Oh, Knicks.
The New York Knicks fired Derek Fisher on Monday, which came as a fairly big surprise considering his ties to team president Phil Jackson. But he’s gone. And while Luke Rambis, one of the worst head coaches I’ve personally ever seen, will be taking over in the interim, the Knicks have their wish list of replacements, according to ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst:
Kurt Rambis is Knicks interim coach but league sources believe Brian Shaw and Luke Walton are top long-term replacement candidates
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) February 8, 2016
Brian Shaw deserves another shot at head coaching. What happened with him in Denver isn’t necessarily a good encapsulation of his abilities as a head coach. The same could be actually said for Fisher. But the Knicks need a more established name. They’ve done the rookie sideline-wanderer thing. It didn’t work.
Luke Walton is an interesting name, though. He has never technically been a head coach, but he took the wheel for one of the best team’s in NBA history, the Golden State Warriors, while Steve Kerr recovered from complications that arose after back surgery.
Here’s the question, however, that pertains to every potential coaching candidate: How much freedom will they have to do their own thing offensively so long as Jackson is in power?
