CHICAGO — Former Knicks president Isiah Thomas had lobbied for Mark Jackson to get the team’s head-coaching job, but still thinks general manager Steve Mills did a good job landing David Fizdale.
“They made a great choice,’’ Thomas said after the draft lottery here in his hometown. “I’ve known him through my travels. I saw his work a lot in Miami [as an assistant], followed his career path. I knew him when he was an assistant coach with [Mike] Woodson [in Atlanta]. They made a good choice — a really good choice. He’s well-respected, understands the league, knows the players. He’ll do a good job.’’
Thomas still works for the Garden as the Liberty’s president. He campaigned for Jackson on WABC’s Sid Rosenberg show last month, saying, “If he has the opportunity to do that, I’d think he’d be great at it and would definitely want to do it.’’
Thomas, at the lottery for NBA TV, declined comment on Jackson’s candidacy that failed to gain traction. Thomas won’t be at Liberty media day Wednesday but still is in charge despite owner James Dolan’s attempt to sell the team and have it play most of its games at the Westchester County Center.
Thomas said he likes the depth of the draft in which the Knicks will pick ninth and 36th.
“I think it’s a very a good draft,’’ he said. “Not only the lottery, but in the later round. There’ll be a lot of good players in this draft. Probably one of the deepest drafts we had.’’
Perry said Frank Ntilikina already has put on some weight since the end of the season. The Post reported Ntilikina has been in Paris working out at a famed sports performance facility, INSEP, and the Knicks dispatched one of their trainers to work with him.
“We had someone who already went over to see him,’’ Perry said, referring to trainer Anthony Goenaga. “He’s doing well. He’s continuing to get stronger and adding a little weight. We expect him to be back in New York in a week or so. He’s committed. That’s the one thing he told us in our exit meeting. He’s gone through the entire season as a rookie. Now he’s got a little feel on what the NBA is truly like. He’s a real reflective young man. He knows what he really has to work on and he’s not hearing it just from us. He’s driven to come back a better basketball player.”
Perry wasn’t about to dispute Dolan’s remark to The Post in which he didn’t rule out Kristaps Porzingis (ACL tear) missing next season. Sources have indicated Porzingis will be back 10-12 months from surgery — as soon as Christmas and no later than February.
“I don’t think there’s a determination to be made,’’ Perry said. “Six, seven months out, you have a better chance to have a better time window. You talk to most medical doctors, you really can’t pinpoint how many months. [You have] a better estimate six, seven months out after surgery is completed. So who knows when that will be.”