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New York Knicks: Outside the Box Options for Head Coach

By Maxwell Ogden

Feb 12, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; World player Kristaps Porzingis (6) shakes hands with World head coach Ettore Messina (L) prior to the Rising Stars Challenge basketball game against the U.S. at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 12, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; World player Kristaps Porzingis (6) shakes hands with World head coach Ettore Messina (L) prior to the Rising Stars Challenge basketball game against the U.S. at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oct 8, 2015; Sacramento, CA, USA; San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Ettore Messina gestures during the third quarter against the Sacramento Kings at Sleep Train Arena. The Kings won 95-92. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 8, 2015; Sacramento, CA, USA; San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Ettore Messina gestures during the third quarter against the Sacramento Kings at Sleep Train Arena. The Kings won 95-92. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

1. Ettore Messina

Ettore Messina is often regarded as the best coach you’ve never heard of. Now an assistant for the San Antonio Spurs, Messina has won all over the world, including four Euroleague, four Italian League, five Russian League and two VTB United League championships.

Now in his second season with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs, there’s no better man to entrust with the future of New York Knicks basketball than Messina.

Already an outstanding strategist unto himself, Messina would move from the guidance of one iconic NBA head coach to the next. Having already worked with Popovich, a five-time champion, Messina would join forces with Phil Jackson, an 11-time champion, in New York.

That would be the ultimate combination of brilliant basketball minds.

With influence from both Jackson and Popovich, and the knowledge of how to succeed on his own, Messina would be the ultimate Knicks head coach. He does an excellent job of utilizing big men, which suggests that he could put his own championship-caliber twist on Kristaps Porzingis’ use within the Triangle Offense.

It’s relatively meaningless in the long run, but Porzingis did score 30 points under Messina, head coach of the 2016 world team, at the Rising Stars Challenge.

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There are a number of outside the box options, and an even healthier supply of rumored candidates, but Messina would be the best possible selection as the next head coach of the New York Knicks.

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