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Knicks Set To Begin Head Coaching Search

June 4th, 2020 at 5:07pm CST by Luke Adams

Now that the Knicks‘ season is officially over, the team is set to launch its search for a permanent head coach, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links).

Wojnarowski reiterates a point we’ve heard multiple times within the last week or two: Tom Thibodeau will be the frontrunner out of the gate to land the job. However, former Nets coach Kenny Atkinson and current Knicks interim head coach Mike Miller are also expected to be interviewed.

As we detailed earlier today, Mike Woodson, who previously coached the Knicks from 2012-14 and interviewed for the job again in 2018, is among the candidates the team plans to interview too. Thibodeau, Atkinson, and Woodson have all been represented by Creative Artists Agency, giving them a connection to new Knicks president of basketball operations – and former CAA co-head – Leon Rose.

The Knicks are unlikely to be the only bottom-eight team to begin addressing offseason business – such as a head coaching search –  now that their season is over. The Bulls, for instance, are one of the eight clubs that won’t be involved in the NBA’s restart, and there have been rumblings for weeks that Jim Boylen is very much on the hot seat.

No other head coaches on the league’s bottom eight teams are obvious candidates to be replaced this summer, but if any of those clubs want to make other changes to their coaching staffs or front offices, there’s no longer a reason to postpone that process.

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Knicks Plan To Interview Mike Woodson For Head Coach Job

June 4th, 2020 at 11:51am CST by Luke Adams

Former New York head coach Mike Woodson is among the candidates the Knicks plan to interview when the team officially launches its head coaching search, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link).

Woodson, who also previously served as the head coach of the Hawks, was the lead man on the Knicks’ bench for two-plus seasons from 2012-14. During his time as New York’s head coach, Woodson led the club to a 109-79 (.580) regular season record, making the playoffs twice and winning a series in 2013 — that was the last time the Knicks appeared in the postseason.

A Creative Artists Agency client, Woodson has a connection with new Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose, who previously worked at CAA, notes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Woodson also interviewed for the Knicks’ head coaching job in 2018, but lost out to David Fizdale.

Multiple reports within the last couple weeks have indicated that Tom Thibodeau is believed to be the frontrunner for the Knicks’ head coaching vacancy. However, Kenny Atkinson and current interim head coach Mike Miller are also expected to be interviewed.

Before reporting the Knicks’ intentions to meet with Woodson, Begley wrote earlier today that the club’s plan is to meet with more candidates than just Thibodeau, Atkinson, and Miller.

New York’s head coaching search hasn’t formally begun, but that could happen soon — if the NBA’s 22-team resumption format is approved, as expected, it will effectively end the Knicks’ season, clearing a path for the franchise to begin handling offseason business.

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Latest On The NBA’s Lottery Plans

June 3rd, 2020 at 9:13pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The NBA is expected to finalize a proposal on Thursday that will send 22 teams to Orlando in order to finish out the season. It will be a unique experience for a number of reasons — one interesting wrinkle will be how the league determines the lottery odds for 2020 without all of the clubs playing the same number of games.

The Warriors, Cavaliers, Timberwolves, Hawks, Pistons, Knicks, Bulls, and Hornets will likely be locked into the top eight lottery slots, a source tells Hoops Rumors. The order within the top eight has yet to be determined, but the structure means the Wizards couldn’t go 0-8 this summer when the season resumes and land a better position in the lottery than those teams that won’t be playing.

It’s “part of the tradeoff” for the franchises that won’t be given a chance to resume their campaigns, per the source. Another scenario discussed was freezing the lottery as it stands, allowing no movement up or down by any team, even those in the 9-14 positions. Either way, the top eight are expected to be assured of their standing.

Both the lottery and the combine had been postponed indefinitely, though they are now expected to take place in August. Nothing is finalized as of this writing, including the proposal to return.

Here’s a look at the odds of each lottery position as well as the order of teams, should the league go with the current standings:

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
GSW 14 13.4 12.7 12 47.9 – – – – – – – – –
CLE 14 13.4 12.7 12 27.8 20 – – – – – – – –
MIN 14 13.4 12.7 12 14.8 26 7.1 – – – – – – –
ATL 12.5 12.2 11.9 11.5 7.2 25.7 16.8 2.2 – – – – – –
DET 10.5 10.5 10.6 10.5 2.2 19.6 26.7 8.8 0.6 – – – – –
NYK 9 9.2 9.4 9.6 – 8.6 29.6 20.6 3.8 0.2 – – – –
CHI 7.5 7.8 8.1 8.5 – – 19.7 34.1 12.9 1.3 >0 – – –
CHA 6 6.3 6.7 7.2 – – – 34.5 32.1 6.7 0.4 >0 – –
WSH* 4.5 4.8 5.2 5.7 – – – – 50.7 25.9 3 0.1 >0 –
PHX* 3 3.3 3.6 4 – – – – – 65.9 18.9 1.2 >0 >0
SAS* 2 2.2 2.4 2.8 – – – – – – 77.6 12.6 0.4 >0
SAC** 1.3 1.4 1.6 1.8 – – – – – – – 86.1 7.6 0.1
NO** 1.2 1.3 1.5 1.7 – – – – – – – – 92.0 2.3
POR* 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.7 – – – – – – – – – 97.6

*Will play eight more regular season games

** The Kings and Pelicans have matching 28-36 records and would be subject to a random tiebreaker to determine which team gets the No. 12 slot and which gets No. 13. Their spots in this list (and their odds) could be flipped if the NBA ends up freezing the standings to determine the lottery’s order.

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Dolan's Silence On George Floyd Upsets Knicks Players, Employees

June 2nd, 2020 at 5:02pm CST by Luke Adams
  • A number of Knicks players and employees were “furious” that the team didn’t make a public statement about the death of George Floyd, according to Pablo S. Torre of ESPN (Twitter link), who passed along an internal memo sent to MSG employees by owner James Dolan explaining the team’s silence. Several Knicks players marched in protests or expressed their opinions on social media, tweets Adam Zagoria of Forbes. Meanwhile, Torre tweets that “dozens of disgruntled” MSG employees met today without Dolan to discuss his memo, prompting the Knicks’ owner to issue another message to his employees. Ian Begley of SNY.tv has the details on that.
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Knicks’ Coaching Job Considered Thibodeau’s To Lose?

June 1st, 2020 at 10:44am CST by Luke Adams

After a report last week suggested that Tom Thibodeau topped the Knicks‘ wish list in their head coaching search, multiple updates since then have reiterated that Thibodeau looks like the frontrunner for the job.

Sources tell Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News that Thibodeau is the “heavy favorite” to become the Knicks’ next head coach. Bondy cautions that other candidates – including Mike Miller, Kenny Atkinson, and perhaps even John Calipari – are in play, but says there’s a belief that the position is Thibodeau’s to lose. A source tells The Daily News that Thibodeau is confident enough about his chances that he has already made calls about assembling a staff.

Citing Thibodeau’s longstanding relationship with new Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose, Marc Berman of The New York Post also says there’s an “excellent chance” that the team will zero in on Thibodeau when its head coaching search officially gets underway.

Additionally, Berman hears from sources that members of Thibodeau’s past Bulls and Timberwolves staffs will likely be interested in joining him in New York if he’s hired by the Knicks. Berman specifically cites Andy Greer, Larry Greer, and Dice Yoshimoto as coaches Thibodeau might look to bring with him if given the opportunity.

The Knicks’ search hasn’t begun in earnest yet, but as Berman points out, there’s a good chance that the club won’t part of a resumed NBA season — reports last week indicated that the league favors a 20-team or 22-team restart. If the NBA officially moves forward with a plan that excludes the Knicks, there would be little reason for the franchise to delay its head coaching search until after the resumption of the season.

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Eastern Notes: Knicks, Jones Jr., Magic, Raptors

May 31st, 2020 at 5:03pm CST by JD Shaw

The Knicks have several areas in need of improving this offseason, with some in the franchise believing that acquiring a lead guard who creates shots should be a top priority for the team, Ian Begley of SNY writes.

Other focal points (prior to Leon Rose being hired) included finding a big man who can spread the floor, Begley notes, adding that one opposing executive in contact with New York said part of the team’s offseason thinking will be finding players who complement RJ Barrett.

“If you want to complement Barrett, that’s where I’d go,” the executive said. “Adding (a guard and big man who can shoot from the perimeter), you space the floor and make things easier for him. The floor was so crowded for them this year.”

The Knicks held a 21-45 record when the NBA season was suspended indefinitely on March 11, good for fourth-worst in the Eastern Conference and sixth-worst in the league. The team had an underwhelming 2019 offseason and fired head coach David Fizdale 22 games into the campaign.

Here are some other notes from the Eastern Conference tonight:

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Knicks Notes: Ewing, Hayes, Facility, Nwora

May 30th, 2020 at 10:04am CST by Arthur Hill

Knicks legend Patrick Ewing would likely be a candidate in the search for a new head coach if Steve Mills hadn’t been fired as team president, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. A source tells Berman that Mills contacted Ewing two years ago before hiring David Fizdale. Ewing had just finished his first season at Georgetown and wasn’t ready to consider leaving. He was not among the 11 candidates that Mills interviewed.

Berman suggests Ewing could be in play for a top assistant’s role under Tom Thibodeau, who is rumored to be the favorite to replace Mike Miller. Thibodeau spent four years as a Knicks assistant while Ewing was still playing.

The former NBA star doesn’t have the advantage of a prior relationship with new president of basketball operations Leon Rose like Thibodeau, Kenny Atkinson and John Calipari all do. Ewing was represented by David Falk during his playing days. Still, he is believed to prefer the NBA over college basketball and Berman believes there’s a good chance he will eventually make his way to the Knicks.

There’s more this morning from New York:

  • French point guard Killian Hayes may be too similar to Frank Ntilikina for the Knicks to be interested, Berman adds in the same piece. Berman states that scouts are concerned about Hayes’ speed and he may be too much of a project to interest New York at No. 6, assuming the team stays there. He suggests Rose might be more willing to gamble on a scoring point guard like North Carolina’s Cole Anthony.
  • In a separate piece, Berman examines the benefits of the Knicks reopening their training facility, even though they won’t be part of the group resuming the season in Orlando. It will give their players a location where they can work out safely with minimal risk of being exposed to the coronavirus. Most of the team’s players left the New York area during the shutdown, but Taj Gibson and Maurice Harkless remained and Mitchell Robinson has returned. A source tells Berman it’s “a long shot” that the Knicks’ season will continue.
  • Louisville forward Jordan Nwora, an early entrant in this year’s draft, tells Adam Zagoria of Forbes that he has participated in Zoom calls with about 20 teams, including the Knicks (Twitter link). Nwora is projected to be taken in the second round, and New York has two second-round picks.
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Knicks, Celtics Reopening Practice Facilities

May 29th, 2020 at 3:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Two more teams are reopening their practice facilities, as the NBA moves toward having all 30 teams back in their buildings for voluntary individual workouts.

The Knicks announced (via Twitter) that they reopened the MSG Training Center today, while the Celtics said in a press release that they’ll do the same with the Auerbach Center on Monday, June 1. Both teams noted in their statements that they’ll be adhering to the safety guidelines established by the NBA and local health officials.

Reopening practice facilities has been the first step for the NBA and its teams as it works toward potentially resuming the 2019/20 season this summer. A total of 24 teams have now reopened their respective buildings to players, with the Celtics set to do so on Monday and the Bulls planning to follow suit on Wednesday.

That leaves just four teams that have yet to get back into their facilities. Two of those clubs – the Warriors and Pistons – are far removed from the playoff hunt, while the other two – the Spurs and Wizards – could still have a path to the postseason under certain play-in scenarios.

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Knicks Won't Launch HC Search Until They Get Clarity On Season

May 28th, 2020 at 1:38pm CST by Luke Adams
  • The Knicks don’t plan to formally launch their head coaching search until they find out whether or not their season is over, sources tell Marc Berman of The New York Post. We heard on Wednesday that Tom Thibodeau and Kenny Atkinson are expected to be among the club’s candidates in that search.
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Knicks Targeting Thibodeau As Head Coach

May 27th, 2020 at 12:48pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks will soon begin the process of hiring a new head coach and Tom Thibodeau tops their wish list, The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Mike Vorkunov report. Former Nets coach Kenny Atkinson is also likely to be interviewed, according to the report.

The front office is hoping to make a decision in the next few weeks.

Interim coach Mike Miller is still in the running for the job, The Athletic duo adds. Miller has left a strong impression on new president of basketball operations Leon Rose and is expected to receive an interview. Miller would coach out the remainder of a resumed season, if the Knicks are part of it, and would likely be given the chance to remain with the franchise in some coaching capacity even if he doesn’t get the full-time gig.

Thibodeau, the former Bulls and Timberwolves coach, has been considered a prime candidate for the job for months and the latest report confirms that notion. Thibodeau compiled a 352-246 record in seven-plus seasons with his previous two teams.

The Nets surprisingly parted ways with Atkinson in early March with the injury-riddled team at 28-34 and holding a playoff spot. He had an overall record of 118-190 (.383) in nearly four full seasons.

The timetable for the coaching search and final choice for the opening could be impacted by the NBA’s decision on which teams return to play and when the season would restart.

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