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New York Knicks Rumors: Phil Jackson Wants Kurt Rambis As Head Coach

By Kenneth Teape

Mar 26, 2016; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks interim head coach Kurt Rambis coaches against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the fourth quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 26, 2016; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks interim head coach Kurt Rambis coaches against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the fourth quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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New York Knicks Rumors: Could Kurt Rambis become the head coach of the Knicks? If Phil Jackson has his way, there is a strong possibility that will happen.

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New York Knicks rumors are heating up early as the regular season winds down and the offseason is quickly approaching. This time, the rumors revolve around the head coaching position, which Kurt Rambis currently holds under the interim tag. Is there a chance that he has the interim tag removed and is named the head coach fulltime?

If Phil Jackson has his way, that seems to the direction that the Knicks will be heading in. According to ESPN sources, Rambis is going to be given strong consideration to become head coach of the team. Other sources went as far as to say that Rambis is the perferred choice of Jackson and he is pushing for a multi-year deal to be given to him.

If you are left scratching your head or wanting to bang your head against a wall after reading that, you are not alone. Rambis has done very little to gain the trust of the fan base, as he has compiled a record of 8-16 since taking over for the fired Derek Fisher. Fisher compiled a 40-96 record at the helm for the Knicks, and not much as changed with Rambis.

Rambis has shown a stubbornness in giving playing time to younger players such as Jerian Grant, as he prefers to play veterans such as Sasha Vujacic despite the Knicks having nothing to play for at this point. It took urging from veteran players such as Carmelo Anthony for changes to finally be made to the rotation. Kristaps Porzingis has also seen his production drop. While some of that can be attributed to him adjusting to the longer NBA schedule, Rambis has also not made things easy on the Knicks rookie at times.

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What will really make people sick when learning about Rambis’ potential of being named head coach is his performance in his last full time head coaching job. If you think his record with the Knicks is poor, it is actually an improvement over what he did in his first head coaching stint with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Rambis was at the helm for two seasons, 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, and the Timberwolves were miserable with a record of 32-132.

But, it pays to have friends in high places, and that is what Rambis has in Jackson. Jackson is a big Rambis supporter, and spoke highly of him when he last spoke with media in March. He said that Rambis is ‘perfectly capable’ of handling the head coaching job. He also said, “Kurt and I have a relationship that goes back to 2001. He knows the ins and outs, what pleases me and [what] probably I want to have changed. … We have a relationship that’s much more tight [than Jackson’s relationship with Fisher].”

One looming question about Rambis being named head coach would be how Carmelo Anthony would react. In March, Anthony voiced his opinion hoping that Jackson would open up the coaching search for other proven head coaches that have ties to the Knicks organization; Mark Jackson, Tom Thibodeau or Jeff Van Gundy.

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All three have better track records than Rambis, and would be choices that would energize the fan base. If Rambis is named head coach, it will be another dagger to a fan base that hasn’t had much in the way of glimmers of hope in recent seasons.

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