About a week has passed since the Knicks fired Tom Thibodeau — the franchise’s winningest coach this century – on the heels of New York making the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years.
So far, everything about the franchise’s search for a new coach seems … odd.
The Knicks have interest in Jason Kidd, per league sources. The problem? Kidd, the coach of the Dallas Mavericks, has two years left on his contract. The Knicks, while they might be preparing to ask for permission to interview Kidd for their vacancy, have not yet made a formal request. There has yet to be any contact as of Monday morning, per a Mavericks team source. And yet, when that time comes, per multiple league sources, the expectation is that the Mavericks will deny that request.
This brings us to this question: Did the Knicks fire Thibodeau without a no-hiccups successor in place?
A week into the search, it certainly feels that way.
New York is expected to do an exhaustive search that includes coaches at every level, per league sources. However, the expectation for this franchise is to win a championship. Whoever is hired has to carry the weight of that.
The Knicks decided to move on from Thibodeau — a decision that The Athletic reported after the Knicks’ season ended was in the hands of owner James Dolan — during a coaching cycle that isn’t overflowing with heavily experienced, successful head coaches.
Former Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone, a champion, is the biggest name on the market with championship experience. Malone, like Thibodeau, is a very good coach, but he shares many tendencies and traits with Thibodeau. Former Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown is an experienced name out there, as well. Former Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins is, too. Ex-Los Angeles Lakers Lakers head coach Darvin Ham and former Charlotte Hornets head coach James Borrego could also be of interest. They are all good coaches and have had various degrees of success, though only Malone has won a championship as a head coach among that group.
Would any of those names be clear-cut upgrades over Thibodeau? Not on paper, at least.
That the Knicks fired Thibodeau and are currently juggling the idea of trying to pry away currently employed head coaches suggests that Thibodeau’s firing might have been made without a sure-fire successor in mind. With that said, maybe the Knicks’ decision-makers really believe Kidd is attainable. The Mavericks head coach has connections to several members of the Knicks organization, including star guard Jalen Brunson and Knicks vice president of sports medicine Casey Smith. Furthermore, Kidd didn’t always enjoy being Dallas’ spokesperson in the aftermath of the franchise trading Luka Dončić, per league sources. In a Feb. 10 game against the Kings, Mavericks center Daniel Gafford got hurt. In the middle of the injury crisis, multiple fans were also ejected for protesting the Dončić trade. Kidd didn’t address the media afterward.
“I just needed a break,” Kidd explained Feb. 12 — two days later.
In New York, Kidd would continue to be the spokesperson. President Leon Rose hasn’t fielded questions from independent media in several years.
If Dallas were to deny the Knicks’ request, and Kidd would prefer to coach elsewhere, could he put up enough of a stink behind the scenes to make the organization’s decision-makers change their mind? It feels like the Knicks are banking on that. Even then, the Mavericks almost certainly would want draft compensation to facilitate such a rare move. New York, which depleted most of its draft capital over the last calendar year, would have to consider that as it moved forward in the process.
(Kidd was previously involved in a coaching trade. In 2014, the Milwaukee Bucks acquired his coaching rights from the Brooklyn Nets for two second-round picks.)
Lastly, maybe there is an expectation that owners get involved to work something out. They’ve proved they can work together in other settings. Dolan’s Sphere in Las Vegas is on property owned by Mavericks owner Miriam Adelson.
A lot of moving parts would have to work in the Knicks’ favor in order to make Jason Kidd their next head coach. There’s nothing wrong with targeting an employed head coach for their vacant position. Due diligence is good. It just seems a little odd that it appears to be Plan A.
The Knicks have backed themselves into a corner between the firing of Thibodeau and this upcoming hire. They’ve made it clear that what the winningest coach in recent franchise history did wasn’t good enough to reach their ultimate goal of a championship. It’ll be tough for New York’s suits to win the headlines and backpages with the next head coach, unless they have something up their sleeves, which is totally possible.
Until the big reveal, though, the Knicks appear to be in limbo. No available coach is an obvious upgrade or change of pace from Thibodeau. Getting a proven coach from another team seems far-fetched. Hiring an inexperienced or first-year head coach, while it might end up being the right decision a year from now, is a difficult sell to fans who now have heightened expectations after several successful seasons and based on the franchise’s own language following the firing of Thibodeau.
New York just has to get this right. Maybe it will. Right now, though, this all feels lackluster.
Christian Clark and Fred Katz contributed reporting.
(Photo: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)
