The New York Knicks made the expected move of firing head coach Jeff Hornacek early Thursday morning after another disappointing 29-53 season. In total, the Knicks went 60-104 in two years in his tenure and given his feud with Joakim Noah and occasional clashes with Kristaps Porzingis, it was was time for New York to look in another direction as they rebuild. Who are they looking at to replace him? Here are the top five candidates:
5) Jay Wright, Villanova Wildcats head coach
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The Knicks really want to lure Jay Wright away from the national champions and plan to throw a lot of money at him. On their list, he's option No. 1. The only problem is that Wright isn't really entertaining the possibility of leaving Villanova.
“The NBA does intrigue me,” Wright told The Athletic. “That challenge is appealing, but it’s not worth giving up working with these guys. The whole thing is, to take a new challenge you have to give up what you have. I don’t want to give up what I have. Would I like to coach in the NBA? Yes. But I have to give this up in order to do that, and I don’t see that happening.”
Wright has also stated his desire to make Villanova the Duke of the Northeast. Now, anything is possible, but don't expect him to change his mind.
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4) David Blatt, former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach
Blatt fell victim to the mid-season firing bug, being let go by the Cavs right before the 2016 All-Star break - though that had more to do with his inability to get LeBron James to like him than his ability to coach. A coaching legend in Europe, Blatt had a 83-40 record in his year and half with the Cavs, including a berth in the Finals in his lone full season of NBA coaching experience.
It bears mentioning that Cleveland hired Blatt to develop what they thought would be a young core of players (Andrew Wiggins, Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson) - could he finally get that chance to develop a young team centered around Kristaps Porzingis with the Knicks?
3) Jerry Stackhouse, Raptors 905 head coach
Stackhouse has been the head coach of the Toronto Raptors' G-League affiliate, Raptors 905, since last season and led them to a league title and was named Coach of the Year. He's viewed as one of the rising stars in the NBA coaching world after his long playing career and will get a head job sooner rather than later. However, there are a number of other teams interested in him too, namely the Orlando Magic.
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2) Mark Jackson, former Golden State Warriors head coach
Jackson's only three seasons of coaching experience came with the Warriors, who he guided from a 23-43 record in his first year to a 51-31 record in his third year. Though he was fired after that year (2014) and Golden State won the title in 2015, he is credited with building the foundation that has led to the Warriors' success. The Knicks really need a coach that can help build their roster and improve their current players in a similar way, but there are major questions about his ability to get along with members of the front office, which led to his ousting in Golden State.
He also has connections to the Knicks, having been drafted by them in 1987 and playing for them from 1987-1992 and 2001-2002. Jackson is also from Brooklyn and played his college basketball at St. John's.
1) David Fizdale, former Memphis Grizzlies head coach
All signs point to Fizdale being the next guy up in New York. Fizdale, who was an assistant for the Miami Heat from 2008-2016, went 50-51 in 101 games as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies before being fired 19 games into this season. He led them to the 2017 playoffs in his lone full season as a head coach - you may remember his "TAKE THAT FOR DATA" rant - and is still widely regarded as one of the best younger coaches in the league.
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