Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton was prepared to join Derek Fisher’s Knicks coaching staff this past June until Steve Kerr made an interception.
Kerr, who broke a verbal agreement to coach the Knicks, offered Walton the job as “third’’ assistant with the Warriors. Walton told Kerr he first would have to consult with his mentor, Knicks president Phil Jackson.
Jackson gave Walton his blessing, though he knew his former player’s expert knowledge of the triangle offense would have been a big help in New York. Walton won two titles with Jackson as a Laker, playing in four NBA Finals with Fisher and the Zen Master.
Jackson told Walton it was Fisher’s final call. Fisher was still trying to recruit top assistants Kurt Rambis and Jim Cleamons and could not yet make his former Lakers teammate a formal offer until that was out of the way.
The Warriors, owners of the second-best record in the NBA at 39-8, have soared all season. They visit the Garden on Saturday night for the second end of a back-to-back after playing the East-leading Hawks in Atlanta.
Kerr decided against using the triangle in Oakland. Meanwhile, Fisher and Jackson are left trying to figure out how to make the offensive system work again on the East Coast.
“I think Phil knows how much I know the triangle and love the triangle,’’ Walton told The Post in a phone interview Wednesday. “I thought it would’ve been a good fit. I had stayed in touch with Phil. He’s been a mentor and teacher to me in basketball and in life even before getting into coaching. We had a few conversations with him about coming to New York, joining Derek’s staff. I had a few phone calls with Fish. While I was doing that, I was in contact with Steve.’’
Walton, who last season was an assistant coach with the LA Defenders of the D-League, didn’t know Kerr well other than seeing each other at University of Arizona alumni functions.
Walton, son of NBA legend Bill Walton, said he is not surprised there’s been slow progress in Fisher’s first season, saying the triangle “takes a few years to really get on the same page.’’ The Knicks are 10-39 and likely will finish with the worst record in franchise history.
“It’s definitely tough,’’ Walton said. “I think Derek knows that. I know Phil knows that. It’s about patience and building. And I don’t think you come in right away and teach a brand-new team who has never known the triangle and executing it the way it needs to be executed in the first season. When we played triangle [in LA], we had the same core and then added a couple of new guys each year. And it was the same coaches running practice with it every day, drilling. Even then it takes players a while to fully grasp it.’’Kerr decided the Warriors were too close to winning a title to take a step back and learn a new system, according to Walton.
Walton said Kerr has incorporated elements of the triangle and blended it with Mike D’Antoni’s speedball offense from their Phoenix days and the screen-and-roll system Kerr played in under Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
“We took over a team that’s been established with back-to-back seasons of winning 50 games, they were really successful and really good at that style of basketball,’’ Walton said. “The triangle offense takes a few years to really get on the same page and really able to execute it at a championship level. Trying to do that with a team capable of competing for a championship right now, it wouldn’t be the best or smartest move for us. But we have aspects of the triangle every day in practice.’’
Filling Walton’s spot on the Knicks staff was former Thunder assistant Brian Keefe, who did not have much of a background with the triangle.
“Phil said it’s completely up to Derek,’’ Walton said. “But Phil gave Steve a recommendation and I could’ve had a lower position than I have now. Phil told me Steve’s going to be a phenomenal coach and it was a great opportunity – take it.’’
