BREAKING: Knicks Head Coach Finalists Revealed…

BREAKING: Knicks Head Coach Finalists Revealed…

We have a breaking New York Knicks news update as the finalists for the New York Knicks head coaching position has already been narrowed down as it has been revealed who the New York Knicks are targeting for this head coaching position with a bunch of names coming up from different locations and different teams and situations. And fans are absolutely stunned at some of these names, while others have come up as well with them not at all being in the race for the New York Knicks head coach position. And nobody saw some of these coming and we are going to break all of this down. We have a ton to go over with this head coaching stuff. What’s up guys? Welcome back to Nick’s Digest. It’s Chris here and we’re going to jump right into things. As always, guys, if you’re part of that 74% that’s not subscribed to Nick’s Digest, we have daily videos like this at this point of the offseason, especially with the head coaching issues going on, we have multiple videos every single day that you do not want to miss out on. It’s going to be a bunch of fun to go over a bunch of this stuff on top of free agency rumors, Knicks updates, and much more. But all that being said, let’s jump into the video. There’s a lot to go over as Leon Rose and William Wesley took no time making it very clear who they want to see on their team head coaching the New York Knicks for the 2025 2026 season. A lot of fans were surprised when Tom Tibido did end up getting fired from the Knicks as he was informed on June 2nd that he would not be back to coach the Knicks for another year. Tibido did not take it well according to reports and declined taking a front office role which in fairness to Tibido makes sense after all he did for this team all these playoff births the change in culture Tibs felt like he deserved better especially after getting a contract extension where he’s going to be getting paid $30 million for a very long time to not coach the New York Knicks. So clearly he was not a big fan of this and Tibs is right. Shout out to Tom Tibido for all he did for the New York Knicks. I don’t want that to go unsung. But now the New York Knicks have shown who are the finalists for this position. Now diving into something that Ian Begley mentioned. He said former Knicks associate head coach Johnny Bryan is a finalist for the Phoenix Suns job. According to reports, the Suns are reportedly going to make a decision by the end of the week. If you connect the dots, it’s easy to wonder if the Knicks timed the firing of Tibido in a way that would allow them to hire Bryant. And talking to people in touch with the team on Tuesday, I don’t think the two events were tied together. I would be surprised if the Knicks made a decision for their head coach by the end of the week. Now, that would surprise a lot of people considering that Johnny Bryant right now, he’s the favorite for the Knicks head coaching job. I don’t care what anyone else says. I can guarantee you right now. I’m telling you, I know this for a fact, Johnny Bryant is the favorite to become the next Knicks head coach. If you are a gambling man, you put the money on Johnny Bryant to be the Knicks head coach. Here’s where things get interesting. the Knicks, if they don’t select a head coach by the end of the week, Bryant could get an offer from the Suns. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll have to accept the offer instantly from the Suns. He could say, “Well, I’m interviewing for the Knicks job, and full disclosure, I’ve already coached there. I just took one year off. I know the players well, and it’s a team in a better situation. So, if they offer me that job, I’m probably going to take that.” He could probably do it a bit more subtly to where the Suns won’t turn around and hire his coworker, Jordan. not the other guy who’s in the running for the Suns head coaching job. And I don’t necessarily think these two things were related either. As we know, the top players kind of came into a meeting together with the front office and it was pretty much agreed upon that Tom Tibido should no longer coach the team and now Tom Tibido is no longer coaching the team. So, the players clearly have a very big input with the New York Knicks and with what is going down for this team. So, with that being said, we know they all like Johnny Bryant. Johnny Bryant is a younger guy who has been co who’s been the assistant coach to a lot of great coaches over this span. I mean, including Kenny Atinson and Tom Tibido. So, he understands what Tibs was doing. He doesn’t have to necessarily mirror that, but he doesn’t have to flip the Knicks on their axis by bringing in someone who doesn’t understand what Tibido’s plan or mindset or game plan was or style was. And Johnny Bryant will be able to do something with that in order to make this a seamless transition for the guys that were there when Tibido was there. I mean, cuz I mean, there will be a few players who weren’t on the Knicks last year who will be on the Knicks in the next season, and that’s really all I’m saying. But for the most part, Johnny Bryant will be someone who’s so widely respected by NBA players that you feel like this is a move that would work out well. I love the idea of Johnny Bryant. There are a few other names as well and also some information that I have that I will get to in a few minutes, but just going over also what Seth Davis said. He said, “I’ve been working with Jay Wright on TV for three years. Based on every conversation we have had, I would say there’s a greater chance that I will be the next Knicks head coach than him. The difference is if they call me, I will say yes. So, basically what’s being said here is that Jay Wright would decline the New York Knicks job. No, he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t. He would take it. He would. I’ll tell you that right now. He would. Jay Wright would take the job. So, do you guys want to hear some inside information? Yeah, I guess it is a Nick’s channel, so you probably do. Jay Wright, Johnny Bryant, those are the favorites from what I know. From what I know, Jay Wright and Johnny Bryant are the favorites. That doesn’t necessarily mean one of them is guaranteed to coach a team. But from what we know with the players having an impact, that is what it sounds like from right now or for right now that Wright and Bryant are the top two guys. Which means if Johnny Bryant does end up taking the Sun’s job, Jay Wright becomes a real possibility. Or if it just ends up leaning towards Jay Wright’s favor from the players, the front office, everyone decides on Jay Wright. It’s likely that Jay Wright will come out of retirement to coach the Knicks because he’s got Brunson there, he’s got male, he’s got Josh Hart, he gets to coach the Knicks, which he’s been he’s been linked to the Knicks for 15 years at this point. So would it really be the most shocking thing if Jay Wright actually did end up coaching the Knicks? Here’s the thing. Do we think it’s going to work? I’m airing on the side of I don’t love this move if I’m being honest with you guys. Look, it’s been Wright’s been retired for a few years now. And on top of that, you look at a guy who’s never coached in the NBA, comes out of retirement from college basketball to coach the Knicks. It feels like you’re playing with fire. Could it work? Absolutely. Jay Wright’s an awesome coach. Will it work? I’m not 100% sold that it will. And I think Wright knows that. And that is a bit of kind of something pumping the brakes on this whole situation is Jay Wright knows that he comes in here. There’s going to be an expectation with this Nova Knicks team. Now, yes, it does make getting Dante Denzo back pretty easy because Denenzo is going to try to get to the Knicks again and he made comments on that which especially if Reich gets hired, we’ll do a full video on which will be fun. But for this whole Jay Wright situation, there’s going to have to be a lot that goes down for this to work out. And I think the biggest thing is Johnny Bryant is likely going to be the Knicks head coach anyway. So that just kind of takes Jay Wright out of the running. However, there are other names that have been mentioned a lot in regards to this by other insiders. I mean, Mark Stein said, “When it comes to available coaches, longtime Villanova coach Jay Wright, who has long expressed a reluctance to make the leap to the NBA, and Cavs assistant coach Donnie Bryant quickly emerged as presumed likely candidates. Two head coaches who are not currently available but have said to interest the Knicks, according to league sources, are Dallas’s Jason Kidd and Houston’s Emma Udoka. Permission to speak with Udoka would be rejected and the expectation would be the same with Jason Kidd, but not 100% certain. On top of that, we see some other options as well. Sham Shirania mentioned that the Knicks want a guy who might trust his bench more, a guy that might be a little bit more lenient based on his principles. So that leads to guys like Udoka and Kid who have dove and deepen into dove deeper into their benches in the past. I mean, you look at Udoka, he’s been a very, very, very good coach for both the Celtics and the Rockets. And also, I mean, the fact is, I know people get on Emma Udoka for the cheating scandal or whatever, which I’m not condoning cheating or anything, but like Miles Bridges is in the NBA. Enough said. Like, so it’s a pretty backward situation here is all I’m going to say on that. But look on the topic of Eime Udoka, I would love him, but he’s gonna get blocked. The Knicks actually interviewed Eime Udoka and Jason Kid once upon a time when they hired Tibido. As New York basketball mentioned, the list of coaches interviewed in 2020 for the job were Tom Tibido, Jason Kidd, Kenny Atinson, Mike Woodson, Eay Udoka, Mike Brown, Jamal Mosie, Will Hardy, Pat Delaney, Chris Fleming, and Mike Miller. Now, as we know, Tibs was always the favorite and he got the job, but Kid wowed the Knicks in his second interview and almost swayed the Knicks away from Tibido. Now, as we know, Tibs coached the Knicks for five years, is now without a job, but had a job for the last five years. Jason Kidd, who they interviewed, now has a job with the Mavericks. Kenny Atinson is the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers and is the coach of the year. Mike Woodson was an excellent coach for the Knicks and ended up soon after becoming a head coach with Indiana. No longer is, and he won’t be the Knicks head coach this time around, but he did instantly become a coach soon after. Emeoka both became a coach of the Boston Celtics soon after and then later the Houston Rockets. Mike Brown became the coach of the Sacramento Kings and was coaching the Kings up until halfway through this season. Jamal Mosley, he was the coach or he is the coach of the Orlando Magic. Will Hardy coaches the Jazz. Pat Delaney, Chris Fleming, Mike Miller do not coach or head coach NBA teams as of right now, meaning that basically everyone the Knicks talked to soon got hired after. So, the Knicks are calling in the right guys. I mean, Hardy’s an excellent coach. Jamal Mosley’s a good coach. Ema Udok is an excellent coach. Jason Kidd’s a good coach. Kenny Atinson’s a great coach. So, there’s a bunch of names here who we’re looking at and we’re like, “Okay, the Knicks know what they’re doing. They’re just not going to be able to interview all these guys because it’s not 2020 anymore. Teams have people have moved on. Teams have gotten their guys and things have certainly changed on this front. Now, we also look and see that Dan Hurley is not at the top of New York’s initial list according to Ian Begley. And the Knicks ha have to have plans that don’t involve a current head coach leaving his team. So Mike Brown, Frank Vogle, Mike Benhoer, Monty Williams, and Taylor Jenkins are among coaches with experience who are available. Jeff Van Gundy is back in coaching, but Begley said he would imagine he would bet a significant amount of money that Van Gundy wouldn’t take the job even if he was offered it. Why would he take a job that was vacated by his close friend? The only answer is so he could once again become the head coach of the New York Knicks. Very quickly, I know this is not a popular opinion. If these guys went out and said, “We want Jeff Van Gundy and hired him,” I would not be against it. I would trust Jeff Van Gundy to do the job for the most part. I’m going to trust whoever Leon and Wes hire to do the job, but I would be happy, really happy with Jeff Van Gundy. On top of that, he’s not my top choice. My top choice is Johnny Bryant. And part of that is because it’s going to be Johnny Bryant. And I’ve alluded to it enough that I’m just going to say it’s Johnny Bryant. If it’s not, I’m going to be completely stunned. I mean, in fairness, I don’t want to like toot my own horn or anything, but I did say Tibido is getting fired by some point this week. And like I’m just saying I’m pretty damn sure it’s Johnny Bryant, but that’s not necessarily a guarantee at all. It’s not a guarantee. There’s totally a world where other coaches come out and get the job. However, you look at a guy like Mark Jackson, which to the Knicks digest and probably all Knicks accounts comments are flooded with. By the way, Mark Jackson has a 0.0000% chance of being the head coach. I have the same amount of a chance of being the head coach of the Knicks as Mark Jackson. I’m not even kidding when I say this. I fully believe Mitchell Robinson has a better chance to become the Knicks head coach than Mark Jackson does. So that’s not happening whatsoever. I am not picking Mitch for any particular reason outside of he’s on the Knicks and he’s not Jaylen Brunson or one of the all-star players, but he is awesome. Also, Mike Malone known to not be in the list the running for the job either. He is very similar to Tibido except more of an offensive style. So those two are out. No Mark Jackson, no Mike Malone. Sorry to tell you I didn’t really want either of them to coach the next. definitely didn’t want Jackson. But where we stand right now, I do imagine it is going to be Johnny Bryant. If it’s not Johnny Bryant, it’ll probably be Jay Wright. And if it’s not either of those two guys, if the Mavs let Jason Kidd interview with the Knicks, the Knicks will offer him the job. If it’s not Bryant to Right. Outside of that, if it’s not one of them, I don’t think they’ll do one of those coaching carousel things with the Benhoer or or anyone of that list there like how the Binhoers, the Doc Riverses, all them, the Monty Williams, they all get those jobs. I don’t think it’s going to be any of them. So, I do think it’s going to be someone new, and I think that someone new is going to be Johnny Bryant. So, we’ll see where this goes. It’s also not going to be Rick Brunson, in case anyone else is wondering about that. But, thank you so much for watching, guys. Like this video, subscribe, turn on post notifications. Have a great day and go Nix.

Chris Gallagher breaks down the New York Knicks head coaching finalists as multiple names have been revealed, and Chris discusses them and reveals the 2 top guys.

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