The New York Knicks need to hire a coach that Carmelo Anthony has no other option but to listen too. Mike D’Antoni, seemingly, had the support of Amar’e Stoudemire, Jeremy Lin, Baron Davis, maybe others, and it wasn’t enough to survive the fact that Melo didn’t want to run his offense. D’Antoni also made the move to Lin, gave birth to Linsanity going 7-1 in the process without Anthony, and it still wasn’t enough for him to keep his job. Or not enough for him to not want to retire in the middle of the season I guess.
So now, maybe Mike Woodson can iso-basketball his way to a deep playoff run that nobody sees coming and steal that vacated coaching seat for himself. Or, maybe it will be the Hall of Fame Phil Jackson riding back into the spotlight on that white horse of his to regain some sanity and generate some basketball wins out in New York.
Mostly speculation at this point though, but here’s what ESPN New York had to say about the Phil Jackson thing earlier today:
Phil Jackson has not had any contact with the New York Knicks about their suddenly vacant coaching job, according to NBA coaching sources.
But it has long been assumed in coaching circles that the Knicks’ job is the one position that could convince Jackson, 66, to return to the bench one last time if his health cooperates.
Knicks chairman James Dolan did not field questions at a Wednesday night news conference but did acknowledge to reporters that Mike Woodson is replacing D’Antoni for the rest of the season. Amid widespread speculation that Jackson is Dolan’s No. 1 target for the job, one source close to the situation told ESPN.com on Wednesday that Jackson would likely be “fascinated” by the prospect of “how the Knicks’ (current) personnel would fit in his system.”
The source also said that Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin was on Jackson’s radar last season when Lin was a rookie with the Golden State Warriors, which fits with Jackson’s longstanding preference for big ballhandlers in his backcourt.
I bet it happens, for whatever that’s worth. If it doesn’t, I hope Dolan ends up hiring Isiah Thomas again because that would be a fun experience to watch as well.
