Would You Coach the Knicks?

The Knicks have found themselves in need of not only a new team, but also a new coach. Only a few weeks ago, Mark Jackson was the front-runner for the job and seemed like a mortal lock to get it. Then, Avery Johnson became available. The Knicks were interested in him. 

Reports have now shown that Knicks' president Donnie Walsh has now flown to Phoenix to meet with current Suns' coach Mike D'Antoni, who was given permission to talk to other teams only one day prior. Walsh and D'Antoni had dinner in Walsh's Phoenix hotel. Johnson's interview will come mid-week, probably in a day or two. 

Now, here's my question. Why would either of these men want to coach the Knicks? Stephon Marbury still has two years and more than $40 million left on his contract. Zach Randolph has only one New York year under his belt and he still can't seem to understand the concept of defense. Eddy Curry is completely untradable and makes Randolph look like Bill Russell. They have a point guard, in Nate Robinson, who is too small to play a lot of minutes and make a huge impact and too selfish not to take double-digit shots in his few minutes played. Their only tradable players are Jamal Crawford and draft picks. The team is completely set up to lose

Johnson has a stellar career record of 194-70 (.735) and although he has a sub-.500 playoff career (24-25), he will easily be able to find work somewhere other than New York, a city hosting a team that is not going to be able to win until at least 2010, when Stephon Marbury and Zach Randolph both become free agents. D'Antoni has a 232-96 (.707) record since the '03-'04 season and has been to the Western Conference Finals twice. 

Wouldn't the Bulls job be much more enticing? Getting to coach Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich - even Larry Hughes and Andres Nocioni - would be a much better recipe for winning than entering the world of Stephon Marbury and Eddy Curry. Don't forget that almost the exact same Bulls team (minus a sub-par Ben Wallace) won 49 games just last year. 

One of them will inevitably end up coaching there, but that does not mean the other has to end up in New York. Throughout the off-season, vacancies will show up in other organizations. D'Antoni and Johnson can and should wait for those holes that will appear. Even wait until next year. Coaches get fired mid-year every year in the NBA. Both of them will easily find work.

A $30 million contract is not worth the look that has been on Isaiah Thomas' face for the past two years (holy crap, was it only two years?). There are four coaching vacancies in the NBA right now; two of the best coaches in the league will have no problem finding work somewhere other than New York.

- D. Spell