On the rare instance that Leon Rose has made a public comment since taking over as team president he said that he hoped to have a head coach in place by mid-to-late July. So as we approach the last week of July it might be worth wondering just why it hasn't happened.
Tom Thibodeau has been seen as the frontrunner for the job since Rose was put in place as team president March 1, the two having a long relationship from Rose's time running CAA's basketball division. And more important, Thibodeau has a history of success that makes it puzzling that he is even available for the Knicks to pursue him.
But according to a league source, Thibodeau, despite having gone through two interviews like the 10 other confirmed candidates, has not been offered a contract or begun any sort of negotiations on a deal. With reports surfacing on the Knicks Film School podcast Tuesday morning that Kenny Atkinson interviewed Monday, it raised issues of just where the Knicks coaching search stands.
Atkinson's interview was his second with the front office, which is believed to have completed the two rounds for all candidates. And it doesn't change the fact that Thibodeau is still seen as the preferred candidate, but Atkinson's willingness to interview again at this late date did cause some head-scratching around the league about whether it might mean that the job is not the sure thing for Thibodeau.
"We want to find the right leader that can develop our young players as well as hold everyone accountable and take us from development to becoming a perennial winner," Rose said last month in an interview with MSG Network's Mike Breen. "We also want somebody that we think will be collaborative with the front office and someone that when you're in that huddle and you're looking in that coach's eyes, every player that's looking at him knows that that person is driving the ship and is going to get the job done."
The holdup is not believed to be any dispute with contract talks not begun yet and the front office and coach expected to agree on how to form a staff of assistants. And Rose, with his background and relationship with Thibodeau, should have no trouble coming to terms on a deal if they go down that road.
But Rose has also taken a slow path through this process, doing his due diligence with the candidates even if league sources have believed that many of the 11 to be simply favors for old acquaintances at CAA, getting names of agency clients out there with some not believed to be real candidates for the head coaching job. Even some with prior experience like Mike Woodson are believed to be more in line for an assistant coaching position. Mike Miller, who has served as the team's interim head coach, is expected to be a part of the staff no matter who gets the head job.
Thibodeau, along with Woodson, has actually worked the sidelines for the Knicks. He was hired by Jeff Van Gundy in 1996 as an assistant and remained in place through 2003. He moved on to Houston to join Van Gundy there and then won a championship ring as an assistant with the Boston Celtics before getting his first head coaching opportunity with the Chicago Bulls in 2010. He made the postseason every season in Chicago and also brought the Minnesota Timberwolves to their first playoff berth in 14 seasons.
"I think like all great head coaches in basketball he has multiple strengths," Jeff Van Gundy said. "The mistake analyzing from the outside trying to pigeon hole him as just a defensive coach. He is incredible as a defensive teacher. But his best teams in Chicago and Minnesota, if you look at every statistical measurement they were terrific offensive teams. He's really good with players at all stages of their career, rookies and young people, veterans. He can help guys who are perimeter players and guys who are inside players. His overall abilities honed over the years makes him an exceptional candidate.
"When he started with us he was the guy now known as player development. Back then it was just known as making your players better. Besides that, he had this thirst for execution, for precision, that I thought was remarkable. I had known of him since he was an assistant at Harvard and I was a graduate assistant at Providence. I was amazed coming from Musselman and then a short bit with Jerry Tarkanian and John Lucas, the dude was so precise in all of his teaching. I think he helped all of the staff become more precise. He helped me immensely. I learned as much from him as he could have ever hoped to learn from me."
