The New York Knicks are long eliminated from 2016 playoff contention and they are now looking towards the future, whatever future they do have. Without a draft pick in 2016 but with a nice amount of cap room, the Knicks are going to have to get creative with their roster moves but before they do anything with the roster, they have to get a coach in place.
Since Derek Fisher’s firing, the Knicks have rolled with Kurt Rambis on an interim basis but his coaching chops have not been highly regarded at all and his atrocious head coaching record speaks to that. Yet despite Rambis’ horrible record, Phil Jackson still has a high interest in keeping his coaching disciple around on a permanent basis, at least until he leaves the Knicks.
There might be one problem with that, James Dolan could stop Phil Jackson from keeping Rambis and he could also have a replacement in mind.
Following from Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.
To Dolan’s credit, he is giving himself a safety net for when Jackson’s contract expires in two seasons or if Jackson decides to step away or is fired before his deal runs out.
Among the list of potential successors is believed to be Toronto Raptors GM Masai Ujiri, the highly regarded Africa-born executive who has an interesting history with Dolan.
The two worked on the Anthony trade when Ujiri worked for the Denver Nuggets. Ujiri also traded Andrea Bargnani to the Knicks for this year’s first-round pick and was prepared to trade Kyle Lowry to New York a few seasons ago before Dolan vetoed the move.
So clearly, this falls under the category, “if you can’t beat him, hire him.”
It’s also worth noting that Ujiri was originally brought to Toronto by Tim Leiweke, former CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE). Leiweke has since left Toronto and has started a business with Azoff. There’s that man again.
Ujiri is under contract for two more years so even if he wanted to leave Toronto there is no guarantee the Raptors would let him out of his deal. But that’s not the point. What’s interesting is that Dolan is already working on a back-up plan while Jackson’s builds a case for keeping Rambis.
