Who’s ready for another round of New York Knicks coaching rumors? While several teams have made movements in their coaching situation and many vacancies have already been filled, the Knicks continue to sit idly with no movement in either direction. The thought has been for a while now that New York will continue to roll with Kurt Rambis who assumed the job on an interim basis after Derek Fisher was fired. There has not been any statement made as to whether that is true or not, but there may be more evidence pointing to some truth behind the theory.
Brian Shaw has also been linked to the Knicks job. His relationship as an assistant coach to current Knicks president Phil Jackson and his role as a Triangle disciple made him one of the favorites to get the job should Rambis officially be removed from his position. But Shaw thinks otherwise, with the former Denver Nuggets head coach expecting to not even get an interview in New York.
“Kurt Rambis is there,” Shaw said on SportsCenter in explaining why he doesn’t anticipate to be interviewed. “He’s very adept at running the triangle, and if Phil Jackson wanted a coach that’s going to run that system for him, he has a guy that’s there that he has confidence in. So I don’t see him bringing in somebody else who has the knowledge of that system when he already has somebody there.”
That’s a tough pill to swallow if you’re a Knicks fan. The issue is not that Shaw is not getting consideration. For all we know and in his limited experience as a head coach, Shaw is not a great coach by any means and he is best known for using books about talking to millenials in order to communicate with his team. The issue, instead, is that the Knicks are very likely sticking with a coach with a proven track record of failure solely based on his role as a teacher of the Triangle offense.
This is a dangerous road to go down for the Knicks and fans have every right to be worried about the direction of the team under Phil Jackson. New York has been linked to both David Blatt and recently dismissed Frank Vogel but there has been no traction on that front. Meanwhile, the majority of great head coaches on the market have been hired away by others while the Knicks sit on their hands.
It’s difficult to see a scenario where Rambis is not the head coach of the Knicks next season. Perhaps he becomes an assistant coach to implement the triangle for a more defensively minded lead man like Vogel. Or perhaps the Knicks keep Rambis for one more year so that if Jackson chooses to walk away next summer (as some have speculated), the next GM could choose their own coach.
Regardless, this is a dangerous path to go down and the Knicks are risking their future, especially with the development of Kristaps Porzingis which took a negative turn when Kurt Rambis replaced Fisher mid-season.
There are questions to be asked in New York, and we may be nearing an answer to the biggest one.
