SAN ANTONIO -- Somewhere in New York on Thursday, a group of basketball fans will probably be talking about Derek Fisher's performance in the wake of the Knicks' historically bad start.

Interestingly enough, conversations about the rookie coach have also been taking place inside the Knicks' locker room.

"That's one of the things we talk about as a team,” Samuel Dalembert said before a recent Knicks home game. "We think of the situation. We're like, 'Hey, put yourself in his shoes. He's trying to figure out what's going on, what's going to work.'”

Fisher's Knicks are 16 games under .500 entering play Thursday, so not much has worked well for the rookie head coach thus far. New York has lost 10 games in a row and 19 of its past 21. At 4-20, the Knicks have their worst record through 24 games in franchise history.

Fisher said last week that he's not "concerned" about New York's record because the team has been competitive in most games. "Concerned" is a "defeated word," according to Fisher.

Fair enough.

The defeats are piling up, though. At what point should Fisher become concerned? At what point should Knicks fans become concerned about the rookie head coach?

"I think he's better off at this point than Jason Kidd was last year because he's been very prepared," a veteran Eastern Conference scout said. "But you have to wonder about the triangle. Not many coaches have had success with it."

This is true. Disciples of Phil Jackson have generally struggled as head coaches.

Kurt Rambis, Jim Cleamons, Bill Cartwright and Brian Shaw, now the Nuggets head coach, are a combined 180-373 through Tuesday's games.

Still, it's unfair to view Fisher's struggles through this prism. The Knicks coach is dealing with a different roster -- and a different set of challenges -- than the men mentioned above.

"He's a rookie. It's like having [a rookie] on the team,” said Dalembert, an advocate of Fisher's. ”He's learning the coaching part. ... He's finding himself.”

For Fisher, the process of self-discovery has included significant growing pains and a few gaffes thus far. Fisher's defensive strategy -- defend the paint and focus on transition defense at the expense of flying out on the perimeter -- has backfired at times. The Knicks ranked 26th in opponent 3-point field goal percentage and tied for 25th in opponent 3-point field goals allowed per game entering play Wednesday.

Fisher also hasn't gotten much production from his shooting guards, a position that was viewed as a strength for the Knicks coming into the season. Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr. were shooting a combined 40.7 percent from the field, including 33 percent from beyond the arc, entering Wednesday’s games.

Lastly, the lineups have been inconsistent. The Knicks have played 12 different starting lineups in their first 24 games. To be fair, Fisher is juggling injuries and searching for effective five-man units.

Still, he said in training camp that his preference was to find one starting lineup and stick with it. That hasn't happened.

All of this isn't a total indictment of Fisher, of course. When a team has the third-worst record in the NBA, there is plenty of blame to go around.

One thing Fisher has in his favor? The full support of president Phil Jackson.

"He's got a resilient attitude about what he's doing, and he's determined," Jackson said earlier this week. "I think he'll make it work."

Fisher has gone to great lengths to keep things positive in the Knicks' locker room. That challenge has become more difficult as the losses have piled up. Exhibit A is the tiff between Carmelo Anthony and Tim Hardaway Jr. -- and the subsequent players-only meeting to clear the air.

“Sometimes that happens in team sports,” Anthony said.

With finger pointing, on-court fighting and negativity seeping into the locker room, it will be interesting to see if Fisher can keep the team together.

Jackson said Monday he's noticed a “loser’s mentality” permeating the locker room. He's got a point.

The Knicks will wake up Thursday morning with their longest losing streak in eight years. They'll also have the most losses in the NBA.

There are myriad reasons behind their struggles: poor shooting, bad perimeter defense, too many fouls, untimely injuries. All have played a role. But so has the coach.

Question: What have you thought of Derek Fisher's performance thus far? How much of the Knicks’ slow start is his responsibility?