Jeff Hornacek has completed his first 20 regular season games as head coach of the New York Knicks. What have been the pros and cons of his tenure?
New York Knicks team president Phil Jackson shocked the masses by hiring Jeff Hornacek to be his new head coach. Hornacek had earned quite the reputation with the Phoenix Suns, but many expected New York to pursue Tom Thibodeau or Frank Vogel.
20 games into his first season with the Knicks, Hornacek has overcome odds stacked high against him to lead New York to an 11-9 record.
Hornacek spent the previous two-and-a-half seasons as the head coach of the Suns. He finished second in the Coach of the Year voting in 2013-14 after leading Phoenix to a 48-34 record in a deep Western Conference.
Despite losing both Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas at the trade deadline, he still kept the Suns relevant at 39-43 in 2014-15.
Hornacek has something to prove in some eyes after the disaster that was the 2015-16. The issues in Phoenix were far bigger than Hornacek himself, but the coach receives little of the praise and all of the blame in this odd era.
The question is: what has Hornacek done well through 20 games and in which areas must he improve?