Also listening to Knicks Film School podcast, they seem pretty sure This is going to be coach (said something about how the media usually know a lot more than they're allowed to say)

I'm still going with Atkinson to Chicago.

smackeddog wrote:Berman seems to think JVG will go to Houston- think he's probably right about that, it would be a much better fit for him than we would be.

Also listening to Knicks Film School podcast, they seem pretty sure This is going to be coach (said something about how the media usually know a lot more than they're allowed to say)

I'm still going with Atkinson to Chicago.

Yeah, like that time we signed KD and Kyrie. You have no idea how relieved I was when the sports media called that one

The Knicks' coaching search may officially start later this week.

The NBA Board of Governors is expected to approve a plan Thursday to re-start the season that doesn't include New York, according to ESPN.

Once the Knicks know that they won't be playing any more games in 2019-20, they will start to interview candidates for the job.

With that in mind, we reached out to one current NBA coach and one former NBA coach to gauge their thoughts on some Knicks candidates.

Below are their thoughts on Kenny Atkinson and how he would fit in New York...

TEACHING THE GAME
"He's an elite teacher, which would obviously benefit the Knicks right now," a former coach who worked on the sideline for more than two decades said. "They have young guys who I think would really do well under Kenny and whatever staff he brings in. Kenny showed in all his coaching stops (Atkinson was an assistant in Houston, New York and Atlanta before taking the job in Brooklyn) that he has a mastery of player development. He gets on the floor with guys and shows them how much he cares. He let them play through mistakes and helped grow their confidence. It seemed to me, from afar, that his approached worked well with Brooklyn's young players."

There's plenty of evidence to support the coach's opinion. Under Atkinson, players like Spencer Dinwiddie, D'Angelo Russell and Joe Harris came from other organizations and thrived. Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert -- two Nets first-round draft picks -- developed well with the Nets. Of course, the players deserve a ton of credit for their improvement. But the common thread here is Atkinson and the Nets' approach to player development.

As the coach mentioned, the Knicks have several young players on the roster who can benefit from development (RJ Barrett, Mitchell Robinson, Kevin Knox to name a few). New York also has three picks in the 2020 NBA Draft. Unless the Knicks trade their young players or picks in the offseason, Atkinson and his staff would have several young players to work with from a development standpoint.

Also, if you are a Knicks fan who wants to see Robinson shoot threes in games, it's worth noting that under Atkinson, Brook Lopez was encouraged to shoot from beyond the arc. Lopez has used the shot effectively in subsequent seasons (though he shot just 29 percent from 3-point land last season).

OFFENSIVE SCHEMES
"You have to love the way they played for most of Kenny's time in Brooklyn. They shared the ball, helped the helper on defense -- just seemed to play the right way. Their shot profile was consistent prior to last season -- emphasizing threes and layups. But they didn't shoot threes recklessly like Houston -- they took quality threes. It worked well for them."

The Knicks were 27th in 3-point percentage last season and the rate at which they shot threes was in the bottom third in the league. Would that change if Atkinson was the head coach? It seems likely. Also, Atkinson seemed to empower his guards to be a driving force for the Nets offense. That could give Barrett and the Knicks point guards -- whoever they are next season -- the chance to expand their responsibilities and improve through trial and error.

WHAT WENT WRONG IN BROOKLYN?
"Each year, the Nets got better under Kenny and he and Sean seemed to establish a great culture there. They shared the ball well and played with cohesion. They also seemed to buy into the culture the system. I wasn't there, but I think that the culture fell apart this season with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant on the sideline and Kenny was the fall guy."

When Atkinson and Marks took over, the Nets had next to no draft capital or young talent. They won 20 games in Atkinson's first season. Two years later, they won 42 games and reached the playoffs with a young core surrounded by the right veterans. Obviously, the feel-good story ended this season, when Atkinson was fired in March. At the time, SNY reported that Atkinson had lost some of the Nets' locker room and that some veterans didn't feel that Atkinson was the right coach to lead them to a title. We'll find out in the coming seasons whether those veterans were right or wrong.

But the coach we spoke to wondered if Atkinson would benefit from having a lead assistant with a "different voice" than Atkinson's, in part because of how things seemed to unfold in Brooklyn.

"Again, I wasn't there. But hiring a strong first assistant with a different voice, a different tone, is always helpful," the coach said. "He seems like a great communicator but sometimes having a strong secondary voice helps keep you from losing guys."

I'm not sure if the Nets did or didn't have that kind of assistant on the bench. But if Atkinson came to New York, it seems like he'd have a nearly unlimited budget to attract top assistant coaches. Kurt Rambis was the highest-paid assistant coach in the NBA under former president Phil Jackson, so the organization isn't shy about giving out big money to assistants (though it's unclear if the economic impact of the coronavirus will change their approach).

As far as where Atkinson stands with the Knicks, he is expected to get an interview with the club. Interim head coach Mike Miller is also expected to get an interview, as is Tom Thibodeau.

In March, we reported that agents and other coaches with a vested interest in the Knicks' coaching search said they believed Thibodeau is the most likely hire if Rose decides not to retain Miller as head coach. Rose and Thibodeau have a close relationship. Nothing has happened since then to alter the thinking of those coaches and agents.

Other outlets have reported that Thibodeau is the favorite for job, which is essentially saying the same thing. But it's worth noting Rose has relationships with dozens of coaches in the NBA and college due to his two-plus decades as a top player agent at CAA. Among the coaches he has relationships with are John Calipari, Jeff Van Gundy, and Mike Woodson.

Per multiple SNY sources, the Knicks' current plan is to interview other coaches in addition to Thibodeau, Atkinson and Miller.

Those interviews are expected to begin once New York has clarity on the rest of the season.

Uptown wrote:Both Atkinson and Thibs bring different elements to the table....I'm a little skeptical about both candidates for different reasons, but of the 2, Atkinson may be the best option moving forward. Despite the questions I have about Atkinson, he has proven to be a good teacher and developer of young talent. Look no further than what he did in BK. Atkinson's style of play and philosophy are of today's era...Not saying Thibs cant adapt, but most of Thibs success was before the pace and space style of play.

agree with this. I have serious questions about Thibs concerning modern NBA both the way it's played and reffed. The one slightly overblown criticism however is his Minn. venture. I don't think the issue is so much Thibs not getting along with players as it was that their lead players weren't good leaders and didn't want to buy in. (whispers of Melo) Wiggins clearly wore out his welcome after several seasons of under-performing his contract, and KAT only wants to play offense. Guys like Butler called that situation correctly. Thibs was also right to know Butler had a lot left to give at that moment.

I also have questions about Kenny. one can say guys like Russel, Spencer and Caris developed under him. And that's true. But we also need to acknowledge how bad those teams were which gave those players far more minutes, opportunity. Totally unclear whether that style of play translates to deep sustained success versus sustained .500 seasons. So in this category Thibs gets some more weight because he at least has experience with big winning and beating the best teams (although now somewhat dated)

GustavBahler wrote:There was a story on the front page, that Woodson might be interviewed for the job. So far, the only names mentioned are former Knick coaches. Rose may well expand his search outside the Knicks orbit, certainly hope so.

Right now this looks disturbingly like yet another Knicks regime who place a great deal of importance on the familiar. This is looking back for the answers not forward, or to the present with Miller. This has played a large part in the Knicks lack of success over the last 20 years. Lack of imagination.

And yet every actual moves that they have done to fill the front office speaks to the exact opposite?

GustavBahler wrote:

martin wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:There was a story on the front page, that Woodson might be interviewed for the job. So far, the only names mentioned are former Knick coaches. Rose may well expand his search outside the Knicks orbit, certainly hope so.

Right now this looks disturbingly like yet another Knicks regime who place a great deal of importance on the familiar. This is looking back for the answers not forward, or to the present with Miller. This has played a large part in the Knicks lack of success over the last 20 years. Lack of imagination.

And yet every actual moves that they have done to fill the front office speaks to the exact opposite?

It would, it will, if the answers to the Knicks long standing problems. Is to look to new faces, new ideas. If Rose shakes things up in the front office, and their big brainstorm is to look mainly at former Knicks coaches. Are things really "new and improved"? They can build a cap smart team, but its going to be tough succeeding with coaches who are hired mostly because they are a familiar face to the org.

I hope this is all a courtesy, to former clients, and friends.

To some degree it is the same situation, but this isn't Phil Jackson Hiring Fisher, Leon (Potentially ) Hiring a person he is well acquainted with, a person who is very established, a person who has had a decent amount of success as a NBA HEAD COACH, a person he doesn't have to build a relationship with. So there's 2 way you have to look at this.

Mills interviewed more 11 ppl, and still picked the wrong one for the job.

Most people are going to hire people they are familiar with in any line of business, that's just human nature (you go with what you know)

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/SNYtv/status/1271464977522720768

Impressive PR job by Thibs if we end up going for Atkinson (I just don't see it!)- if him being first choice is just a complete invention by him, he's been very successful at getting all the press to parrot it

smackeddog wrote:

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/SNYtv/status/1271464977522720768

Impressive PR job by Thibs if we end up going for Atkinson (I just don't see it!)- if him being first choice is just a complete invention by him, he's been very successful at getting all the press to parrot it

I'm hoping for Kenny

wargames wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/SNYtv/status/1271464977522720768

Impressive PR job by Thibs if we end up going for Atkinson (I just don't see it!)- if him being first choice is just a complete invention by him, he's been very successful at getting all the press to parrot it

Woj is a good friend of Thibs. Woj is a force in NBA media so I wouldn’t be surprised. With that said Aller is doing the hiring supposedly (at least someone on this board said Aller was doing the hiring idk) . So we should wait to see how this goes

Would be great if Aller is doing the hiring because I dont believe he has any ties with Thibs. This is a big hire for this organization and ideally we are hiring a coach that is the best fit to our vision moving forward. We dont need any extenuating circumstances attached to our hire...

Uptown wrote:

wargames wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/SNYtv/status/1271464977522720768

Impressive PR job by Thibs if we end up going for Atkinson (I just don't see it!)- if him being first choice is just a complete invention by him, he's been very successful at getting all the press to parrot it

Woj is a good friend of Thibs. Woj is a force in NBA media so I wouldn’t be surprised. With that said Aller is doing the hiring supposedly (at least someone on this board said Aller was doing the hiring idk) . So we should wait to see how this goes

Would be great if Aller is doing the hiring because I dont believe he has any ties with Thibs. This is a big hire for this organization and ideally we are hiring a coach that is the best fit to our vision moving forward. We dont need any extenuating circumstances attached to our hire...

I agree. Nepotism and favoritism has not worked for the Knicks. They need to change their approach.