The New York Knicks have an impressive list of candidates to interview for their head coaching position.
When Leon Rose took over as president of the New York Knicks in early March, it didn’t take long for rumors to emerge on possible coaching candidates to replace interim lead Mike Miller. The names were familiar: Tom Thibodeau, Jeff Van Gundy, maybe Mark Jackson.
More than three months later, the list of candidates has widely expanded. It seems neither Van Gundy nor Jackson are in serious consideration for the job. Instead, Rose is set to interview an impressive list of former coaches, both young and old, along with up-and-coming assistants from some of the league’s best coaching environments.
It’s not uncommon for NBA teams to interview a wide list of candidates. The Knicks cast a wide net before selecting David Fizdale in 2018. Remember Kenny Smith even got an interview?
There are a number of reasons why teams interview coaches from around the league, even if they are not considering them as serious candidates: one, it gives the front office an opportunity to learn about another team—if you want to understand what makes the Spurs tick, why not interview a few of their assistants; two, it acts as a way to elevate someone as a potential future candidate; three, some candidates could become assistant coach options; and four, each coach might have information on another candidate worth exploring.
After sorting out the best experienced head coaching candidates, let’s take a deeper look into the assistants in order of seriousness to possibly get the job.