The New York Knicks have an extensive history of failing to show support for their head coach. No matter who’s hired, that must change.
The New York Knicks are in the midst of a coaching search that will make or break the current vision. There’s a quality young core in place and another top-10 draft pick on the way, which certainly creates the potential for greatness.
As the Knicks prepare to hire a third full-time head coach since Kristaps Porzingis was drafted in 2015, however, the pressure to find the right leader is heavier than ever before.
With no hyperbole whatsoever, the next head coach will either make or break the Porzingis era. It’s not as though the next two seasons will be the end of the current core’s run, but instead an acknowledgement of how delicate the situation is.
Porzingis will be playing for a fourth coach in four years if one includes Kurt Rambis in interim, and any coaching change beyond this would endanger his future.
Rather than providing Porzingis with structure, the Knicks would be tasking him with essentially developing in spite of the organization. This isn’t to say that Jeff Hornacek, Rambis, and Derek Fisher hurt his progression, nor that a fourth coach will hold him back.
It’s simply to state that the fourth coach he plays for must be the individual who helps right the ship—and it’s on the front office to ensure that happens.
Whether or not you believe Hornacek was the savior of the Knicks, job security was elusive throughout his tenure. He was hired by a team president who wanted him to run a system that he’d never played in, nor executed as a coach.
When Phil Jackson was relieved of his duties, Hornacek was then tasked with developing talent for the future without being granted the luxury of job security.
Emotion can cloud judgement, but the Knicks didn’t exactly empower Hornacek in 2017-18. Rumors that he’d be dismissed following the regular season ran rampant, which inevitably created a distraction in the locker room.
Rather than being able to focus on basketball after a big win or a difficult loss, the players were bombarded with constant questions about Hornacek’s future.
The front office may not want to communicate its plans with the media, but it didn’t put Hornacek in a position to succeed. He runs a system that’s dependent upon high-quality point guard play, yet the Knicks ranked amongst the worst in the NBA as far as talent at the position was concerned in both 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Moreover: In an era that depends heavily on the presence of above-average point guard play, failing to provide a coach with such talent is inexcusable.
Beyond the point guard position, the Knicks failed to give Hornacek the most important tool of all: Job security. He was being asked to overlook wins for the sake of personnel development, but didn’t have the guarantee he could survive another losing season.
It was an approach that doomed Hornacek from the start.
Whomever the Knicks hire next must have the true support of the front office. That all begins with the benefit of job security, as the head coach must be allowed to work their way through the inconsistency that coaching a young team often entails.
Said coach must also be given the personnel that actually fits the system they plan to run—on both ends of the floor.
It won’t be an overnight success story, but that’s exactly why job security is so important. The front office must overcome the mistakes of previous regimes, but it should already have a clear and defined idea of what’s missing.
If the front office wants to call its tenure a success, then it must go beyond hiring the right candidate for the head coaching job.
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The New York Knicks must finally empower a head coach instead of keeping them on an everlasting hot seat.