The Knicks head coach search is in progress with a few names being mentioned as potential candidates. Others are only products of a churning rumor mill. Here is my ranking of the potential Knicks head coach candidates for 2020 and beyond.
1. Kenny Atkinson
If I was the Knicks president, this would be an extremely easy hire for me to make. Kenny Atkinson would be the next head coach of the New York Knicks.
USA TODAY images He got his teams to play defense (8th in defensive rating when he was fired) and embraces modern offensive tendencies (5th in three-point attempts per game, 7th in free throw attempts per game). He is young, has been a head coach in New York, and was once an assistant for the Knicks. What’s not to like?
His hard-driving ways and adherence to playing a certain way might turn some star players off (see: Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving) but for a young developing team like the Knicks, he is perfect. We know he is a good coach, and he was never given the opportunity to prove if he was a great coach. The Knicks should take the chance to find out if he is.
2. Tom Thibodeau
It was not easy selecting my second favorite candidate for the Knicks job, but I think Thibodeau has too high of a floor with his past success in the league for me to choose anyone else. I do not think he is close to as good of a candidate as Atkinson. According to most reports, Thibodeau is the favorite to land the Knicks job.
Thibodeau got to the Eastern Conference Finals once and the semifinals twice in a five year span, while losing in the first round of the playoffs twice, with the Bulls. If not for injuries to Derrick Rose, he could have went deeper into the playoffs on different occasions. He has a .589 career winning percentage in 596 NBA games as a head coach. At one point, he was the top defensive mind in the NBA.
So, what’s the problem? His defense flopped in Minnesota, but he was saddled with poor defensive personnel. Or was it an outdated system that did him in? He consistently plays his best players so much they land near the top of the league in minutes per game. The league now focuses on load management. His teams do not embrace the three-point shot like others in the modern NBA, though his Minnesota teams ranked in the top ten of the league offensively.
Thibodeau hasn’t coached in more than a year after being fired midway through the 2018-2019 season. He has traveled to pro and college teams to pick up new ideas, which should help him learn from his mistakes. Will he? Asking an older tiger to change his stripes can be a dangerous thing. Even with that risk, he would be a safe bet to bring the Knicks can from the doldrums to respectability within a couple of years.
3. John Calipari
Getty Images 4. Jeff Van Gundy
Is this nostalgia? Yes. Am I a sucker? Probably. When Jeff Van Gundy coached in the NBA he was good at his job. His offense too often degenerated into isolation basketball (which was typical of the era he coached in), but he was a good defensive coach. Based on what he says on ABC television broadcasts, he seems to understand how the game has changed. He embraces the more modern NBA concepts. He has coached young players on Team USA team in World Cup qualifiers. He would immediately have the respect and support of Knicks fans. I make Van Gundy fourth precisely because I think he has a long enough track record of success in the NBA that gives him a relatively high floor. I’m also a sucker for people associated with the 90’s Knicks. I am biased and willing to admit it. There are no recent reports indicated Van Gundy is a real candidate for the job.
5. Mike Miller
He’s the devil I know. I’m pretty sure Mike Miller is a competent head coach. He knows how to put in basic sets on offense and use a consistent defensive strategy to improve the results from David Fizdale’s lack of direction early last season. He also didn’t do anything to make me think he is going to be innovative or a forward thinker. Miller did handle the media spotlight well, and often ended up being the spokesperson for the entire organization. He always handled everything with class and dignity. For once, the Knicks had someone that could deflate tense situations.
Some of Miller’s lineup combinations were baffling during the season and his insistence on playing struggling veterans over younger players has no logical explanation. There are reports Miller might return as part of the organization regardless of who the new coach is, which would be welcome news.
6. Jerry Stackhouse
Stackhouse could be as high as number two or three on this list if all I was concerned with was upside. Stackhouse won a championship and a Coach of the Year award in the NBA G-League. He was an assistant coach for the Raptors and Grizzlies. In 2019 he became the head coach for Vanderbilt University. His resume is strong. He is young and a former NBA player.
There’s a chance Stackhouse could be a tremendous NBA head coach someday, but the Knicks need someone to be a stabilizing force that can hold the job for more than two seasons. Until someone is a head coach in the NBA, it is hard to know whether or not the person will be good at the job. The Knicks are in a position where being risk averse is probably the way to go. It hurts someone like Stackhouse who will be deserving of a NBA head coaching job at some point in the future. For this time in the Knicks history, he is just too risky and too much of an unknown.
Getty Images It is true that Mike Woodson was the head coach for the Knicks best season in the 21st century. The Knicks won 54 games and got to the second round of the playoffs in 2014 by playing small and embracing the three-point shot. It was as though he carried over some of Mike D’Antoni’s system.
The following season, partially hampered by a different roster, Woodson decided playing big was a better idea because he thought the Eastern Conference was too big. The team plummeted to a 37-45 record. He was fired when Phil Jackson was hired as team president that offseason.
Woodson voluntarily going away from a style and approach that helped the Knicks to their best record since Jeff Van Gundy was head coach is a near-disqualifier. There was never any indication he understood the error he made. He is not a bad coach, but there’s no reason to think he would be better in his second go-around with the Knicks.
8. Mark Jackson
No. Just no. Thankfully, there are no rumors Mark Jackson will get hired by the Knicks.
Or if you prefer this epic Twitter thread from Alex Wolfe.
You can follow John on Twitter for everything Knicks, Giants and the world of sports at @Schmeelk. You can also subscribe to John's Knicks Podcast, The Bank Shot, here. It is also on Stitcher and most podcast platforms. The most recent episode is with Mike Vorkunov, who helped break the news on the Knicks impending coaching search. Listen here.