Chatelain: Walton Is Only Coaching Candidate Who Makes Sense For Knicks
By Ryan Chatelain
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It's 2016, a time for selecting new leadership. Some of you have already made up your minds. Others are still undecided on whom to support.
No, I'm not talking about Trump or Cruz, Hillary or Bernie, or even the presidency at all. I'm taking about the New York Knicks, where there's no such thing as four-year terms, evident by the fact that the team is searching for potentially its 11th different coach since 2001.
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Team president Phil Jackson made it clear last week he doesn't particularly care which candidates the media are suggesting, but I have an endorsement nonetheless: Golden State Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton.
Does Walton have the best resume of the available candidates? Certainly not. But it's time to accept that there is about as good a chance of Jackson hiring Tom Thibodeau as there is of him quitting the Knicks to pursue a career in Broadway musicals.
Jackson says he wants someone who knows both him and his precious triangle offense -- Thibodeau doesn't meet either criteria. Meanwhile, Knicks fans just want a coach who has proven he can win.
Walton is the only candidate who would placate both.
A New York Daily News report Sunday said Walton had already told the Knicks thanks but no thanks. But Jackson disputed that report Monday, and Walton, too, has insisted that the two have not talked about the opening.
So let's assume Walton is still in play.
At this point, interim coach Kurt Rambis appears to be very much in the mix, if not the favorite, to land the job full-time. But such a hire would be about as appetizing to Knicks fans as rice cakes. Rambis was 9-19 as interim coach this season, bringing his career record, which includes stops with the Lakers and Timberwolves, to 65-164 -- not exactly the kind of selling point you want to highlight on season ticket billboards.
But as a former Jackson assistant with the Lakers, Rambis is just the yes man the "Zen Master" is looking for so that he can essentially coach the team by proxy.
Walton, however, knows what Jackson likes, too, having played in his triangle for seven seasons in Los Angeles. The 36-year-old's coaching stock is soaring right now after leading the Warriors to a 39-4 record to begin the season while head coach Steve Kerr recovered from back surgery.
Some critics might argue that what he accomplished is being blown out of proportion because he inherited one of the most insanely talented squads in NBA history and the coaching groundwork had already been laid for him. But consider that in his only taste of head coaching, Walton did something no other coach in NBA history has ever done: won the first 24 games in a season.
Winning, in fact, seems to follow Walton. In college, he played on an Arizona team that reached the national championship game. In the NBA, he was a member of four NBA Finals teams with the Lakers – two of which won it all. And in his first season as an NBA assistant coach, he earned a ring. Heck, even his father won four titles between college and the pros.
In all fairness, Rambis hasn't exactly been a stranger to winning himself, having won four championships with the Lakers as a player in the 1980s and two more there as an assistant coach under Jackson. But when he has been in charge, the results have been disastrous.
Neither Rambis nor Walton were supposed to serve as head coaches this season. But while Walton had a better won-loss percentage than his boss, Kerr (.897 vs. .817), Rambis was markedly worse than the man he replaced, Derek Fisher, who was fired for his poor performance (.321 vs. .426).
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But in Jackson's mind, Rambis' record is not the relevant one. What matters is the 11 NBA titles Jackson won using the triangle and finding a coach who can run the team his way.
But would Walton want to sign up for that gig? Meddling executives are hardly considered a job perk, and after just one of their previous nine coaches has survived 200 games, New York is not the coveted job it once was or that the delusional still think it is.
There, however, is always one surefire way to get Walton's attention: money. And a lot of it.
Owner James Dolan has never been one to shy away from cutting big checks. And if he wants to save face on hiring Jackson, then now is not the time to tighten up the purse strings, especially because Walton should be in demand this summer and right now the alternative is Rambis.
Jackson said last week his coaching search could extend into July, which some viewed as a not-so-veiled reference that he's eyeing Walton, whose Warriors figure to be playing well into June.
The truth is the Knicks should be willing to wait it out as long as it takes to put on their full-court press for Walton. If Rambis is indeed their Plan B, they certainly don't have to worry about losing him to another head coaching opportunity.
Besides, Rambis is the incumbent whose policies failed during his previous term.
Walton is the up-and-coming candidate who represents the hope for a brighter tomorrow.
Too bad we don't get a vote.
Follow Ryan on Twitter at @RyanChatelain
