According to the latest update from Ian Begley of SNY, Taylor Jenkins remains heavily on the Knicks' radar as their head coaching search drags on. In the report, Begley notes that, "New York is not in any rush with its search and are casting a wide net of candidates." Similar reports have indicated Jenkins is joined by Mike Brown as a potential option who has prior head coaching experience.
Jenkins last coached for the Memphis Grizzlies before being fired from his position at the very end of the 2024-25 regular season. The former coach has a record of 250-214 during his tenure, and has additional experience working as an assistant coach for several years in both Atlanta and Milwaukee under Mike Budenholzer.
As Begley and others have indicated, there seems to be no timetable on when the Knicks plan to make a decision on their next coach. They remain the only team with a head coaching vacancy and seem steadfast on examining every option before making a determination on who the right man for the job is.
What Jenkins could bring to the Knicks
Jenkins' most successful year as a head coach came in the 2021-22 season, when he led the Grizzlies to a 56-26 record, finishing second behind the Phoenix Suns for the best record in the Western Conference.
The 2024-25 season was a weird one for Memphis. They hired an entirely new staff around Jenkins and were determined to use new offensive principles in a system that seemed extremely experimental. The Grizzlies ran fewer ball screens than any team in the league as a result, setting just 41.6 picks per 100 possessions in the regular season.
To provide some context about how small that number is: in the league's "Tracking Era", which goes back to the 2013-24 season, only three teams set fewer picks per 100 possessions than the 2024-25 Memphis Grizzlies.
Knicks Pick-and-Roll Problem
Now, one of the Knicks' greatest mysteries from the 2024-25 season was why Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns were setting fewer and fewer ball screens as the season went on, and one of their biggest goals for next season should be to increase that number.
It is not fully clear how much of a role Jenkins played in implementing the new system. Reports indicate that it largely had to do with assistant coach Tuomas Iisalo, who is now the head coach of the Grizzlies, and player development specialist Noah LaRoche. That said, it will surely be a topic of conversation in any interview the Knicks have with Jenkins.