The New York Knicks are entering an important offseason for the franchise’s future as they look to nail their coaching hire and hopefully land the man that will guide them through a rebuild and into being a contender.
The Knicks are interviewing a variety of coaching candidates, with Mark Jackson, David Fizdale, David Blatt, Jerry Stackhouse, Mike Woodson, and Kenny Smith all reportedly getting a chance to explain why they should be the one to land the job. While the coach is important, the thing that will determine whether this Knicks rebuild will work or not really falls on Kristaps Porzingis.
The star center is the centerpiece of this roster and is the player New York plans to build around for the future (you know, once they have cap space to do so). Right now, all plans have to be in something of a holding pattern as Porzingis recovers from a torn ACL suffered this past season. For however long Porzingis is out, the Knicks won’t really be able to show much in the way of progress, although individual development of the players around Kristaps will be crucial to them eventually making that leap.
The problem facing the Knicks is not knowing when Porzingis will be back. As owner James Dolan explained to Larry Brooks of the New York Post, there’s nothing firm about a timetable for Porzingis as he’s heard a little bit of everything as a possibility.
“I’ve been told everything from December to him being out for the season, so I don’t know what to expect on that,” Dolan said. “But we can’t just sit on our ass while he’s away. We need to develop a team and then integrate him into it when he comes back.”
The “out for the season” line has caught the attention of many, and rightfully so as that would be a huge blow to the Knicks to lose an entire season of Porzingis. However, it seems Dolan was trying to explain that the team is going into this season with the understanding that Porzingis could be back midseason but they can’t have expectations on him being back for a significant chunk of the year.
In any case, Dolan wants a coach to come in with some fresh ideas and a fresh perspective on how to relate to the modern NBA player, noting Jeff Hornacek had some of the same problems Phil Jackson had.
“I think Hornacek had the same kind of issue that Phil did in that he didn’t grasp how different the players are now in the way they think and deal with management and the coaches,” Dolan said. “I think he was way behind on that.
“But I think Jeff is a good coach and he’ll do well when he’s hired by another team.”
It’s certainly not a ringing endorsement, but few would expect one from Dolan at this point. The Knicks face plenty of uncertainty in 2018-19 and it figures to be a test of patience for the organization with whoever they hire.
