Knicks starting to get picked at over coach search
Knicks president Leon Rose looks on during a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 1, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
For Cooper Flagg, finally hearing his name announced with the first pick, bound for the Dallas Mavericks, Wednesday night provided a conclusion to a process that was set in stone for months — maybe longer.
There was no confusion about where Flagg would go. But there certainly could be uncertainty about what comes next.
If you look at it from a glass half-full approach, Flagg could see himself headed to a team that includes three likely Hall of Famers in Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson rather than the usual destination for a top pick, having to join a dysfunctional mess that piled up losses.
But maybe someone will whisper to him that the situation he is about to be a part of, saddled with expectations already of a possible championship-contending team, comes with its own issues. Luka Doncic was the golden child in Dallas until he wasn’t, traded in a move that shocked the NBA world and had Mavericks fans protesting and chanting for general manager Nico Harrison to be fired while the team missed out on the postseason a year after reaching the NBA Finals. Irving is expected to miss most of next season after suffering an Achilles tear this season.
The most pressing issue might be just who is going to be coaching Flagg. Jason Kidd remains a target for the Knicks, who requested permission to speak to him for their vacant head coaching job and were rebuffed — a rejection that didn’t shut down their interest. In the meantime, Kidd’s lead assistant has already jumped ship, joining the San Antonio Spurs as associate head coach, after turning down an overture from the Knicks to interview for their head coaching job. Two other assistants, Jared Dudley and God Shammgod, are both rumored to be on their way out to other teams, too.
Until the Knicks give in and name someone else or Kidd gets a healthy raise and contract extension the rumors won’t stop. Kidd was one of five head coaches under contract that the Knicks requested permission on and one, Ime Udoka, of the Houston Rockets, already received a contract extension. The Chicago Bulls didn’t allow the Knicks to approach Billy Donovan and the team is reportedly working on an extension with the Long Island native. The Knicks inquired about Minnesota’s Chris Finch and Atlanta’s Quin Snyder and were shut down.
Mike Brown, fired by Sacramento this season, and Taylor Jenkins, who was fired with just nine games left in the season by Memphis, both interviewed, as did Minnesota assistant coach Micah Nori. According to a league source the team has been granted permission to speak next week with former Charlotte head coach and current Pelicans assistant James Borrego.
The names who have been revealed to have interviewed aren’t going to excite or satisfy a fan base that saw Tom Thibodeau get fired days after the season ended — a season in which he led the team to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in a quarter century, completing a five-year term in which they made the playoffs four times, got at least as far as the Eastern Conference semifinals in each of the last three seasons and most important, returned to a stable and respected organization.
Maybe not so much now.
“Now I don’t know what they’re going to do with their coaching staff,” Andy Miller, executive vice president for Klutch Sports Group, who represents all three of those Dallas assistants, said in an interview on SiriusXM NBA radio. “And I don’t know, again this goes back to philosophically, with regard to Jason, I don’t really know where Jason is in his process with the Knicks, because I don’t really know what the process is with the Knicks — not because I don’t know, but I don’t know if the Knicks even know what the process is. So it’s really hard to tell.”
It took one move — firing the coach — for the Knicks to find themselves back under the microscope.
“I think that creates an enormous amount of resentment between general managers,” Miller said. “ . . . Even in Houston as an example, I’m confident in saying Ime would have and deserved to get a new contract, so they were probably going down that path anyway, but when called for permission to interview with New York he got even greater leverage and he probably got an even better deal than Houston wanted to present to him at that point.
“So I can’t see Houston saying, ‘Thanks for asking for permission and making it public, New York Knicks.’ In these other situations where they’re calling for permission, they’re calling for permission for coaches under contract. If the roles were reversed would the Knicks permit someone to leave their organization while under contract just because they could take a lateral job? Probably not. So why would it be good for them and not for others? That doesn’t make any sense.”
One move, not even certainly a mistake yet — although the front office certainly had better get it right — can change everything. And that’s what Flagg will learn as he enters the NBA as maybe the most heralded top pick since LeBron James. Things change quickly and not always for the better.
So enjoy the moment, pulling on the Mavs hat, shaking hands with NBA commissioner Adam Silver. And then cross your fingers that the glass is half full.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
