The New York Knicks have a new head coach in Mike Brown, and that’s something that should make the team, and its followers, happy. Brown is known for bringing speed and a lightning-fast pace to teams, and that’s just what the New York Knicks need moving forward.
The team already has plenty of pieces of their puzzle solved and are riding high on a strong 2024-25 season, which saw them going to the Eastern Conference Finals but losing to the Indiana Pacers. Now, some changes are being made, including the addition of Brown in place of former head coach Tom Thibodeau, that will hopefully see them getting to that championship during the 2025-26 season.
Unfortunately, it’s not all roses for the Knicks. Because New York waited so long to bring in a new head coach, they’re having some difficulty during the offseason, and the situation just isn’t ideal. Now, they’ve been given some bad news amid the NBA’s Summer League.
The New York Knicks Just Lost a Great Candidate
Now that the Knicks have Brown as their head coach, Brown is doing the work of trying to fill the positions under him. That hasn’t worked out as planned. Because of the timing of Brown’s hiring being late, they’ve had a more difficult time finding people who are available.
Amid the hiring spree, the Milwaukee Bucks are refusing to let the Knicks interview Darvin Ham for a lead assistant’s role on Brown’s coaching staff, a new report reveals. According to Jake Fischer, writing for The Stein Line, and as reported on by The Daily Knicks, even though the Milwaukee Bucks “are happy” to allow Ham to interview for a head coaching vacancy, they “have not granted permission to speak with New York for what” they think is a “lateral move.” In other words, they would let him interview for a head coaching role but not what they think is “lateral.” The New Orleans Pelicans had a similar reasoning when they didn’t let the Knicks take their assistant James Borrego.
Knicks Are Getting Used to the Word ‘No’
So, the Knicks are getting used to being told “no” when it comes to interviewing candidates that they want on their coaching staff, which is never a good thing. Hopefully, the right person will be available soon, but right now, it’s just a lot of strikes.
All of this “puts the Knicks in an awkward situation,” Dan Favale of The Daily Knicks notes in a feature published on Saturday, July 12. “They have their head coach in Brown, as well as a good chunk of other staff members, but it remains to be seen who’s going to fill the second most important position on the bench.”
The Knicks took their sweet time to hire Brown, and while it’s good that they didn’t rush into things and really looked at all of the available candidates, it may cost them in the end. They’ve missed out on a range of coaching candidates, including Jared Dudley, Frank Vogel and Sean Sweeney, among others. If they were so hot on Brown, they probably should have jumped on him sooner, but that’s in the past, and it’s time to move forward.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Knicks Get Unfortunate News As Season Nears appeared first on Heavy Sports.