The Return of D-Fish?

In case you missed it, Derek Fisher was fired Monday after compiling a 40-96 record as the head coach of the New York Knicks over the last two seasons.

"It's time for us to make a change, turn this team around and move forward and get some wins and keep going down the road we started here at the beginning of the year," stated Phil Jackson, New York's general manager. Jackson was Fisher's longtime coach and friend.

Given how badly Fisher did in his first stint at the helm of an NBA team, it's unlikely anyone will give him another head coaching gig- at least not right now.

So why not come back to OKC?

Hear me out. Fisher was a pretty good three-point shooter and scrappy defender during his Thunder tenure. He hit some big shots in the Thunder's run to the 2012 NBA Finals, and was that really that long ago?

Some might groan if Fisher returns to the NBA after retiring, a la Brett Favre. But the Thunder sure could use some "leadership" and "intangibles" right now. Maybe that would improve their defense.

I'm mostly kidding, I think. But can he really be that much worse than Kyle Singler, he of the 6.28 PER?

(According to Pro Basketball Reference, D-Fish has never had a PER lower than 7.7 in any season.)

Even if Fisher isn't willing to return to the Thunder bench as a coach, maybe he'd be willing to sit on the bench as an assistant coach.

Sam Presti and the Thunder organization have made it clear that they love Fisher, and Fisher seems to reciprocate that love, so there would be mutual interest.

Additionally, both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook appear to have a great relationship with Fisher. Just as it was speculated that Fisher might be a reason KD or Russ would consider signing with the Knicks when he was the coach, maybe the same could be said about getting them to stay with OKC.

And I'm sure the highly touted championship experience and intangibles would be just as valuable from a coaching standpoint.

Or maybe we can get the best of both worlds and he could be a player-coach? We haven't seen that since the days of Bill Russell, but Fisher does have 5 rings, which is basically like 11 in the pre-merger era.

Who knows if any of this is possible or will even happen. I just want to be able to justify my Thunder Derek Fisher jersey shirt again.

^Besides, who doesn't want to see that post-three pointer swag in Thunder Blue again? The only thing better would be Caron Butler and his phone, but that's a blog post for another day.