[NYDN] Add Juwan Howard to the list of Knicks coaching candidates (Saturday, April 28, 2018 12:30:54 PM)
You can’t accuse Scott Perry and Steve Mills of taking the lazy approach to their coaching search.
(Saturday, April 28, 2018 7:11:29 PM)
The Knicks have added another candidate to their wide-ranging coaching search.
(Saturday, April 28, 2018 6:57:24 PM)
Heat assistant Juwan Howard will interview for the Knicks’ head-coaching job, sources told ESPN’s Zach Lowe.
[NYTimes] Warriors 123, Pelicans 101 | Golden State leads series, 1-0: Still Without Stephen Curry, the Warriors Roll Over the Pelicans in Game 1 (Sunday, April 29, 2018 6:34:58 AM)
Curry, who has been out since March 23, is expected to return to action on Tuesday.
(Sunday, April 29, 2018 4:15:57 AM)
Boston will meet the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, starting Monday in Boston.
(Saturday, April 28, 2018 12:14:57 PM)
A Fab 5 alum will now make it an even 10. Yes, add a 10th coach Knicks president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry will interview – assistant Juwan Howard, a league source confirmed. It’s no surprise Perry would look at Howard, who is expected to interview Sunday. Perry has a special affinity for…
62 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.04.29)”
They way the Knicks are approaching the coaching search, as well as the caliber of candidates that have arisen, leads me to think that they want someone who will coach this team for a long time in a stable environment, like in San Antonio or Miami. If true, that would be awesome!
I’m not so interested in Juwan Howard. I am, however, interested in the news that the Knicks are still scouting Luka Doncic. I think Perry and Mills went to interview Blatt and then they went to see Doncic in person. I’d love for the Knicks to somehow end up picking 2nd behind Phoenix so we can grab Doncic. I always felt Doncic was the perfect guy to play next to Ntilikina because he has the size to let Frank play the 1 and the ball handling ability to alleviate Frank from time to time. Maybe this is the year we get some good karma for actually competing in all 82 games and Doncic gets gift wrapped to the Knicks.
Now that Milwaukee is officially eliminated from the playoffs, we’ll see what happens with the coaching candidates. Juwan Howard doesn’t sound too fun a choice, but if the Knicks are just doing due diligence there I could understand that. Maybe Milwaukee ends up offering Budenholzer the job, but I’m hoping they go after Fizdale instead. Budenholzer wants the Knicks job and we need to give it to him. He’d build an elite defense and an offense predicated on ball movement.
The Knicks aren’t gonna hire Juwan fucking Howard. They’re obviously trying to build some good will around the league by raising these guys coaching profile.
It’s gonna be Buduenholzer, Blatt, Fizdale or Stackhouse.
I wish they were as thorough about losing very important games to lose in March as they are about allegedly building goodwill around the league by wasting time interviewing former players with absolutely no prior coaching experience whatsoever.
Dolan should interview Reggie Miller while he’s at it. I’d like for him to look us in the eye while he’s fucking us.
continuation of last thread
The average peak of an NBA player may have been 26 at one time, but there were a lot exceptions to that rule years ago (players that peaked later). Arguably, Larry Bird’s peak was 28-31 and may have lasted longer except for his back injury. Now, I think “peak” is being sustained longer due to better training, more knowledge about nutrition, and possibly PED use.
Also, imo, most of the studies on “peak” I have seen were done with bad models that didn’t measure player performance well to begin with. They over-weighted some of things that decline earlier.
+1.
I think Mills went into this wanting to hire Blatt. But it’s possible Budenholzer threw a money wrench into his plans because he knows he’s a perfect fit and a consensus is building that he’s the best option. He’s also dealing with a GM that has no ties to Blatt. I think it’s going to be one or the other. If it’s a tie, Blatt wins because Mills is the boss.
Okay, who pissed in Cock’s corn flakes again?
Melo, as delusional as ever. I guess, there are some things to be thankful about, after all.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23349261/carmelo-anthony-oklahoma-city-thunder-says-come-bench-returns
It needs consideration that some of these lesser-known dark horse candidates may well become strong lead assistants for whoever becomes the new head coach.
It would be nice to grab Budz and have the other San Antonio guy be his lead assistant. With Messina and Hammon in San Antonio, being the lead assistant to Budz would be a promotion, no?
Mask off, fuckin mask off
“I think everybody knows that I’ve sacrificed kind of damned near everything, family, moving here by myself, sacrificed my game for the sake of the team, and was willing to sacrifice anything and everything in order for this situation to work out. So it’s something I really have to think about, if I really want to be this type of player, finish out my career as this type of player, knowing that I have so much left in the tank and I bring so much to the game of basketball.”
Look at this fucking quote. I can’t.
The FO seems to have figured out how to appear to be a good front office.
+1
Probably my most important source of happiness regarding the Knicks. At least this is someone else’s problem now.
Other than the Noah/Hernangomez debacles (which was probably more on Hornacek), they seem to have good “people” skills. I think they’ve been finding a good balance between a “numbers” and “people” really well. Long term that’s going to help.
I will say this though. Players do need to play the way they are comfortable playing. That’s a big problem for a lot of teams, including OKC, IMHO. For Melo, though, to play the way he needs to play, and be on a winning team, he’d need to come off the bench, which he apparently categorically refuses. Oy. The saga continues. A skilled player who just can’t seem to fit into a winning culture…
This may be harsh, but I suspect Melo is not a particularly bright guy. I think a big part of him never learning to adjust his game and become more efficient was that simply didn’t understand the math of it and why it would have made him better. He has no understanding of the game beyond how to get his shot off (which he can no longer do as well). He wouldn’t even make a good 6th man at this stage.
Melo should go to China and score 40 PPG. He would be a star there and wouldn’t have to defend himself against allegations that he’s terrible at basketball, which he clearly disagrees with since people like ruruland have been jerking him off since he rode a legendary Syracuse squad to eternal praise and brand equity virtually unmatched for a person who has failed to win anything of note in a sixteen-year career in which he’s played next to numerous All-NBA players.
The only thing I sympathize with is having to be apart from his son OR uproot him to move to a virulently-racist part of the country. Being filthy rich (and therefore having access and privilege) is nice I’m sure but it doesn’t make leaving your emotional support network any easier when you’re a child. I can’t stand Melo as a basketball player but I appreciate his attention to and obvious love of his family.
I take back everything I said yesterday about Melo and Houston. After reading his quotes from yesterday, it’s clear he needs to retire. Maybe not to him. But..he’s gotta know by now that no team- not even OKC unless they’re forced to- is gonna give them the role he wants. He’s not appearing to be very bright. Look..I can’t knock anyone for gettin that two, but I thought legacy might matter to Melo. At this stage of his career, there’s nothing wrong with ring chasing. He’s no longer equipped to carry a team for a full season, so he might as well saddle up and play sidekick on a contender. He’s starting to embarrass himself with these quotes now. Go win, Melo! Or retire. Sheesh!
There was no point at which it was tenable to argue that a bottom-5 rotation player should join the league’s best team at any salary at all, but I’m glad a quote from the man himself could change your mind.
In the future, I might point you to a thing called Basketball Reference, which is a website where opinions can be backed up by fact, not just feelings.
Is ‘fake it till you make it’ a viable strategy in this situation? Makes me less anxious at least.
I agree, but If he’s that connected to his family he wouldn’t go to China. OY!! Thank god this isn’t a subject for discussion anymore. It leads nowhere. He’s the concern of another fanbase and another blog.
It is apropos at this moment though, to ironically comment as a long suffering fan of this guy.
As stupid as the Willy and Mudiay trades were (Willy much more so), getting rid of Melo was worth enough points that I’m still following the team and not completely without hope.
All this stuff with Melo still on the team? I couldn’t have handled that.
THCJ has been seriously aggressive for no apparent reason these days.
Anybody see the Warriors dismantle the Pelicans last night without Steph Curry? If you don’t believe they were coasting through the 82 game schedule by now, people, you’re in for a surprising Western Conference Finals. When Golden State is firing on all cylinders you need to assemble the USMNT or hope Draymond kicks somebody in the nuts.
When I was a very young 21 year old New Yorker we needed a 3rd roommate so I posted an ad online and had people come check out the place. We found our roommate on the first day, but we also met many cool girls and so we kept the ad up as a way to meet more girls. (I’m kind of old, and this was the year 2000 when people didn’t have cell phones and you couldn’t just swipe to meet people.)
I pretty much think that’s how Dolan views the Knicks coaching vacancy. It’s a way for him to meet NBA players and show them he’s cool.
@10: 100. Howard as assistant coaching big men? Sign him.
I’m not wearing kid gloves with the resident sophists or the deluded on this website anymore. Maybe in my zeal I’m flying close to the sun these days but I’m not letting the idiocy go unchecked. If someone says that Houston should sign Carmelo, I’m going to give it to them. We have a political climate that tolerates untruths on the highest stage. I’d rather be banned than see this site suffer the same.
As long as we end up with Budenholzer or Blatt I’m totally okay with them interviewing anyone and I agree that some of these interviews are to raise the profile of young coaches to help them out.
As for the games we won to end the season as disappointing as they were I don’t really see how, short of outright cheating, we could have lost those games. Against Cleveland, our top five minute getters were 3 g-league call-ups, a raw 19-year-old rookie and a 2nd round pick that had barely played all season. Against Miami, the top three minute getters were the two rookies and a g-league call-up, and the Miami game was such a blow out I don’t know how we could have stopped it if we tried.
Sometimes you win games, even if you don’t want to. In fact, we did as good a job at losing post-KP’s injury as anyone else in the league.
@24 I haven’t noticed any significant difference lately over past levels of aggression
One thing I think is funny watching fan reaction to this coaching search is how unable fans are to recognize when the team is doing what the fans have wanted all along. It’s not that many people here, but some here and many in the rest of the Knicks online fan communities are basically just like “Now that Bud is available and wants to coach the Knicks we should sign him yesterday and cut off all these other interviews.”
For all the decrying of past quests to sign Big Name players and coaches and the hand-wringing about the team constantly following flawed processes, it seems that fans (non-ESPN-comments/Mark-Jackson-fanboy division) basically want the team to drop its process and hire the Big Name, Bud! It’s crazy to me. Don’t chase Big Names until the Big Name you chase is the Big Name I agree is best for this team! And then, to rationalize their fear that another Big Name will slip through our grasp, people try to convince themselves the reason Bud hasn’t signed yet is because he’s waiting for other jobs to open.
Don’t get me wrong – I think Bud is a great coach, developed players well and built effective offensive and defensive systems that maximized the talent on those Atlanta rosters. I, too, would be really happy to end up with Bud as our next coach (though I tend to agree with THCJ that, no matter who we hire, it’s most likely that we’ll be slamming him – or her – on his way out the door in 1.5-2.5 years). But I can think of plenty of good reasons not to hire Bud – he may agitate to win sooner than our timeline; he may want a more significant personnel role than our FO’s “three-man team” approach; he may care more about living in NY than coaching the Knicks.
I think there are just as good reasons to hire a respected assistant like Larranaga or a successful G-League head like Stackhouse. I guess I just am happy with the FO’s process on this one, and I think Knick fans are funny.
And, to follow up, what I’m probably most concerned about is the reaction if we don’t hire Bud. Like, because of the build-up and the Berman articles about how the Knicks are his first choice job, people would use not hiring him as conclusive evidence of Perry’s and Mills’s incompetence. When, in reality, the decision not to hire Bud – should that be what ends up happening – could just as easily be evidence of this regime’s commitment to its own principles and beliefs in the face of growing fan and media sentiment to lock down a known commodity.
There’s a fundamental principle when seeking a prospective candidate for a position. Once you’ve found someone you want, don’t keep searching.
@32
Well, maybe, but that’s exactly my point. The FO interviewed someone who many fans have decided they want, so these fans agree with your fundamental principle. The problem is that the fans often don’t consider that, maybe, even though they’ve talked to Bud, the FO hasn’t “found someone [it] want[s]”; and my suspicion is that fans will equate their opinion on Bud with fact and slam the front office for not getting it done. All I’m saying is that it’s legitimate for the FO to hire someone besides Bud even though there’s building consensus that he should be the hire.
Also, just to contrast your fundamental principle with some anecdotal experience from the real world: I’m a third-year law student graduating in a couple of weeks (woot!). After my first summer, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to interview with many of the most prestigious firms in my market in a sort-of structured, two-round interview process. Once those firms scheduled interviews, even if they decided they wanted to hire the first person they interviewed, they didn’t cancel all the other interviews and immediately hire that person. There’s probably a few reasons for this: 1) It’s considered rude to cancel interviews with prospective candidates and may affect the firm’s reputation among future candidates; 2) Maybe they are as sure as they can be that Candidate 1 was the best for the job, but they still see value in meeting the other candidates and confirming their decision; 3) There’s enough explicit and back-channel communication going on among the firms and candidates that they can be reasonably sure they’ll have an opportunity to make an offer before a candidate accepts another position.
The situations aren’t totally analogous, obviously, but it does show that the fundamental principle to which you refer is not necessarily axiomatic.
And anyway I was just putting my original thought out there because it’s been on my mind recently and I think it’s kind of funny to observe. Definitely not looking to criticize anyone for wanting Bud or being skeptical of the Knicks haha. Like I said, hiring Bud would be awesome. Hiring a respected-but-lesser-known coach without quite as much spotlight who can humbly grow with his young team would be awesome, too.
There are a lot of reasons why the FO could be still interviewing others.
Maybe for Budenhouzer the Knicks are the 2nd option and he’s waiting to see what happens in Milwaukee. Maybe they didn’t fell in love with Blatt or he’s not interested in a rebuilding team.
There is absolutely no way we as fans to really knows whats happening.
Just saying “they should stop searching and hire Bud” it’s just lazy talk.
obviously Dolan is hip deep in the optimal stopping theory literature unlike you tenderfoots, melo, and hubert’s moderately deceptive roommates
Budenholzer seems like a very good choice and he wants to coach the Knicks. Which means he will likely sign with Milwaukee. I’d be ok with Blatt too, seems like he’s good at turning lemons into lemonade. After dealing with Lebron’s ego, KP should be easier for Blatt.
I’m lukewarm on the other candidates, don’t really know enough to say one way or another. At least the chatter about hiring Jackson has cooled off, this is Good.
Pacers giving the Lebrons all they can handle.
There’s no reason to short cut bg checking, calls with other people they’ve worked with, interviews with others, ect, just cause you like someone you interviewed. That’s not a fundamental principle, it’s fundamentally stupid.
With Bud available he has to be the best option no?? At first I was fine with Blatt, Fiz or Stack but now I really hope they hire Bud.
I don’t think we are interviewing guys to be assistance. That should be on the new coach to decide. Unless you’re Jeff Hornacek, in which case you get Kurt Rambis.
I wouldn’t be surprised, based on what they’ve said, if the FO inserts themselves into assistant hires in an attempt to make sure any particular coach’s perceived deficiencies are covered by someone who’s skilled at that aspect.
LeBron is incredible
Full disclosure: I was extremely biased, and on painkillers. But I have to say, it seemed to me like the officials had a thumb on the scales for the Cavs. Could someone please put things into perspective here? The Turner foul-out was particularly egregious, as was the technical in the third.
Just looking for a sane take here, honestly. Somebody do me a solid
The tech was a pretty weak call, the foul out was legit. To my eyes anyway.
Just wondering if it is even fiscally possible for (should Melo opt out) the banana boat to reunite in Houston? As crazy as it sounds, I don’t see Cleveland getting past Philadelphia in the conference finals. Wade , Melo, Lebron, Paul, Harden, Capella…nuts!
Thanks, Grocer. My saltiness is somewhat, though not completely, abated. Probably focusing too much on the phantom head-snap that induced foul#5
Melo just said he won’t come off the bench, so his opting out for the vet’s minimum seems like a nonstarter. Plus, if he can’t hit open spot-up threes anymore, I question his fit in Houston. Still, one can dream
Poor Jazz…
Watching Capela dunk over Gobert is yet another reminder that jumping high and close to the basket is a very important and differentiating skill that makes teams win basketball games.
Rockets are playing a very good Utah team that has absolutely no chance of winning 4 of 7. I cannot wait for a healthy Curry and the actual Finals in the West.
If the Hernangomez trade really had a lot to do with a coach who got canned a few months later, that might make even it dumber. Every time I start to develop any optimism about the front office I can’t help but think back to how stupid that was.
But whatever. I’ll be very happy if we wind up with Budenholzer and as long as we stay at 9th this draft will be difficult to fuck up, just please for the love of god do not take Sexton or Knox or do something else so stupid I can’t even fathom it beforehand a la the Bargnani and Rose trades.
The Rockets’ offense just laid waste to the #2 defense in the NBA in that half. Shot for a .651 eFG%.
Yikes.
The depressing thing about the state of the Knicks is Boston and Philadelphia have similarly aged cores and are already at least fringe contenders. Boston even has another presumably great pick coming in via Sacramento next year, and Philadelphia has incredible cap flexibility considering how good they are already. Their success in these playoffs has really exposed even further just how badly Phil Jackson screwed this franchise.
For us to catch up, we basically need to absolutely nail these next two first round picks, get Draymond Green-esque value from a second rounder, use every bit of remaining cap flexibility extremely wisely, and see rapid development from KP, Ntilikina, and I guess THJ (who is a great example of how not to use cap flexibility extremely wisely).
https://media.giphy.com/media/yznEXxtq7wQlG/giphy.gif
@53
I understand exactly what you are saying, but I don’t think it helps to worry about things like that because “shit happens”. It wasn’t too long ago people were swaying that a core of Durant, Westbrook, and Harden could dominate for years. Look what happened. Sometimes tax issues, injuries, egos, dumb trades, or disappointing player developments change everything. We have to just focus on ourselves and not worry about who has a better young core or more draft picks. We are pretty good shape to have a good young team in 2 years.
So because the Knicks aren’t as well positioned with future assets as Boston and Philly, the two teams in the league who are probably best positioned, Phil was a total screw up? Maybe he was just an average GM. He’d still be much worse than those two teams.
I’m rooting for Houston to beat Golden State for a few reasons, but I don’t see it happening.
Golden State arguably has 2 of top 5 scorers in the history of the sport and their 3rd option is deadly playing off them. Houston’s offense is great, but they don’t have GS’s firepower.
Houston’s defense and bench is much improved, but I think you can see how well GS can still play defense when they are locked in and serious. Their defense is still better than Houston’s.
Houston’s only chance is home court advantage, but I don’t that will be enough. I wouldn’t be shocked if the Warriors win in 5 or 6 and then win in 4 or 5 in the finals. I hope I am way off.
What I said was their success makes Phil’s status as a total screw up even more obvious. He’s already a total screw up because of the merits of his moves.
now that’s the ptmilo I do admire…analytics guy is much less fun…
anything you wtite that can be easily digested in just one read through – is just not worthy…
Phil was a shitty GM because he made the fatal mistake of thinking he could put together a winner by building around Carmelo Anthony’s decline phase and getting Jose Calderon and Jason Smith to triangulize. When that failed miserably he decided that what he really needed was the last few lurching mummified steps of Joakim Noah (because hey, you gotta be able to pass out of the pinch post) and a bunch of wanton chuckery from Derrick Rose, plus a little bit more triangulizing.
What he should have done was realized that the team fucking sucked, and was miles away from winning anything, and build with those facts in mind.
Overall grade: F
Ooooh I’m stealing that turn of phrase please and thank you
Can we just quit apologizing for Phil Jackson? Not even he cares this much. He was horrible and misguided and did absolutely nothing good for the Knicks outside of being horrible and misguided enough in one season to lose as many games as we did unintentionally to end up drafting Porzingis. Everything else ranges from unbelievably bad to “at least he didn’t trade away future firsts”.
Golden State and Houston’s games made people finally remember why the west was a 2 horse race and nobody else really mattered. I hope the Rockets can hang with the Warriors for the sake of having one really good series, because whoever goes through wins it all.
Yeah except as mediocre as he was that was better than letting Dolan do anything