When the Knicks abruptly fired Tom Thibodeau, the overriding consensus was that that they had a plan in place for his successor. With every passing day, it will seem that they by no means did.
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that each the Rockets and Timberwolves rejected requests from the Knicks to interview their respective head coaches, Ime Udoka and Chris Finch.
The report emerged shortly after The Athletic’s Sam Amick famous that Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, the Knicks’ different goal, prefers to stay in Dallas as an alternative of shifting to New York.
Now, the Knicks could also be compelled to show to former head coaches with out an energetic job — Michael Malone, Mike Budenholzer, Taylor Jenkins or Mike Brown — or maybe a newcomer like Johnnie Bryant, who served on Thibs’ employees for 4 years. Whatever the route they take, the incoming head coach would have each proper to really feel just like the “final resort” after the Knicks’ publicized curiosity in energetic coaches.
Veteran NBA coach P. J. Carlesimo believes the Knicks have proven their incompetence with how they’ve dealt with their teaching state of affairs.
“That is the Knicks. They do not know what they’re doing,” he told The Ringer’s Ryen Russillo. “They’re their very own worst enemy. They have been their very own worst enemy…I believed [Thibs] did a fantastic job. The place are they going? I do not know who made the choice…I do not consider the gamers made the choice.”
With only a few weeks left till the 2025 NBA Draft, the Knicks stay the one group with a head-coaching emptiness. The Nuggets (David Adelman), Grizzlies (Tuomas Iisalo), Kings (Doug Christie) and Suns (Jordan Ott) have all named replacements for his or her lately axed coaches. Usually, groups favor having a head coach within the conflict room throughout draft evening, given the importance of selections that might form the roster.
