- Texas A&M prospect Danuel House has a busy workout schedule, according to Deveney. House has worked out for the 76ers and Celtics, and will work out for the Knicks, Hawks, Lakers, Mavericks, and Timberwolves within the next couple weeks. The Suns and Pistons are also expected to be added to his list of visits, per Deveney, who says House looked good against Cal freshman Jaylen Brown at his workout with Boston.
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JUNE 2, 10:04am: The Knicks have officially confirmed the hiring of Hornacek as their new head coach (Twitter link).
JUNE 1, 10:50pm: The pact will pay Hornacek $15MM over three seasons, Ian Begley of ESPN.com confirms.
2:17pm: Nearly two weeks after first being offered the team’s head coaching job, Hornacek has reached an agreement on a three-year contract with the Knicks, sources tell Wojnarowski. A news conference to formally announce the hiring is expected to happen later this week.
MAY 19, 4:35pm: The Knicks have formally offered the job to Hornacek and the two sides are engaged in contract discussions regarding the length of the deal and annual salary, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports (Twitter links).
MAY 18, 7:15pm: A source close to Hornacek confirms that negotiations are still ongoing and nothing has been finalized, tweets Frank Isola of The New York Daily News. Jackson has apparently decided to hire Hornacek, Isola adds, but no contract is in place (Twitter link). Berman describes the process as “mutual interest,” but in the “very, very early stages.” (Twitter link).
6:43pm: Jeff Hornacek will be the next coach of the New York Knicks, tweets Howard Beck of Bleacher Report. Hornacek, who was fired by the Suns in February, became a candidate late in the process after team president Phil Jackson reportedly pushed to keep interim coach Kurt Rambis.
Former Cavaliers coach David Blatt and recently fired Pacers coach Frank Vogel were believed to be the other finalists for the position. The Knicks didn’t contact Hornacek about the job until three weeks after the search began, tweets Marc Berman of The New York Post.
The deal is not fully complete, Beck cautions, though a source tells him it’s “as close as humanly possible.” (Twitter link). Barring any last-minute complications, a formal announcement is expected soon.
Hornacek doesn’t fit the profile that would be expected of a Jackson coach. He’s not part of Jackson’s coaching lineage and he has never run the triangle. The hiring suggests that Jackson’s influence with owner James Dolan might be waning.
Hornacek comes to New York with a 101-112 career coaching record that he compiled in two and a half seasons in Phoenix. His only other coaching experience came in three years as an assistant in Utah. He had also talked to the Rockets about their head coaching position and was considered to be a candidate for the openings in Memphis and Orlando. ESPN’s Marc Stein reported this week that the Warriors had “strong interest” in hiring Hornacek as a lead assistant.
League insiders believe the second-round win over the Spurs was enough to keep Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City, according to Bobby Marks of The Vertical. In a video, Marks says the most likely scenario is for Durant to sign a one-year deal with the Thunder worth about $25.9MM that includes a player option for 2017/18.
Next summer, Durant will have 10 years of NBA experience and will become a Tier Three Max player, which means Oklahoma City could offer him more than $200MM over five seasons. If Durant opts for a long-term deal this offseason, OKC can offer five years at about $145MM. Risks involved in choosing a single-season deal are Durant’s injury history and the possibility of a new collective bargaining agreement next year that would shake up the league’s salary structure. Marks lists the Spurs, Heat, Celtics and Warriors as teams expected to make a run at Durant, while ESPN’s Marc Stein (via Twitter) adds the Rockets, Knicks, Lakers, and Wizards to that list.
Durant told Sam Amick of USA Today that he was able to push the free agency issue aside and concentrate fully on every playoff game. “If this would have happened four years ago, I would have been everywhere – my mind would have been everywhere,” he said. “So I’m happy that I was able to focus and lock in and give my all to my team every single night.” Whether it’s a clue to his decision or not, Durant later added, “I see bright things for this team. And it’s great to be a part of it.”
San Antonio, Miami and Golden State are the top contenders if Durant decides to go elsewhere, writes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. Isola contends the Knicks could be helped if Durant opts for a one-year contract because it gives them another season to improve, along with another year of growth for rookie Kristaps Porzingis.
The Knicks hurt their case when they fired coach Derek Fisher, Durant’s former teammate, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Two advantages they have are that Carmelo Anthony, who has a good relationship with Durant, wants to be part of the recruitment process, and that Durant’s father is a longtime fan of the Knicks. However, New York assistant Brian Keefe, who was Durant’s workout partner in Oklahoma City, reportedly won’t be part of Jeff Hornacek’s new staff.
The odds against Durant signing with the Heat are even greater than they were against LeBron James coming to Miami in 2010, argues Ethan Skolnick of The Miami Herald. Skolnick writes that team president Pat Riley’s best chance is to sell Durant on the possibility of winning a championship with the Heat. However, the 55-win Thunder are also serious title contenders, Durant doesn’t have a close relationship with any of the Miami players like James did with Dwyane Wade and the new restrictions on sign-and-trade deals make it more difficult for players to recoup whatever money they give up to sign with another team.
Durant and the Clippers could both change their postseason fortunes if they unite, writes Dan Woike of The Orange County Register. Woike notes that L.A. won’t have the money to pursue the OKC star because two thirds of its cap room is tied up in Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, but he argues that it might be worth trading one of those three to create the room to sign Durant.
Durant’s friendship with James Harden and the addition of an offensive-minded coach in Mike D’Antoni give the Rockets a least a fighting chance of landing Durant, according to Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com. In addition, Rex Kalamian, who may join D’Antoni’s staff, coached both Harden and Durant when he was an assistant with the Thunder.
- Former Iona guard A.J. English has a pair of workouts for Eastern Conference teams lined up this week, according to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv, who writes that English will get a look from the Wizards on Wednesday and the Knicks on Thursday.
- Former Knicks coach and current broadcaster Hubie Brown believes it will take much more than new coach Jeff Hornacek to turn around the franchise, Marc Berman of The New York Post relays. “The hiring of anybody taking over a bad team that has limited talent and needs definite additions at key positions, you have to be lucky and fortunate that the players who are there can buy into the system and give it 100 [percent] every single night,’’ Brown told Berman. “I would expect he comes in and gets that. I know they’ll be more accountable. That’s key anytime you comes into a bad situation. You’re not going anywhere without accountability.’’
- The Knicks have a pre-draft workout scheduled on June 4th for former Seton Hall guard Isaiah Whitehead, Ian Begley of ESPN.com relays (ESPN Now link). Whitehead s a projected second-rounder, coming in at No. 56 overall in the top 100 of Jonathan Givony of Draft Express.
Knicks president Phil Jackson has no plans to leave his job and rejoin the Lakers, Los Angeles co-owner and Jackson’s fiance Jeanie Buss said in a radio interview that was relayed by ESPN.com’s Ian Begley. Jackson has three seasons remaining on his Knicks’ contract, though he does have an opt-out clause after next season. “He’s committed to New York for many years,” Buss said in the ESPN Radio interview. “He’s building something there. He has a mission, he’s on that journey to get the team back to where he believes it can be and it will be.”
- Shooting guard Isaiah Whitehead will work out for the Pacers on Thursday and the Knicks on Saturday, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders tweets. The Seton Hall sophomore is ranked No. 39 by Ford and No. 57 by Givony.
As the Warriors prepare for Monday’s Game 7 with the Thunder, Marc Berman of The New York Post offers a reminder that the results of Golden State’s last Game 7 prevented Steve Kerr from coaching the Knicks. After the Warriors lost to the Clippers in 2014, owner Joe Lacob decided to fire coach Mark Jackson. The team contacted the agent for Kerr, who had a verbal agreement with New York but nothing on paper. Kerr met with the Warriors and decided that was a better opportunity for him. With the expected hiring of Jeff Hornacek, the Knicks are now on their third coach since Kerr’s change of heart.
The Knicks currently don’t hold any picks in the 2016 NBA draft, having sent their first-rounder to Toronto and their second-rounder to Houston, but the team plans to trade back into the draft, according to Ian Begley of ESPN.com. We’ve heard previously that the Knicks had been trying to acquire a pick, but Begley’s suggestion that they “plan” to land a pick sounds a little more definitive.
Of course, just because the Knicks intend to get back into the draft, that doesn’t mean it’s a slam-dunk — it takes two teams to make a deal. But there are a few clubs that have stockpiled picks and may not want to use all of them. Teams like Boston or Denver could be open to dealing with the Knicks, since those franchises hold 13 of this year’s 60 selections between them.
As our Eddie Scarito observed earlier this month, the Knicks still have up to $3.3MM that they can spend to purchase a draft pick if they’re unable to swing a deal involving a player for one. Armed with that flexibility, New York should be able to find a willing trade partner.
Assuming the Knicks do acquire a pick, it figures to be a second-rounder or something late in the first round, and the team has been eyeing prospects who figure to be available in that range. According to Begley, New York has expressed interest in Indiana guard Yogi Ferrell, Kansas guard Wayne Selden, and St. Bonaventure guard Marcus Posley, among others.
Of those names, only Posley has not yet been linked to the Knicks. The Knicks’ interest in Ferrell and Selden has been previously suggested, as the team scheduled a workout for the former, and interviewed the latter at the combine in Chicago.
The biggest beneficiaries from the Knicks hiring of Jeff Hornacek may be the team’s young point guards, Jerian Grant and Tony Wroten, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Hornacek, whose offense depends on strong point guard play, should immediately improve the team’s woeful backcourt production, Lewis notes. “Jeff played in the league for years, coached in Phoenix,” Grant’s father, Harvey, said of the new coach. “His system was mostly pick-and-roll. Jerian, once he learns the system, he can flourish in that system. And Jeff can tell him the ins and outs of being a guard in this league.”
- If Joakim Noah decides to leave the Bulls this summer, the Knicks would have interest in signing him, provided it was at a discounted rate, Howard Beck of Bleacher Report relays (Twitter links). Beck points to Noah’s New York roots and the mutual respect between the big man and team president Phil Jackson as reasons the two parties could come together, but adding that Noah’s potential desire to start could prove problematic.
- Malik Newman will work out for the Knicks on Tuesday, Zagoria reports (Twitter link). Newman previously worked out for the Bucks and Nets.