Derek Fisher has agreed to replace Mike Woodson as the next head coach of the Knicks, according to multiple sources. The two sides are currently finalizing a 5 year, $25 Million deal which is expected to be completed shortly. Kurt Rambis is likely to be on the staff as an assistant coach; Fisher and Phil Jackson will begin assembling a staff once the deal is complete.
The Knicks have intensified their pursuit of 39 year-old Derek Fisher and are looking to hire him as their head coach this week. Fisher won 5 championships under Knicks President Phil Jackson during his playing career, the end of which he is expected to announce shortly. ESPN’s Marc Stein was the first to report the news on Fisher. Fisher is the all-time record holder in playoff games played and is considered a strong leader both on and off the court. Fisher served as the president of the NBA Players Association from 2006 to 2013.
Jackson has reportedly only shown interest in inexperienced coaches with whom he has a prior relationship, including Steve Kerr, who Jackson thought he had landed before the Golden State job opened up and Kerr took a deal with the Warriors. Fisher fits what Jackson is looking for: Smart, responsible, young (for a coach), a Jackson pupil, and somebody well-acquainted with Jackson’s “Triangle Offense”. Jackson reportedly plans on being very involved in the coaching of this year’s team even though he will not be taking the job for himself, so whichever coach Phil hires will certainly be running things the way the 13-time NBA champion wants them to be run.
I think Fisher would be a solid hire, and since he will be guided by arguably the greatest coach in the game’s history if he takes the job, the Knicks should have some newfound structure on the court this coming season. Everybody thought the Kerr deal was wrapped up, so there’s obviously no guarantee that Jackson will be able to reel Fisher in. But with New York’s main competition, the LA Lakers, reportedly dropping their pursuit of Fisher, expect the longtime point guard to be announced as the Knicks’ coach before too long.
-Tommy Rothman
We’ve lost him, guys. We’ve lost him forever.
JR Smith has his shoelace tricks. Lance? He gets a bit more physical.
You guys might remember the Fake Gmail Inbox we made for Mike Woodson a couple months ago. Carmelo Anthony is our next victim. Check out the image below, and click on it to zoom in if you need to!
*Reminder: This is not real*
Enjoy!
-Tommy Rothman
If you want a version without all the watermarks to post on your site, contact us on Twitter.
Tom Thibodeau, considered one of the game’s top coaches, would consider leaving the Chicago Bulls, but only to return to the Knicks, sources told Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher (formerly of ESPN). Thibodeau, who won the NBA’s Coach of the Year award in 2011, worked for the Knicks as an assistant coach back in 1999, when they made it to the NBA Finals. According to Bucher,
“There’s only one place that Thibodeau would really push to go elsewhere, and that’s to go back to the New York Knicks,” Bucher said. “That, I’m told by one source, is actually his dream job, to go back and get the Knicks back on the map. But short of that, he realizes that no matter where he goes, the grass isn’t always greener.”
Thibodeau is under contract with the Bulls, but there has reportedly been friction between the coach and the front office during his time in Chicago. Thibodeau was upset when the team fired his best assistant coach last season, and when they traded All-Star Luol Deng for cap space and salary relief this winter.
While the Knicks were a bit stingy (at least compared to the Warriors) in their failed pursuit of Steve Kerr, teams are not limited by the salary cap for coaching hires and James Dolan and Phil Jackson could probably make Tom Thibodeau an offer he couldn’t refuse.
However, Thibodeau is still a long shot to coach the Knicks for a couple reasons. First of all, the Knicks would almost certainly have to provide Chicago with compensation to get them to let the highly sought-after coach out of his contract, and the Knicks don’t have much to give in the way of trade assets. Second of all, Phil Jackson seems to be focused on hiring a coach with little or no experience, with whom he has a previous relationship, in an effort to indirectly coach the team from afar and find a pupil to try to convert into the “Next Phil Jackson”. Thibodeau has no relationship with Phil and is already a very established coach who is probably set in his own ways.
The reports of Thibodeau considering the Knicks to be his “dream job” can only be seen as good news, but for the time being, don’t count on him bringing his clipboard to the Big Apple.
-Tommy Rothman
New York Knicks Memes 