CHICAGO — Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo, who worked alongside David Fizdale in Miami for eight-plus years, said he believes the Knicks need to let Fizdale be Fizdale.

After working under Miami president Pat Riley for 22 years, McAdoo is as old-school as it gets. The former Knicks All-Star center from the late 1970s still can’t fathom what Memphis management did to Fizdale. The Grizzlies fired him one month into his second season because of a feud with Marc Gasol, ending Fizdale’s first head-coaching stint.

According to McAdoo, Memphis didn’t do right by Fizdale.

“He did do a good job in Memphis, but it’s a player’s league,’’ McAdoo told The Post at the NBA Draft Combine on Friday. “Gasol didn’t like sitting on the bench. David felt this was the best way to go. It was a problem and upper management got rid of him.’’

McAdoo senses Knicks president Steve Mills knows Fizdale got a raw deal.

“That’s why he got the Knicks job,’’ McAdoo said. “You got to run the ship the way you see fit. You can’t have a player running the whole situation or the other players aren’t going to respect you when they see that.

“It’s unfortunate,’’ McAdoo added. “He had a good year, made the playoffs, and to get rid of him that quick?”

Should Memphis general manager Chris Wallace, who declined comment at the combine, and ownership have stood by their coach?

“That’s what I thought,’’ said McAdoo, a Miami assistant for 19 years before recently joining the front office. “It didn’t happen that way. Different people running things differently.’’

McAdoo met Fizdale when he got his start as a Heat video coordinator in the late 1990s. Fizdale then returned as an assistant coach in 2008, lasting eight years. Riley’s principles are embedded in Fizdale.

“He knows the Heat’s system, which I’m sure he’ll tweak it to his own thing,’’ McAdoo said. “Pat’s affected all of us. He was with us when we won the championships. We had great players. We had the big three [LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh]. But he saw how things were run. I’m sure he’ll impart that wisdom on the Knicks’ organization.

“It’s going to be good for them. He was prepared. That’s what all of us were being in Pat’s’ system. We worked guys out. We were jack of all trades. We had to do it all — game-planning, personnel.’’

Hired May 7 over second choice Mike Budenholzer, Fizdale already has laid the groundwork to ensure what happened with Gasol doesn’t happen with Kristaps Porzingis, whose best friend, Willy Hernangomez, is close to Gasol.

Fizdale plans multiple visits to Europe, where Porzingis is rehabbing (mostly with Real Madrid). The coach reportedly has already met with his agent, Janis Porzingis, in New York.

“They got a good guy, he knows how to relate to the players,’’ McAdoo said. “He’s a player’s coach. That’s what they’ll see. They get some more talent in there, they’ll be very successful.’’

Fizdale left Chicago on Thursday night but was present for the majority of the Knicks’ 20 player interviews — something he was not invited to do with Memphis.

“I didn’t do this,’’ Fizdale said. “[Memphis] involved me in things from a personnel standpoint, [but] this was great for me from just an educational standpoint. I asked a couple of questions, but for the most part [the front office] hit the things that are important to me.

“We share the same things. We know exactly what we’re looking for — character of the kid and intangibles. It was fun to watch and learn from [management] to see how they get to these places.’’

Fizdale said he imparted on the prospects the thing near and dear to him — out of the Riley handbook.

“I think I made it clear the toughness thing is a top priority for us,’’ Fizdale said.

As much as Mills and general manager Scott Perry want to be an extension of the coaching staff, they will let Fizdale be himself. Fizdale hung up Riley-esque sayings in the Memphis hallways and may take them to New York.

Among the proverbs: “Past & future are in the mind only … I am now.”

“I really believe in living in the moment,” Fizdale told The Post’s Steve Serby, “not creating hypotheticals for the future and living in the past on bad things that may have happened.’’

Mills appreciates that Fizdale will blend his fire and brimstone with his attempt at creating friendships. The new coach’s goal this summer is to get to know the players personally. He met with Enes Kanter and Tim Hardaway Jr. in Chicago.

“One of his players said to us that he has the ability to make you uncomfortable and push you to a place where you don’t really want to be, but then he can bring you back,’’ Mills said. “It’s important in terms of the psyche of a player to understand how you get them to those places where you allow them to get better and allow them to grow, and he can do that.”