Knicks fire head coach Derek Fisher

The New York Knicks fired coach Derek Fisher on Monday after a 23-31 start to his second season.

Knicks team president Phil Jackson also named associate head coach Kurt Rambis as the interim head coach.

New York lost to the Denver Nuggets 101-96 on Sunday at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks' season-high fifth straight loss and their ninth in the last 10 games.

The current losing skid contributed to the timing of the move, but the team was already convinced Fisher, 41, was not transitioning from the role of player to coach effectively, sources told ESPN.

The Knicks went 17-65 in Fisher's first season after he was hired by Jackson to turn around the struggling franchise, which hasn't won a title since the 1972-73 season.

When Jackson coached the Los Angeles Lakers, Fisher was a five-time NBA champion as a point guard.

Fisher, who was originally hired on June 10, 2014, finishes his Knicks coaching career with an overall record of 40-96 (.294).

Rambis, 57, becomes the 27th head coach in franchise history. Originally hired as the team's associate head coach on July 7, 2014, the 18-year NBA coaching veteran starts his second-stint as a head coach, after leading the Minnesota Timberwolves for two seasons from 2009-10 through 2010-11 (56-145). He was a member of eight NBA championship teams, all as a member of the Lakers (four as a player and four as a coach or executive).

Two other former Jackson players, Brian Shaw and Luke Walton, are candidates to the full-time job, sources told ESPN. Shaw coached parts of two seasons in Denver, while Walton led the defending champion Golden State Warriors to a record start this season, filling in for head coach Steve Kerr, who was dealing with complications from back surgeries.