Official Knicks Coaching Search Thread pt. 2 (update: poll added 6/18/25)

[mpharris36]

as they said on the mismatch, at some point there's gonna be a press conference and they're gonna stand there and say this is they guy we think can lead us to championship and we'll all know, the players included, it's actually their 6th choice for the job.

[HEZI]

as they said on the mismatch, at some point there's gonna be a press conference and they're gonna stand there and say this is they guy we think can lead us to championship and we'll all know, the players included, it's actually their 6th choice for the job.

“We are very confident and couldn’t be happier to have him”

[Starks]

all the podcasts are clowning this search

Media will always be looking to clown us. That being said we're embarrassing ourselves with all those interview requests.

Also seeing some posters talking about getting Spo, we can't possibly expect to be taken seriously after that.

[3toheadmelo]

mike brown has connections to wesley. it's gonna be him.

Yeah I know. I posted their connection yesterday. And apparently Mike brown did very good in his first interview with us before we hired Thibs. It’s definitely going to suck if they go through with this and hire him. I’m really hoping they give Jenkins a deeper look as Begley is suggesting they’re doing apparently. Cause I can at least talk myself into him. I’m gonna be toxic af if we get Mike brown.

Yea definitely not a fan of Brown - wasn't he fired because he lost the locker room?

I'm no expert but he's always seemed like a coach that isn't great with the Xs and Os and is more of a motivator rah rah guy - which I don't think we need as much as a guy with a great mind and offensive system. I think Jenkins has that at least moreso than Brown.

My issue with Jenkins is that he also lost his locker room last season as I mentioned yesterday. But he seems to be a lil creative offensively and Memphis played solid d.

I can’t get behind Mike brown at all.

[Fury]

I hope we ask the same teams permission a second time

[MrDollarBills]

Why is Malone not in the mix, do we know?

This is baseless speculation but maybe what happened in Denver with both Malone and the GM getting booted right before the playoffs was a lot nastier than we know and people around the league may be wary.

I mean, if not for that I don't see why he's not being offered an interview. Couldn't hurt especially when he won a title with poor defenders at the one and 5.

Not my choice tho.

[8516knicks]

Yeah I know. I posted their connection yesterday. And apparently Mike brown did very good in his first interview with us before we hired Thibs. It’s definitely going to suck if they go through with this and hire him. I’m really hoping they give Jenkins a deeper look as Begley is suggesting they’re doing apparently. Cause I can at least talk myself into him. I’m gonna be toxic af if we get Mike brown.

Yea definitely not a fan of Brown - wasn't he fired because he lost the locker room?

I'm no expert but he's always seemed like a coach that isn't great with the Xs and Os and is more of a motivator rah rah guy - which I don't think we need as much as a guy with a great mind and offensive system. I think Jenkins has that at least moreso than Brown.

My issue with Jenkins is that he also lost his locker room last season as I mentioned yesterday. But he seems to be a lil creative offensively and Memphis played solid d.

I can’t get behind Mike brown at all.

You coach Memphis, you gotta come strapped.

[MrDollarBills]

Yeah I know. I posted their connection yesterday. And apparently Mike brown did very good in his first interview with us before we hired Thibs. It’s definitely going to suck if they go through with this and hire him. I’m really hoping they give Jenkins a deeper look as Begley is suggesting they’re doing apparently. Cause I can at least talk myself into him. I’m gonna be toxic af if we get Mike brown.

Yea definitely not a fan of Brown - wasn't he fired because he lost the locker room?

I'm no expert but he's always seemed like a coach that isn't great with the Xs and Os and is more of a motivator rah rah guy - which I don't think we need as much as a guy with a great mind and offensive system. I think Jenkins has that at least moreso than Brown.

My issue with Jenkins is that he also lost his locker room last season as I mentioned yesterday. But he seems to be a lil creative offensively and Memphis played solid d.

I can’t get behind Mike brown at all.

This is what concerns me about Jenkins. How did he lose the team like that and how much was Memphis' offense his system or their new coach? I'd bring him in and see what his ideas would be to unlock this offense.

Mike Brown is a retread...Princeton offensive minded guy. Wouldn't mind him being on a Johnnie Bryant led staff to offer guidance.

[HEZI]

I think if any coach is willing to use a certain style of offense then that means he believes in it enough. Whether the idea was brought to him by the assistant coach or not, he went with it because he probably believed in it. I’m sure he is bringing at least some elements of that offense with him wherever he goes next.

As far as the locker room, they could have just followed Morants lead. Morant probably has more influence on those guys than the coach so they could have just followed his lead.

But all of these dudes were fired for a reason so there always going to be something out there regarding their last stint and why it didn’t work out because if it did they wouldn’t be available. Either way you look at it a risk will be taken

[3toheadmelo]

Why is Malone not in the mix, do we know?

This is baseless speculation but maybe what happened in Denver with both Malone and the GM getting booted right before the playoffs was a lot nastier than we know and people around the league may be wary.

I mean, if not for that I don't see why he's not being offered an interview. Couldn't hurt especially when he won a title with poor defenders at the one and 5.

Not my choice tho.

Check this article. Malone sounds really toxic. I would pass.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/44622610/why-denver-nuggets-fired-michael-malone-calvin-booth-just-days-left-nba-season

[3toheadmelo]

Yea definitely not a fan of Brown - wasn't he fired because he lost the locker room?

I'm no expert but he's always seemed like a coach that isn't great with the Xs and Os and is more of a motivator rah rah guy - which I don't think we need as much as a guy with a great mind and offensive system. I think Jenkins has that at least moreso than Brown.

My issue with Jenkins is that he also lost his locker room last season as I mentioned yesterday. But he seems to be a lil creative offensively and Memphis played solid d.

I can’t get behind Mike brown at all.

This is what concerns me about Jenkins. How did he lose the team like that and how much was Memphis' offense his system or their new coach? I'd bring him in and see what his ideas would be to unlock this offense.

Mike Brown is a retread...Princeton offensive minded guy. Wouldn't mind him being on a Johnnie Bryant led staff to offer guidance.

From my understanding is that Jenkins was done dirty by Memphis and my theory is that his assistances running the offense is what led to him losing the locker room.

Offensively, the Grizzlies had become something of a science experiment this season, offering glimpses at how several radical offensive concepts from Europe, and spacing principles found in hockey and soccer, would work in the NBA, but also how difficult it is to get full buy-in from players to implement them

There were two architects and one supervisor -- Jenkins -- charged with blending the competing visions. One was Tuomas Iisalo, a Finnish coach who'd had a meteoric rise in Europe by implementing innovative offensive concepts around pick-and-roll schemes, pacing and offensive rebounding. Another was player development specialist Noah LaRoche, whom the Grizzlies had lured from a consulting role with the San Antonio Spurs and charged with teaching an offense that prioritized spacing and largely did away with pick-and-rolls and dribble handoffs.

Jenkins, the fifth-longest-tenured NBA coach, had never met either of the assistants before interviewing them, one source said.

Still, the Grizzlies paid a seven-figure buyout to Paris Basketball, which Iisalo (pronounced EE-za-lo) coached to a EuroCup championship last season. Memphis also gave Iisalo and LaRoche seven-figure salaries. That's especially lucrative for a second-row assistant such as LaRoche, but it's also extraordinarily unusual for a second-row assistant to have his fingerprints all over the revamping of a team's offensive system. In fact, Memphis hired LaRoche first (in May 2024) with the intention of building the staff of assistants around him, one source said. The club wouldn't bring in Iisalo until nearly two months later.

To make room for these new voices, Kleiman insisted Jenkins replace five of the assistant coaches who'd been with him throughout his time in Memphis: Brad Jones, Blake Ahearn, Scoonie Penn, Vitaly Potapenko and Sonia Raman.

Jenkins went along with the request, in an effort to be a good partner, said a league source, who added, "Taylor shouldn't have allowed that to happen."

The coach was so upset at the news he'd have to deliver to each of his longtime assistants, he invited each over to his house in Memphis for individual sessions.

The front office felt the new approach needed space to get off the ground, according to a source. So the club cut ties with virtually everyone associated with the team's ways of the past.

"It was a total shock because we'd already had our exit meetings and were preparing for the summer," one former assistant said. "We'd all gone away for a few weeks and came back to start work again. Taylor felt so bad about it. But apparently they decided to go in another direction."

"Going in another direction" has become cliché -- a nice way of glossing over a difficult situation and avoiding specific issues. But in this case that's exactly what it was.

"They were going all-in on these new concepts," another source close to the situation said.

The immediate, unintended effect was to signal to the rest of the league, and the Grizzlies' players, that Jenkins was on thin ice.

"Players aren't stupid," another source said. "They know where this is heading when you fire five assistants after the season."

And when the job is getting players to buy into new offensive concepts, already uncomfortable for most NBA players, being taught different schemes by two assistant coaches immediately undercut Jenkins' authority.

[Fury]

My issue with Jenkins is that he also lost his locker room last season as I mentioned yesterday. But he seems to be a lil creative offensively and Memphis played solid d.

I can’t get behind Mike brown at all.

This is what concerns me about Jenkins. How did he lose the team like that and how much was Memphis' offense his system or their new coach? I'd bring him in and see what his ideas would be to unlock this offense.

Mike Brown is a retread...Princeton offensive minded guy. Wouldn't mind him being on a Johnnie Bryant led staff to offer guidance.

From my understanding is that Jenkins was done dirty by Memphis and my theory is that his assistances running the offense is what led to him losing the locker room.

Offensively, the Grizzlies had become something of a science experiment this season, offering glimpses at how several radical offensive concepts from Europe, and spacing principles found in hockey and soccer, would work in the NBA, but also how difficult it is to get full buy-in from players to implement them

There were two architects and one supervisor -- Jenkins -- charged with blending the competing visions. One was Tuomas Iisalo, a Finnish coach who'd had a meteoric rise in Europe by implementing innovative offensive concepts around pick-and-roll schemes, pacing and offensive rebounding. Another was player development specialist Noah LaRoche, whom the Grizzlies had lured from a consulting role with the San Antonio Spurs and charged with teaching an offense that prioritized spacing and largely did away with pick-and-rolls and dribble handoffs.

Jenkins, the fifth-longest-tenured NBA coach, had never met either of the assistants before interviewing them, one source said.

Still, the Grizzlies paid a seven-figure buyout to Paris Basketball, which Iisalo (pronounced EE-za-lo) coached to a EuroCup championship last season. Memphis also gave Iisalo and LaRoche seven-figure salaries. That's especially lucrative for a second-row assistant such as LaRoche, but it's also extraordinarily unusual for a second-row assistant to have his fingerprints all over the revamping of a team's offensive system. In fact, Memphis hired LaRoche first (in May 2024) with the intention of building the staff of assistants around him, one source said. The club wouldn't bring in Iisalo until nearly two months later.

To make room for these new voices, Kleiman insisted Jenkins replace five of the assistant coaches who'd been with him throughout his time in Memphis: Brad Jones, Blake Ahearn, Scoonie Penn, Vitaly Potapenko and Sonia Raman.

Jenkins went along with the request, in an effort to be a good partner, said a league source, who added, "Taylor shouldn't have allowed that to happen."

The coach was so upset at the news he'd have to deliver to each of his longtime assistants, he invited each over to his house in Memphis for individual sessions.

The front office felt the new approach needed space to get off the ground, according to a source. So the club cut ties with virtually everyone associated with the team's ways of the past.

"It was a total shock because we'd already had our exit meetings and were preparing for the summer," one former assistant said. "We'd all gone away for a few weeks and came back to start work again. Taylor felt so bad about it. But apparently they decided to go in another direction."

"Going in another direction" has become cliché -- a nice way of glossing over a difficult situation and avoiding specific issues. But in this case that's exactly what it was.

"They were going all-in on these new concepts," another source close to the situation said.

The immediate, unintended effect was to signal to the rest of the league, and the Grizzlies' players, that Jenkins was on thin ice.

"Players aren't stupid," another source said. "They know where this is heading when you fire five assistants after the season."

And when the job is getting players to buy into new offensive concepts, already uncomfortable for most NBA players, being taught different schemes by two assistant coaches immediately undercut Jenkins' authority.

I hope he still has a good relationship with his former assistants. It sucks that he stayed on the job after they let go, but maybe they still maintained contact.

[8516knicks]

John Salley says on youtube Jason Kidd would be wonderful for the Knicks. But he also thinks the same of Mark jackson. says Knicks didn't have the rescources (backups?) to keep Brunson fresh and the Pacers figured him out the last 2 games when he was "spent."

[3toheadmelo]

I think if any coach is willing to use a certain style of offense then that means he believes in it enough. Whether the idea was brought to him by the assistant coach or not, he went with it because he probably believed in it. I’m sure he is bringing at least some elements of that offense with him wherever he goes next.

As far as the locker room, they could have just followed Morants lead. Morant probably has more influence on those guys than the coach so they could have just followed his lead.

But all of these dudes were fired for a reason so there always going to be something out there regarding their last stint and why it didn’t work out because if it did they wouldn’t be available. Either way you look at it a risk will be taken

Yep, all of them have a risk. That’s the big gamble we’re taking with firing thibs. It is what it is though. If it comes down to Jenkins or Brown you gotta take the risk on Jenkins. I can’t talk myself into Brown.

[WaltFrazier]

Why is Malone not in the mix, do we know?

This is baseless speculation but maybe what happened in Denver with both Malone and the GM getting booted right before the playoffs was a lot nastier than we know and people around the league may be wary.

I mean, if not for that I don't see why he's not being offered an interview. Couldn't hurt especially when he won a title with poor defenders at the one and 5.

Not my choice tho.

Check this article. Malone sounds really toxic. I would pass.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/44622610/why-denver-nuggets-fired-michael-malone-calvin-booth-just-days-left-nba-season

Sounds like blame is divided between Malone, Booth and ownership. Sometimes a good situation falls apart, like with Pat Riley and the Lakers. I have to think Malone will coach again. But I guess not in NY.

[KnixinSix]

All the grizzlies fans are saying Jenkins is the anti thibs to a fault. No starters over 30 mins, too many funky lineups to keep minutes low, pulling guys in rhythm or on hot streaks to limit minutes. Too much motion on offense, difficult to implement and execute. Takes the ball out of your best players hands too often.

Idk nothing about the grizzlies really impressed me to the point where I would be jumping for joy at a Jenkins signing

Interesting. This might be a 'swing the pendulum too far the other way' type coach.

[GettinitDone]

Spo would install Heat culture so it's gonna be called Knick culture lol

8% body fat requirement too

[KnixinSix]

I think if any coach is willing to use a certain style of offense then that means he believes in it enough. Whether the idea was brought to him by the assistant coach or not, he went with it because he probably believed in it. I’m sure he is bringing at least some elements of that offense with him wherever he goes next.

As far as the locker room, they could have just followed Morants lead. Morant probably has more influence on those guys than the coach so they could have just followed his lead.

But all of these dudes were fired for a reason so there always going to be something out there regarding their last stint and why it didn’t work out because if it did they wouldn’t be available. Either way you look at it a risk will be taken

Yep, all of them have a risk. That’s the big gamble we’re taking with firing thibs. It is what it is though. If it comes down to Jenkins or Brown you gotta take the risk on Jenkins. I can’t talk myself into Brown.

Probably why it definitely seems Kidd is higher up on wish list pending if we can work something out there....

Why do you dislike Brown so much?

[BKlutch]

I want Spo for two reasons. First, he's definitely a great and seasoned coach. Second, it would be a kick in the nuts to Pat the rat. Both would be very satisfying.

He’s not coming here. You have to be realistic.

Of course I know that. The only way he'd leave his beloved Florida is if he had a huge fight with Riley, which isn't happening. But still want to find any way possible to give some payback to the rat.

From what I've seen, of the coaches who are available, I like Jenkins a lot.

[BKlutch]

I want Spo for two reasons. First, he's definitely a great and seasoned coach. Second, it would be a kick in the nuts to Pat the rat. Both would be very satisfying.

Spo would be incredible but he seems bound to the Miami Heat.

Like any good gangster, Pat the Rat has really set things up well for himself. That's why revenge for him abandoning the Knicks is so hard. We'll just have to beat his arse every time we play the Heat.