Best 5 Candidates to Coach the New York Knicks Next Season
New York Knicks fans and players have witnessed plenty of limp press conferences, haphazardly managed games, wavering motivation and mystifying personnel decisions in recent years. They're desperate for a new head coach in 2016-17 who can teach and inspire players, innovate and engineer wins.
Who fits that description?
Every New York fan could use some Zen training after enduring two stressful seasons, but they might seek a different Master if this one doesn't hire a winning head coach. Phil Jackson's top stated priorities, however, don't all necessarily match up with the team's.
He told reporters, per ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk, that he would prefer (though it isn't "paramount") someone he already knows and trusts who is familiar with the triangle offense. As he explained (cryptically) on Twitter, he seeks a like-minded coach who will foster a team-first culture and can develop players' games and souls.
Culture and player development are key to the team's success, surely. A coach's ability to improve the Knicks' defense, transition offense, weak backcourt and performance in the clutch should be more important than the nature of their heart-to-hearts with Jackson.
Finding one person who meets all objectives will be a challenge, but here are five coaches (and a handful of runners-up) who should get an interview, from bottom to my No. 1 favorite choice for the job.
Honorable Mentions
Kurt Rambis: Rambis' failures this season have largely been in game management: calling timeouts too late, playing veterans to death, yanking rookies too soon, calling ineffective plays, etc. Yet, there's more to coaching than what happens on the sidelines.
For example, although I complained that Jerian Grant stopped seeing the hardwood when Rambis first took the helm, I confess that Grant's game is largely improved since Rambis started putting him back on the court. Something happening in practice worked.
Jeff Van Gundy: It would be outrageous fun to see Jeff Van Gundy back on the sidelines at the Garden. Once he shook the rust off after a long break from coaching, he could give the team an injection of toughness.
Realistically, though, this is untenable while Jackson is in the front office. Not only would it fail because the two personalities would undoubtedly clash, but because, rumor has it, Van Gundy will only return to coaching if he has the same head coach and general manager deal that his brother Stan has in Detroit, per Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (h/t Oleh Kosel of The Bird Writes).
Tony Bennett: Virginia head coach Tony Bennett has possibly the best defensive mind in college basketball right now. He's seen as one of the types who could make a successful jump to the pro level, particularly with a young team in rebuild mode. The one possible drawback is that the slow, decidedly half-court offense Bennett runs in Virginia wouldn't solve the Knicks' major fast-break scoring problem.
Shaka Smart: Shaka Smart's career at Texas has not begun with glorious success just yet; the Longhorns fell in the first round of the NCAA tournament this year. However, Smart's history carrying an underdog Virginia Commonwealth team to a Final Four in 2011 earned him enduring respect. His "Havoc" style of play would be an asset to a team like the Knicks that might be lighter on raw talent, but could be high on spirit with the right direction.
5. Phil Jackson
There is only one head coach to dominate the NBA by running the triangle offense, and that is the Zen Master. None of the assistants who ran the triangle with him on his championship-winning Bulls and Lakers teams succeeded with it as NBA head coaches. Not Rambis with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Not Jim Cleamons with the Dallas Mavericks. Not even the triangle innovator himself, Tex Winter, when he coached the Houston Rockets in the '70s.
So, if Jackson is dead set on a head coach he has a great relationship with and can run a killer triangle in the NBA...he's the guy.
His coaching cred is flawless. Any minor blemishes on his record were forever scrubbed out by his 11 championship rings (plus the two he earned as a player).
When asked if he'd considered returning to coach the Knicks, Jackson said, per Youngmisuk, “Not one second ... But the instinct is still there. It’s not in my physical capabilities to do that.” He later told confidant Charley Rosen, per the New York Post's Marc Berman, that there was "zero chance" of him returning.
Chances are slim that he would reconsider that stance, but if he runs out of promising disciples and cannot accept another style of coach, then he might be inspired to return to the bench for one season.
4. Kevin Ollie
If the Knicks want to make a run at Kevin Durant in free agency, one possible draw could be his former Thunder teammate, Kevin Ollie, now head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies. More importantly, Ollie is a master of creating the team-first culture and winning spirit that the Knicks have been trying to build.
After Ollie led UConn to an NCAA title in 2014, Durant opened up about Ollie's on-court leadership. Via Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley: "Kevin Ollie, he was a game-changer for us," Durant told Grantland's Bill Simmons during All-Star weekend. "He changed the whole culture, I think. He might not say it, but I think he changed the whole culture in Oklahoma City."
Per ESPN's Myron Medcalf, "He's just a great motivator," [UConn player Niels Giffey] said. "Honest person. He's always 100 percent positive, and he believes in me. He does that while being demanding in a way."
Beyond that, Ollie is renowned for his game management. He architects wins by calling the right timeouts, making the right substitutions, drawing up the right out-of-bounds plays. And sure, sometimes he's saved by a player's clutch three, but what coach isn't?
3. Luke Walton
Golden State Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton might be the coaching prodigy Jackson hoped Derek Fisher would be.
During head coach Steve Kerr's long recovery from back surgery, Walton—a lowly one-year NBA assistant—took Kerr's place on the sidelines and guided Golden State to a 39-4 start to the season.
Sure, the reigning champions could easily make the young coach look good, but he could have just as easily disrupted their flow. So, he absolutely deserves praise for the Warriors' success, but his player development skills are untested.
Per the Post's Berman: "[Walton] was obviously dealt aces, but he played them right," one NBA executive told the Post. “The next job he gets will be a challenge compared to that roster in Oakland."
Warriors star forward Draymond Green said Walton was "amazing," per Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com, and expects he'll be grabbed by another team. "Luke is my guy and now he’s going to be gone next year—if any GMs are smart.”
Walton is also Jackson's guy. He played for Jackson in L.A., loves the triangle offense and even got the Zen Master's blessing before taking the Golden State job, per Berman.
Walton is certainly the front-runner for the gig, but the Knicks may not be the front-runner to land him, once his many suitors are allowed to come a-courtin'. The Lakers will be wooing him with serenades, candy, D'Angelo Russell, the fine weather...and maybe even the eventual return of his mentor to L.A. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, "There’s still a strong belief Jackson will eventually find his way to his fiancee Jeanie Buss and the Los Angeles Lakers."
2. Scott Brooks
After missing the playoffs last season, the Oklahoma City Thunder are among the Western Conference elite again under new head coach Billy Donovan. Yet, that's no poor reflection on former coach Scott Brooks, fired after scraping 45 wins from an injury-riddled season in which Kevin Durant missed 55 games, Russell Westbrook 15 and Serge Ibaka 18.
Brooks had a 338-207 record in OKC and led them to the NBA Finals once and conference finals twice.
Player development is one of Brooks' key strengths. He coached Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka up from their rookie seasons. (Durant joined while Brooks was still assistant.) Having been an NBA journeyman point guard himself for 10 years, he could be a particularly great guide for the Knicks' young backcourt players: Langston Galloway and Grant.
And of course there's the Durant factor. According to ESPN's Ian Begley, "The Knicks have been informed that their chances of landing Kevin Durant [in free agency] this summer would be influenced by hiring Brooks, according to league sources."
The knocks against Brooks, though, are that his offense relied too heavily on Westbrook and Durant, without enough ball movement, and that he doesn't have any preexisting relationship with Jackson.
1. Tom Thibodeau
There are a lot of people in New York, myself included, who would like to see see this happen. There are a lot of people in New York who are going to be disappointed.
Former Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau, fired at the end of last season after reported conflict with management, is arguably the best coach available. Although his injury-prone Bulls never won it all, they never missed the playoffs, and ran the most feared and frustrating defense in the league.
A zesty, defense-minded passing big man like Robin Lopez could thrive under Thibodeau, who did the same for a similar center—former Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah.
Thibodeau is also "a big, big fan of Carmelo Anthony," according to ESPN.com's Ian O'Connor. And, according to a source of O'Connor's, he "would crawl to Madison Square Garden," because coaching the Knicks was "the job he's always wanted."
"Tom Thibodeau told me once about USA coaches: "We laugh sometimes about what some people say about Melo. The guy's a killer."
— Ian O'Connor (@Ian_OConnor) February 8, 2016"
Yet, in Youngmisuk's description, "Jackson got uncharacteristically testy when asked about" Thibodeau last month. “Did you want me to respond to that?” Jackson asked. “How do I respond? I respect Tom as a coach, he’s a really good coach. But I’m not out soliciting."
Whether it's Thibodeau's hoarsely barking for D, Brooks' coaxing greatness out of youngbloods, Walton stunning with an easygoing brilliance, Ollie whipping up passion or someone entirely different, the key point is: Whoever Jackson pegs for the top job, he must let them coach.
If he can't do that, then he must do it himself or move on out of the front office. Hey...maybe 13 rings is enough.
Follow Sara Peters on Twitter @3FromThe7.
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