Phil better put down the peyote and pick up the phone or we're going to miss out on Blatt, too.

Did he even get permission to interview Walton? How did Walton interview with the Lakers three times and zero times with the Knicks? Lakers got permission for three interviews. None for the Knicks.

Really, this is just an astoundingly terrible job by Phil.

I never thought Walton was coming here, but I think Blatt would and he'd be an excellent fit in a lot of ways. If Phil misses on Blatt, too, this coaching search is officially a disaster. Say what you want about the roster, but the coaching decisions have been terrible - lost Kerr after a verbal agreement, fired Fisher after a season and a half, installed Rambis, never interviewed Thibs, never formally interviewed Walton, interviewed Blatt...? But will he be able to seal the deal? I sort of doubt he wants to. The guy you have coaching your team matters.

Regarding Blatt, we just have to wait and see what happens. There's no point in going crazy over something that hasn't happened yet.

Most coaches in the NBA have zero to only a minimal impact on wins. A good coach might get you 5 wins and a great coach might add 10 IMO. The greatest coaches like Pop and Phil have been shown to add even more. Do we even know how good Luke is? We can really only guess at what each coach's impact actually is. IMO most people overestimate the impact of the average coach. It's MOSTLY ABOUT THE TALENT!!! Just ask Doc Rivers in LAC.

crzymdups wrote:Kerr approached Blatt about being his offensive guru in 2014. Stands to reason he'd reach out again with Walton out of the picture.

Did he even get permission to interview Walton? How did Walton interview with the Lakers three times and zero times with the Knicks? Lakers got permission for three interviews. None for the Knicks.

Don't get caught up on the "interview Walton" thing. I can almost guarantee you that Jackson and Walton talked about coaching the Knicks, and Walton indicated a preference to stay in California.

Would not dwell on the money offer thing either. Remember, Luke is a Walton, and his values might be a bit different. I expect he'd take a little less to be in a setting he prefers to be in-which is what I think his dad would do.

I just never expected him to come here...so I'm not that disappointed. Grew up in Portland, I assume...played with the Lakers...coached with GS. You knew he was staying on the "left" coast.

WaltLongmire wrote:

crzymdups wrote:Kerr approached Blatt about being his offensive guru in 2014. Stands to reason he'd reach out again with Walton out of the picture.

Did he even get permission to interview Walton? How did Walton interview with the Lakers three times and zero times with the Knicks? Lakers got permission for three interviews. None for the Knicks.

Interesting thought about Blatt going to GS.

Don't get caught up on the "interview Walton" thing. I can almost guarantee you that Jackson and Walton talked about coaching the Knicks, and Walton indicated a preference to stay in California.

Would not dwell on the money offer thing either. Remember, Luke is a Walton, and his values might be a bit different. I expect he'd take a little less to be in a setting he prefers to be in-which is what I think his dad would do.

I just never expected him to come here...so I'm not that disappointed. Grew up in Portland, I assume...played with the Lakers...coached with GS. You knew he was staying on the "left" coast.

Yeah, I didn't really expect Walton here either.

The Blatt thing will be a big blow to me, if he goes elsewhere.

I just don't have any faith in Rambis at head coach. And the fact that the coaching search has seemed half-hearted at best is disappointing.

I'll roll with whatever Phil does, but I'm not happy about Rambis and it doesn't seem like Melo will be either.

I think Rambis at head coach will lead to an eventual Melo trade at Melo's request. I just think it could've all been handled better. There's no reason they couldn't build around Melo and KP and try to win games. I don't think the path they're on is most conducive to winning games. At least if they stink next season we get a good draft pick, I guess.

But that's a long haul rebuild and I hope Phil is really in it for the long haul if this is the case.

Vmart wrote:Where is our LeBron? With out that we ain't winning with Blatt or who ever. Need talent first and then the right coach not the other way around.

if a good coaching option is available, I see no reason why not to pursue. A good coach can bring out the talents of a subpar group to better access what a teams needs are. imagine if Boston hired Rambis instead of Stevens for instance.

crzymdups wrote:

nixluva wrote:You really need to take it easy with the Phil bashing. You know damn well Phil got the info from Luke on what he was thinking when he called him.

Regarding Blatt, we just have to wait and see what happens. There's no point in going crazy over something that hasn't happened yet.

Most coaches in the NBA have zero to only a minimal impact on wins. A good coach might get you 5 wins and a great coach might add 10 IMO. The greatest coaches like Pop and Phil have been shown to add even more. Do we even know how good Luke is? We can really only guess at what each coach's impact actually is. IMO most people overestimate the impact of the average coach. It's MOSTLY ABOUT THE TALENT!!! Just ask Doc Rivers in LAC.

If coaches have minimal impact on wins, why do you worship Phil so much?

I've never said that ALL coaches have minimal impact! Phil is one of the few great coaches that have measurable impact on teams. The AVERAGE coach has very little impact. You could switch out coaches on most NBA teams and there would be very little to no change at all.

What I've said consistently is that TALENT is the MOST important thing for the success of a team. A team's talent dictates a team's success more than an average NBA coach would matter.

David Blatt was 30-11 and Tyronn Lue went 27-14. With such a small sample size it's impossible to evaluate the impact but suffice it to say the team didn't fall apart even if it lost 3 more games.
How do we gauge Blatt vs Lue as coaches? Are they Avg., Good or Great? I'd guess average to good. Therefore that team's TALENT is gonna allow pretty much any coach to win a high number of games. The ELITE coaches that can have a huge impact are few in number.

Vmart wrote:

knickscity wrote:

Vmart wrote:Where is our LeBron? With out that we ain't winning with Blatt or who ever. Need talent first and then the right coach not the other way around.

if a good coaching option is available, I see no reason why not to pursue. A good coach can bring out the talents of a subpar group to better access what a teams needs are. imagine if Boston hired Rambis instead of Stevens for instance.

Honestly without talent how much better are the Knicks going to be even with Blatt or anyone for that matter? Yeah Blatt might add 5-10 games to he win column but that leaves the Knicks even in a worse position going forward. The talent in the draft gets worse, Melo gets older. And your left with KP in the same situation as anyone before him a lone star. Wouldn't it make more sense to just concentrate on talent then add the coach? We have had HOF coaches here and flavor of the period coaches and what exactly has happened absolutely nothing. Talent, Talent, Talent and coaching. Just like Phil took over for Collins, Kerr for Mark Jackson. The coach is the last piece to the puzzle which needs to be added once talent is in place.

I'm in this boat. No reason you can't add a very good coach if there is good fit, but no reason to not wait until talent is flushed out.

My thought is: what is better for KP, Grant, Melo, and the rest of the core players.

martin wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:

crzymdups wrote:Kerr approached Blatt about being his offensive guru in 2014. Stands to reason he'd reach out again with Walton out of the picture.

Did he even get permission to interview Walton? How did Walton interview with the Lakers three times and zero times with the Knicks? Lakers got permission for three interviews. None for the Knicks.

Interesting thought about Blatt going to GS.

Don't get caught up on the "interview Walton" thing. I can almost guarantee you that Jackson and Walton talked about coaching the Knicks, and Walton indicated a preference to stay in California.

Would not dwell on the money offer thing either. Remember, Luke is a Walton, and his values might be a bit different. I expect he'd take a little less to be in a setting he prefers to be in-which is what I think his dad would do.

I just never expected him to come here...so I'm not that disappointed. Grew up in Portland, I assume...played with the Lakers...coached with GS. You knew he was staying on the "left" coast.

Also this:

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/15433615/luke-walton-homecoming-move-dysfunctional-lakers

It's probably the only job he would've left Golden State for. Yes, he planned to interview elsewhere for the experience. You never know if one of those jobs would've piqued his interest. But being head coach of the Lakers has been his dream ever since Phil Jackson used to let him sit in on coaches meetings when he was a role player for the franchise from 2003-11.

Seems like the Lakers were his target as well.

mreinman wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

mreinman wrote:

nixluva wrote:You really need to take it easy with the Phil bashing. You know damn well Phil got the info from Luke on what he was thinking when he called him.

Regarding Blatt, we just have to wait and see what happens. There's no point in going crazy over something that hasn't happened yet.

Most coaches in the NBA have zero to only a minimal impact on wins. A good coach might get you 5 wins and a great coach might add 10 IMO. The greatest coaches like Pop and Phil have been shown to add even more. Do we even know how good Luke is? We can really only guess at what each coach's impact actually is. IMO most people overestimate the impact of the average coach. It's MOSTLY ABOUT THE TALENT!!! Just ask Doc Rivers in LAC.

surprised that crushalittle is not calling you out for reading phils mind.

Nix is referencing an actual conversation that took place and he doesn't act like he is smarter than everyone, relies on data, not his gut, but then can't help himself when a guy writes a fictional article about how he feels about a player situation based on what he thinks the guy in charge might be thinking. Huge difference. But you can't seem to figure that out.

really sargent?

That's how you blindly mind fake read this line?

"You know damn well Phil got the info from Luke on what he was thinking when he called him"

Not gonna take the great Kreskin to mind read what Phil heard from Luke. Consider that Phil tried to hire Luke previously. Now Luke is a hot commodity and Phil has an open coaching spot. Phil doesn't have to make an offer in order to get the answer he needs from Luke. This is a man he talks to on a regular basis. Phil is the one that got Luke started on the path to coaching. It's all just BS to think Phil dropped the ball on this one.