New York Knicks botch search for new head coach
The Dallas Mavericks denied the Knicks permission to interview Jason Kidd. The Minnesota Timberwolves did the same with Chris Finch. The Houston Rockets did the same with Ime Udoka. The Chicago Bulls did the same with Billy Donovan and the Atlanta Hawks did the same with Quin Snyder, according to multiple reports.
So what was their plan? Just hope that a team with a good coach was going to let a good coach go to the Knicks in exchange for a couple of second-round draft picks.
When you fire a coach - a coach who just took your team to its first Eastern Conference finals appearance in 25 seasons and had established a winning identity and helped changed the perception of the franchise - you better have a list of coaches ready and available for interviews and the job.
And since the Knicks do not appear to have that part of their house in order, it leads one to believe the front office had not planned on firing Thibodeau, which leads one to believe that Knicks owner James Dolan's fingerprints are Thibodeau's firing and the ensuing chaos.
"The Knicks have to be the damn stupidest people in the world," TNT's Charles Barkley said before Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday.
Yahoo Sports' Vincent Goodwill reported that "Dolan and team president Leon Rose held exit meetings with key Knicks players and the complaints were clear. Dolan, whom sources said was never a huge Thibodeau fan through the years, asked the questions in the meeting while Rose took a secondary role."
Somebody (or multiple somebodies) convinced Dolan that firing a successful coach with three years and $30 million was necessary.
Was Thibodeau the perfect coach? Of course not. All coaches have flaws. He could've tried to develop more of a bench and give starters fewer minutes, but he also had considerable success. The Knicks hadn't had back-to-back 50-win seasons since the mid-1990s until they won 50 games in 2023-24 and 51 games in 2024-25.
The Knicks look like the bumbling franchise they were before bringing in Rose and Thibodeau. And all the good work that has been done to make the Knicks a competent franchise is at risk of being undone.
How do the Knicks salvage this? Great question. Former Memphis Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins and longtime NBA coach Mike Brown are available and names to watch. Jenkins has the right mix of challenging players while not embarrassing them, and Brown has experience with stars and big markets. Johnnie Bryant, a former New York Knicks assistant who spent last season as the associate head coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers, is another name to watch.
The Knicks will try to frame this as doing their due diligence and that they are in no rush to make a hire. That's hard to believe when they are knocking on the door of several big-name coaches who already have jobs with other teams.
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