The New York Knicks’ first offseason move was hiring Jeff Hornacek to become the team’s 28th head coach. A betting man would have placed his money on Kurt Rambis taking over the reigns as the Knicks’ future head coach.
Instead, Phil Jackson hired a coach outside of his coaching tree, which was a good move.
What wasn’t a good move was he did not aggressively pursue the best candidates available (i.e. Tom Thibbodeau, Frank Vogel, Mark Jackson, etc.). Hornacek only has a 101-112 (.474) record in two-and-a-half years with the Phoenix Suns, so it begs the question: is he the, “Transformational,” coach the Zen Master was taking about.
From what everyone says, Hornacek is a nice guy and is used to places like Utah or Phoenix. What he isn’t used to is New York and an organization like the Knicks, which could lead to some potential problems.
But Hornacek also had a lot going against him during his tenure in Phoenix (injuries and trades) and he finished with just about a .500 record, which sounds average. But the Knicks won 17 games the first full season Jackson was teampresident and 32 games this past season.
A .500 record is still leaps and bounds ahead of their last two years.
GRADE: C+
Next: Derrick Rose, Part I