., who briefly played under Derek during the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, commented on how the retooled Knicks are feeling going into the 2014-15 season.

“We can’t wait for next week to come,” Hardaway Jr. said later Monday at a Garden of Dreams event in Harlem. “Everybody’s very serious and taking everything to heart…. It’s great to have (Fisher) as the coach, everybody respects him. It’s great to have him there and a great mentor like Phil Jackson.”

New York will kick off its preseason October 8th with an exhibition against the Boston Celtics in Hartford, Connecticut.

RELATED ARTICLES

• De Blasio ribs Fisher: ‘No Pressure at All’ (ESPN NY, Sept. 23, 2014)
• Knicks and Fisher ready to start training camp (NY Daily News, Sept. 22, 2014)
• Fisher will rely on championship experience as Knicks coach (NY Post, Sept. 22, 2014)
• De Blasio to Fisher: ‘People really, really, really want a championship (NY Observer, Sept. 22, 2014)
• De Blasio pressures Fisher: NY desperate for Knicks title (NY Post, Sept. 22, 2014)