Holding Court – Phil Jackson, Knicks look at coaching options

 

Since Phil Jackson rejoined his NBA team of 11 years as a player, New York, this time as its president, the Knicks have been near the top of the NBA radar in terms of public attention. One of the most disappointing teams this past season, the Knicks fired Mike Woodson, their coach of two-plus seasons on April 21 and have been in search since then of the man that will chart their fortunes from the bench.

The LA Lakers, Cleveland, Minnesota and Utah still have to fill coaching positions but, with all due respect to the Laker job’s stature, it’s the Knicks gig that’s been in the spotlight, and most of it because of Jackson, the winningest coach in NBA history with 11 titles.

The Knicks and Jackson were left holding an empty bag after Steve Kerr, their primary candidate to take over their coaching job, decided to decline their offer and accepted a similar position with Golden State. But the search continues.

While Kerr had been the main target of the Knicks to steer them on the bench since April, New York simply couldn’t match the Warriors’ package. The Knicks offered Kerr a four-year contract, with the fourth year at the Knicks’ option, but they had to eventually guarantee all of that when the Warriors came up with their own package guaranteed for five years and $25 million. Ultimately, however, Kerr chose the stability of a built-in contender near his hometown over a team in New York that’s in turmoil even with the mentor that has most influenced him at the helm of that team.

Still, there’s a school of thought that says Jackson might not have really gone all out in trying to get Kerr.  This is no matter if he appeared to be the “only” choice of the Zen Master for their history together making the triangle offense work for three championships in Chicago and for Kerr’s knowledge of – and success in – system basketball in general as proven in another two titles won in San Antonio. If Jackson did, this school of thought says the Knicks could have easily trumped the Warriors’ five-year offer given the Knicks’ history of not scrimping on such an important component as a head coach.

It’s what Jackson and the Knicks do as an alternative plan that will define this particular search, the same viewpoint says, and it doesn’t appear that Jackson is in a hurry to complete the process right now.  The only question is if Jackson will take a similar direction by hiring a newcomer, or go after established names, a few of which are available right now, like the recently-fired Mark Jackson, Kerr’s predecessor with Golden State, TV analyst Jeff Van Gundy and George Karl, who recently expressed a desire to return to the bench. 

“Whatever the case, Jackson and the Knicks still have options,” Dan Favale of Bleacherreport says.  “Their cavalier approach to negotiations (with Kerr) suggests they have a backup plan in their arsenal, otherwise there would have been a greater hint of urgency in their pursuit (of) Kerr.”

So what now for the Knicks?  Based on recent reports, Jackson is still looking at individuals with whom he is familiar, former players whom he can mentor and mold, although he’s had a discussion with veteran coach Mike Dunleavy about the job and also has high regards for longtime Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis.  These former players include Luke Walton, Tyronn Lue, Bill Cartwright, and even Scottie Pippen and current Oklahoma City senior statesman Derek Fisher, who appears to be the frontrunner at this point.

But Fisher is in the thick of the Western Conference finals right now and has not “given any thought” about the job nor any other coaching job, much less spoken with the Knicks about it.  If either the Knicks or Fisher as much as expressed any mutual interest in the Knicks gig, that could constitute tampering on New York’s part under league rules given that Fisher is still under a playing contract with OKC.

But assuming Fisher indeed decides to retire after this season, a plan he supposedly told media he’s “sticking with,” the Knicks will not be without competition if the 18-year veteran ultimately decides he wants to coach, just like fellow guard Jason Kidd did right after last season with mixed results.  In fact, respected basketball writer Adrian Wojnarowski recently suggested that Fisher would be the ideal next headman for the similarly-situated Lakers, and for more than one reason. Besides serving as a transition coach from Kobe Bryant’s last two years to the next Laker generation, Wojo also says the Lakers could go strongly after Fisher due to his ties with Thunder superstar Kevin Durant, whom the Lakers plan to pursue when he becomes a free agent in 2016.

“There’s a different ex-Lakers guard (besides Byron Scott) who could go much further to regenerate the franchise’s culture and hold the insight into getting the most out of Bryant’s final two seasons: Derek Fisher,” Wojo wrote recently.  “Once the Oklahoma City Thunder’s season ends, Fisher will have a willingness to listen to coaching, front office and broadcasting possibilities.  As for the Lakers’ coaching job, it holds tremendous appeal to him, sources with knowledge of his thinking told Yahoo! Sports…

“The Lakers need to make themselves a destination again.  Free agency has major importance in 2015 and ‘16 for the Lakers, and they’ll need to be positioned to make a run at Kevin Durant.  Superstars want desperately to consider the Lakers in free agency, but they won’t go anywhere based only on geography and banners.  They’ll need to see an infrastructure of talent, management structure and coaching.  Durant will want a culture, and Fisher could’ve grown into the job by ‘16 to sell him on the Lakers’ brand.

“It is risky to hire a coach with no experience, but the right minds and right coaching staffs can make it work.  Fisher will command respect and he’ll be synonymous with a championship heritage that Lakers fans crave as a face of the franchise.  Fisher is close to the end with the Thunder, and he’ll be the rare non-star to choose his next direction: management, coaching or television.  He’s smart enough to figure them all out, but coaching the Lakers would be the most tempting of all for Fisher.  History with Bryant in the short term – and history with Durant in the long term – are legitimate benefits in pursuit of this job.  The Lakers won’t be reconstructed overnight, but through the draft and trades and ultimately free agency.  There are good candidate cases to be made elsewhere in the Lakers’ search process, but the most intriguing could be the most unconventional: out of the Thunder backcourt and onto the Lakers bench.”

So where does that put Jackson and the Knicks?  If they indeed intend to go strongly after Fisher after having been spurned – with or without reservation on their part – by Kerr, they have to prepare for a war and be ready with their war chest, if they happen to compete with the Lakers for Fisher’s services.  The Lakers right now are similarly situated with the Knicks – over the cap, misfitting parts, aging core players and ultimately bad – but if this comes down to a bidding war for, ironically, a rookie coach, but a rookie coach with basketball brains, then the team that’s able to sell better may have the edge.

The conundrum for both the Knicks and Lakers, however, is that neither of them can even talk to Fisher now owing to his active status and live contract, and whoever is thus able to sell its case now indirectly – and is better prepared when the proper time comes – may ultimately snatch the advantage.

At this point, Jackson seems to be content with looking at the possible components of the staff his next headman will be surrounded with, and it may well be an opportune time for him and the Knicks to send the message to Fisher or whoever they’re eyeing that a strong support system would be in place.  

While the names previously mentioned remain distinct possibilities to at least form part of the next head coach’s team, two candidates – Mark Jackson and Brian Shaw – would have held intriguing potential for the Knicks.  

Jackson, for example, is someone who holds special ties with New York, having grown up in Brooklyn and having starred at the hometown St. John’s University. He became Rookie of the Year in 1988 after having been drafted by the Knicks with the 18^th pick the previous year, the lowest-drafted player to win top rookie honors and the only non-lottery pick to have won the award since the system was introduced in 1985. But Jackson’s firing in Golden State under controversial circumstances and with a less-than-savory relationship with management seems to indicate that he somehow carries some baggage, waving a red flag to an organization with its own history of management slips and controversies.

Shaw, meanwhile, is a long-time Jackson favorite who acted as his assistant in LA. Under normal circumstances, the choice of Shaw would have been a no-brainer except for one thing – he still has two years left in his three-year pact with Denver that pays him around $2 million a year. If Jackson wants him in New York, the Knicks have to compensate the Nuggets with cash (no problem) or draft picks (now that’s a problem as the Knicks have no first-round pick until 2018) similar to what the LA Clippers did to Boston as compensation for allowing Doc Rivers to get out of his contract with the Celtics. League rules allow only those forms of compensation, and not players (as the Knicks would have been willing to do), for a team to even try prying out a coach with an existing contract, and Jackson obviously feels he has a slim or no shot at being able to do that.

In the face of all this, however, it’s almost certain that whoever Jackson ends up getting to coach the Knicks won’t be a choice based on any coaching credential (read: Kerr’s and Fisher’s inexperience) nor the big-time impact his name and personality would have on the franchise. The Zen Master will try to see to it that it’s based first and foremost on his evaluation of the guy as being adept at managing interpersonal dynamics and capable of helping develop a coherent organizational culture (that would obviously disqualify Mark Jackson).

“Jackson’s strengths have never been in the identification of the best personnel – he earned his sterling reputation as a leader and manager of personalities,” Eric Freeman of Yahoo! Sports says.  “In an era of rampant player movement and high-profile dealmaking, the ability to make the pieces a team already has more cohesive might not seem like the most important talent for a team president or general manager… 

“(But) being able to get everyone in an organization on the same page is an underrated skill, especially given all the egos at play at Madison Square Garden from the players on the court to the owner’s box.  Success often starts at the top – organizational cohesion is part of why the San Antonio Spurs often appear to be more than the sum of their already impressive individual pieces.”

And this is why you can bet your house money that Jackson and the Knicks, for a change, will put somebody there who mirrors Jackson’s character and personality.

SHORTSHOTS: San Antonio’s 122-105 victory yesterday in Game 1 of its series against Oklahoma City marked the 110^th playoff victory for the Spurs’ trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, tying them for the mark held by the LA Lakers’ Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Cooper… Stan Van Gundy’s hiring as coach and president of basketball operations in Detroit has to be one of the big surprises to come in recent days. Van Gundy, Jeff’s elder brother, did not exactly set the world on fire in his last stint as headman in Orlando, losing in the first round in both his last two years there.  In his last year with the Magic in 2012, he also got involved in a controversy when he claimed then-franchise star Dwight Howard wanted him fired. Van Gundy was eventually relieved as coach on May 21, 2012… Derek Fisher on whether Phil Jackson has talked to him regarding the Knicks’ coaching job:  “No. We touched base right before his official press conference when he accepted the job.  And since then, we haven’t spoken.  Obviously, he’s busy in terms of trying to make the changes he needs to make there.  But I have a day job as well, and I think he respects that more than anybody.  He taught me a lot about how to operate during this time of year. We talk every offseason. I’m sure we’ll talk again when the season’s over.  But I don’t have any intentions on reaching out to him. And I think he respects the space that I’m in right now as well.” – Rappler.com

 

Bert A. Ramirez has been a freelance sportswriter/columnist since the ’80s, writing mostly about the NBA and once serving as consultant and editor for Tower Sports Magazine, the longest-running locally published NBA magazine, from 1999 to 2008.  He has also written columns and articles for such publications as Malaya, Sports Digest, Winners Sports Weekly, Pro Guide, Sports Weekly, Sports Flash, Sports World, Basketball Weekly and the FIBA’s International Basketball, and currently writes a fortnightly column for QC Life and a weekly blog for BostonSports Desk.  A former corporate manager, Bert has breathed, drunk and slept sports most of his life.