Sources: Knicks to interview Jason Kidd, Mike Brown for head-coaching job
Jason Kidd reacts as the Milwaukee Bucks face the Knicks on Nov. 6, 2015. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Interviews for the Knicks vacant head coaching position have begun and there are two new names in the mix.
Jason Kidd, who helped the Knicks to the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 2013 in the final season of his playing career, has been added to the list of coaches the Knicks will interview. The New York Times was the first to report that the Knicks have obtained permission from the Los Angeles Lakers, where Kidd currently is an assistant coach. A source close to Kidd, who has coached the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks, confirmed that Kidd will interview.
A source also confirmed that Mike Brown, former head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers and currently an associate head coach with the Golden State Warriors, will be interviewed for the job. The Athletic was the first to report Brown will be interviewed.
Kidd brought the Nets to the Eastern Conference Semifinals in his lone season in Brooklyn. He then had the Bucks in the playoffs in two of his three full seasons there, helping develop Giannis Antetokounmpo during the early stages of his career. League sources have indicated that some teams with interest in Kidd believe not only that he has experience guiding teams to the postseason, but that he could help in free agency next summer recruiting not only Antetokounmpo, but any number of stars.
Brown has had a successful, although rocky at times, tenure as an NBA head coach. After starting his career as an assistant on Gregg Popovich’s staff in San Antonio, he worked under Rick Carlisle in Indiana and then got a head coaching job at just 35 years old with Cleveland, bringing LeBron James to his first postseason berth immediately and a trip to the NBA Finals in his second season as coach.
Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Brown left, and head coach Steve Kerr, middle, talk with center DeMarcus Cousins during the first half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals in Oakland, Calif., on June 7, 2019. Credit: AP/Ben Margot
But he was cut loose by Cleveland despite five straight winning seasons — including a 61-21 record in the final year there and he moved on to the Lakers, replacing Phil Jackson. But that was an unsuccessful run and he was out just five games into his second season. He returned to Cleveland and lasted just one season before being let go again.
He got a measure of revenge as he won an NBA title as associate head coach with the Warriors, beating the Cavaliers.
The Knicks coaching search now has 11 confirmed candidates — six with prior head coaching experience in Kidd, Brown, Tom Thibodeau, Kenny Atkinson, Mike Woodson and Knicks interim coach Mike Miller. There are five assistants in the mix — San Antonio’s Will Hardy, Philadelphia’s Ime Udoka, Chicago’s Chris Fleming, Orlando’s Pat Delaney and Dallas’ Jamahl Mosley.
A source said that the first round of interviews have begun via phone calls — and although about half of the candidates are out of the mix for the NBA resumption (Thibodeau, Atkinson and Woodson are out of work while Brown and Fleming are on teams not included in the 22 teams heading to Orlando) all of the candidates are expected to conduct phone interviews during this first round of inquiries.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
