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Knicks Notes: J.R. Smith, Phil Jackson, Anthony

May 13th, 2012 at 8:50am CST by Daniel Seco

The Knicks face a series of offseason questions ranging from which players they will keep to help fill out their bench to whether Mike Woodson will return as head coach. Let's head to Madison Square Garden to check in on the latest headlines and stories making noise in New York City.

  • The Knicks are hoping J.R. Smith doesn't opt out of his $2.5MM contract and returns to the team next season, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post. The former Nuggets sharpshooter is a strong fit for the Knicks because he's comfortable coming off the bench as the team's sixth man. Smith, 26, averaged 12.5 PPG during the regular season but struggled during the playoffs against the Heat where his 3PT% was just .179.
  • Berman says Knicks owner James Dolan is foolish for not taking the opportunity to call Phil Jackson to see if the legendary coach had any interest in leading the Knicks next season. While Jackson is still recovering from knee replacement surgery, nothing would have been lost by Dolan calling the former Knicks forward to see if he wanted to assume the reigns from Woodson. Berman fears that the Knicks will be no better than the Woodson's Hawks teams except with die-hard fans and sellout crowds.
  • The Knicks will have to build their roster around Carmelo Anthony if they have any hope of beating the Heat during the playoffs in seasons to come, writes Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News. It's not so much that Anthony is the savior to the team's struggles but rather that the team has invested so heavily in him with the players they traded and the contract he signed that it would be too early to give up on him. Lupica says the team will need to get creative to find additional talent to add to the team's roster heading into next season.
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Coaching Rumors: Brown, Woodson, Jackson

May 12th, 2012 at 4:30pm CST by Chuck Myron
With a bunch of big-name coaches who aren't under contract for next year and the season coming to a close, there should be plenty of news on the coaching front for a while. Here's the latest:
  • Warren LeGarie, the agent for Lakers coach Mike Brown, feels confident his client will return to the bench next season after LeGarie spoke with GM Mitch Kupchak about comments former minority owner Magic Johnson made suggesting Brown would be fired if the team didn't win tonight, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links). Spears also tweets that the Lakers are expected to release a statement in support of Brown, and pointed out that Brown has two more guaranteed seasons left on his four-year, $20MM deal.
  • Dave McMenamin of ESPN LA tweets that Brown's job is not dependent on the result of Game 7 tonight, according to a source with knowledge of the Lakers' thinking. 
  • Brown said earlier today he was unfazed by what Johnson said, and had no indication there was any truth to it, tweeted NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper.
  • Frank Isola of the New York Daily News scolds Knicks coach Mike Woodson for giving into owner James Dolan's wishes regarding his choice of agents.
  • With Phil Jackson feeling better, Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld speculates about where he might coach next if he returns to the bench, mentioning the Knicks, Thunder, Bulls, Mavs, Magic and Lakers.
  • Rachel Shuster of USA Today wonders if the Bobcats might also be a landing spot for the Zen Master, since the owner is Michael Jordan, Jackson's first star pupil.
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Knicks Plan To Bring Back Mike Woodson

May 9th, 2012 at 8:28am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks aren't in good shape in the first round series against the Heat, plagued by injuries and down 3-1 heading into tonight's game in Miami. But despite the team's seemingly imminent playoff exit, interim coach Mike Woodson has been informed by owner James Dolan that the Knicks intend to bring him back for next season, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post.

A New York Daily News report this week suggested that the two sides had started discussing a contract extension for Woodson, though the Knicks' head coach adamently denied that to local media yesterday. According to Berman, the team will announce a new contract for its coach sometime after the season.

Although there had been plenty of speculation that the Knicks would pursue 11-time champion Phil Jackson for the permanent job, Berman hears from multiple sources that the club never contacted the former Bulls and Lakers coach.

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Knicks Notes: Jackson, Carmelo, Injuries, Novak

May 4th, 2012 at 8:34am CST by Luke Adams

When I asked Hoops Rumors readers earlier this week whether the Heat would finish off the Knicks in four games, over 64% of poll respondents predicted a sweep. Last night, Miami took another step toward sending New York home early, handing the Knicks their 13th consecutive postseason loss. Let's catch up on the latest out of New York, where the situation looks bleak for the hometown team:

  • Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports believes the best move the Knicks could make this offseason involves luring Phil Jackson to New York. With no salary limitations in play, the Knicks should offer three years and $40MM+, says Wojnarowski. The Yahoo! scribe adds that the Zen Master "isn't enthralled" with the Knicks' roster, though that doesn't necessarily mean he'd rule out the job.
  • Carmelo Anthony's performance in this series will rekindle discussion about whether the Knicks can win a championship with 'Melo leading the way, writes George Willis of the New York Post.
  • Jeremy Lin and Amare Stoudemire don't look like good bets to return for Game Four on Sunday. Lin says he's still too sore and not in good enough condition for game action, while Mike Woodson downplayed the likelihood of Amare being ready.
  • Steve Novak, who will become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has failed to impress in the playoffs, as Mark Hale of the New York Post writes. After going scoreless in Game Three, Novak has just nine points in the series, and his free agent stock could be taking a hit.
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Odds & Ends: Cavs, Deron, Suns, Iverson

April 27th, 2012 at 4:51pm CST by Luke Adams

While we try to survive the first day in two months with no NBA games, let's check in on some odds and ends from around the league:

  • Chris Grant spoke to Cleveland media today about the Cavaliers' future and Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal has a pair of interesting quotes from the GM. Grant says the team will have about $20MM in cap space but will be careful about how they use it, and adds that the Cavs "love" this year's draft.
  • Asked if there was a perfect situation for him in free agency, Deron Williams replied, "No, not with enough cap space to sign a max player" (via Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News).
  • Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic talked to a handful of Suns facing free agency, all of whom expressed some interest in returning to Phoenix.
  • Allen Iverson, currently in China for an NBA Legends Tour, didn't rule out the possibility of playing in the CBA next year, says Jon Pastuszek of NiuBBall.com.
  • Scottie Pippen told ESPN 1000 in Chicago that he could see Phil Jackson returning to coaching and thinks he'd be a great fit for the Knicks. ESPNChicago.com has the details.
  • Restricted free agent D.J. Augustin would like to return to the Bobcats, telling Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link) that he loves "the city, the people and the organization."
  • With the draft odds set, ESPN.com's Chad Ford (Insider-only) takes a look at some potential targets for the lottery teams.
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Woelfel On Knicks, Ilyasova, Stackhouse, Fesenko

April 25th, 2012 at 8:29am CST by Luke Adams

Earlier this morning, we passed along a report from Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times on Beno Udrih's decision to exercise his player option this summer. Within the same column, Woelfel also shared a few other items of interest, so let's round those up:

  • Woelfel is hearing that the Knicks will make a "major push" to hire Phil Jackson as their new coach if the team doesn't make it through the first round of the playoffs. However, a New York Post report suggests that interim coach Mike Woodson has become the odds-on favorite to earn the permanent position after the Knicks named Glen Grunwald their permanent GM.
  • The "growing consensus" among some NBA officials is that Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova will land a multiyear contract worth about $8MM annually in free agency this summer.
  • Hawks veteran Jerry Stackhouse is close to ending his playing career and pursuing a coaching position in either college or the pros. "I’m trying to transition into the next phase of my career," Stackhouse said. "I definitely want to be a head coach some day and I’m willing to pay my dues to make it happen."
  • The Bucks were interested in Kyrylo Fesenko before the big man signed with the Pacers. Said Fesenko: "I had a good workout with the Bucks. I was interested (in signing with them), but they kept asking me to wait and to wait and to wait and I couldn’t wait anymore. I don’t what they were waiting for, a magic moment or what?"
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D’Antoni Fallout: Carmelo, Lin, Amare, Phil Jackson

March 15th, 2012 at 8:07am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks and Mike D'Antoni parted ways yesterday due to "conflicting visions" about the team's future. Part of that conflict may have stemmed from D'Antoni's desire to trade Carmelo Anthony to the Nets in exchange for Deron Williams, an idea James Dolan adamantly opposed. Needless to say, players, coaches, and reporters around the league are talking about D'Antoni's exit from New York, so let's round up a few links on the subject:

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