Interim coach Mike Miller has won his share of Knicks fans by stabilizing the Knicks defense. He’s posted a three-game winning streak and a four-game winning streak that ended Sunday when the Knicks blew an eight-point overtime lead in Atlanta.
Miller carries a 13-19 record entering the final game before the All-Star break Wednesday versus the Washington Wizards at home.
If team president Steve Mills and GM Scott Perry were coming back next season, Miller had a shot to return if his record got to be around .500. But Mills is gone, Perry may be demoted or fired and incoming president Leon Rose is prepared to make a flashy coaching hire after the season.
According to NBA insiders, ex-Knicks assistant Tom Thibodeau and former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy are expected on Rose’s short list.
Neither Thibodeau nor Van Gundy have gained so much as an interview across the years. Owner James Dolan was said to hold a grudge against Van Gundy for quitting during the 2001-02 campaign.
Thibodeau is a Creative Artists Agency client and has worked with Rose, who will leave his position as head of CAA’s basketball department. According to a source, Van Gundy likes Rose and the feeling is mutual.
Van Gundy and Thibodeau are still tight. Thibodeau was Van Gundy’s assistant during their Knicks days.
“If Leon ever hired Jeff, the fans would love him,’’ one insider said.
When Mills and Perry conducted their coaching search in 2018 that landed David Fizdale, Thibodeau was president/coach of the Timberwolves and Van Gundy was enjoying life as ABC/ESPN’s top game analyst.
Mills and Perry didn’t consider Van Gundy, 58, a good fit as they were looking to go younger and find a coach who had connectivity with the young players. Van Gundy, however, was interested.
While Van Gundy’s absence from NBA sidelines since 2006-07 could be seen as a hindrance, he dusted off the rust as Team USA’s coach for the World Championship qualifier in 2018. Van Gundy was also at Team USA’s World Cup training camp last August helping head coach Gregg Popovich.
“He’s better than most of us as a coach,’’ Popovich said on his trip to the Garden last February. “Circumstances, and those sorts of things, and personal situations, and timing has to be right, but he’s certainly somebody who would make a franchise better than they are now.’’
If the game has changed from the low post to the 3-point line since Van Gundy was in charge, defensive schemes are similar and Van Gundy always got his Knicks teams to play D.
Van Gundy has been extremely complimentary of Miller since his promotion and sources said he still hopes the Knicks former G-League coach lands the full-time gig.
Comparisons between Miller and Van Gundy have flourished. Miller was an obscure name, as Van Gundy was when the latter took over for Don Nelson in 1996.
If Van Gundy was hired for a second stint at the Garden, it wouldn’t be surprising if Miller was offered a position on his staff. Van Gundy’s Knicks record stands at 248-172.
The fantasy is whether Thibodeau would agree to return to New York as a Van Gundy associate head coach in a millennium redux.
“I want to coach,” Thibodeau told The Athletic in December. “I’ve always known that.”
Thibodeau was unable to bring the same magical touch from his Bulls stint to the Wolves. Sources indicated he wore out the young players with his taskmaster style that included marathon practices. The Knicks are in rebuilding mode and will be young next season.
Reportedly, Karl-Anthony Towns didn’t enjoy the Thibodeau experience with the Timberwolves. That’s only relevant since the Knicks have eyed Towns as a potential trade target if he grows disillusioned with living in frigid Minnesota and the persistent losing. The D’Angelo Russell trade to Minnesota didn’t help the Knicks’ cause, however.
Rose is closer to Thibodeau than to Van Gundy. Thibodeau once hired Rick Brunson, Rose’s first client, to be his assistant coach in Minnesota.
If owner James Dolan went with another agent/manager type in Rich Kleiman, who is partnered with Kevin Durant, Mark Jackson would’ve been a shoo-in for the Knicks job. Dolan didn’t consider Kleiman, fearing Knicks fans still blame Kleiman for failing to deliver KD, according to sources.
Jackson’s candidacy with Rose and William Wesley possibly calling the shots is not dead, however. John Calipari, Wesley’s buddy, has ruled out coaching the Knicks.
Rose is getting his ducks in a row as he leaves CAA and his clients, so the Knicks haven’t made the move official.
But the presence of the Cherry Hill, N.J., native marks the first time — despite past erroneous rumors — that Van Gundy and Thibodeau have a chance at a Garden return.