Knicks making mess of coaching hire
The New York Knicks have not been legitimately good since the days of Patrick Ewing, John Starks and Charles Oakley. They have made the playoffs since, but rarely been able to make any progress, and have not been able to make the conference finals since 2000.
New York has been in the doldrums to say the least, and it appears it might stay there a while longer. After missing the playoffs once again, the Knicks are looking for a new head coach after firing Derek Fisher midseason only to hire assistant coach Kurt Rambis on an interim basis. Rambis now appears to be the favorite, despite most basketball people believing he did a poor job running the show at the end of the campaign.
The Knicks have to rebuild the roster for any coach to be successful, but Rambis being in New York for the next 2-3 years is begging for mediocrity. With all due respect to Rambis – who was a quality player in the 1980s for the Los Angeles Lakers on championship teams – he has no real coaching experience in such a prominent position and shouldn’t be getting his first shot in this spot.
New York needs a coach with ample experience to guide this ship. The Knicks have a very talented youngster in Kristaps Porzingis, perhaps the first player the Knicks have drafted with superstar talent since Ewing. New York also has a star in Carmelo Anthony, albeit a limited and aging one. With the salary cap exploding this summer due to television money, the Knicks should be angling to bring in a headliner name on the bench.
Instead, it appears that Rambis is the proverbial apple of Phil Jackson’s eye. Jackson has proven to be arguably the greatest head coach in NBA history, winning six championships with the Chicago Bulls before claiming another five in Los Angeles with the Lakers. However, he has done an atrocious job as team president in New York, failing to bring in leadership on the bench and talent on the court, sans Porzingis.
Ultimately, this can’t come as a shock to anybody who loves the Knicks or simply follows their daily activity. New York has been the epitome of bad management for the majority of this century with no end to the disaster in sight. At some juncture, owner Jim Dolan has to hire somebody competent (maybe complete luck is the best chance for folks who bleed orange and blue) and simply stay out of the damn way.
It’s a shame that the Knicks have come to this. They were once one of the proud franchises in basketball, royalty even. Now? They are a big-market joke, a punchline with national appeal.
