Two and half weeks after Phil Jackson began his narrow coaching search, former Cavaliers coach David Blatt “still is in the mix” for the Knicks head job, according to an NBA source.
Blatt interviewed last Monday with Jackson and general manager Steve Mills. The Post has reported only the head-coaching job was discussed. A source told The Post Sunday the Knicks aren’t considering Blatt for an assistant’s position to front-runner Kurt Rambis.
The Knicks believe Blatt will be a head coach next season — whether in the NBA or overseas. Blatt is expected to be interviewed for the vacancies with the Rockets and Kings, Sacramento being run by former European great Vlade Divac.
Rambis likely would be offered to be Blatt’s offensive triangle coordinator if the Israeli coaching legend defies odds and is hired. It’s been reported by multiple outlets Blatt’s interview had been a courtesy call.
Blatt’s key connection to the Knicks is Mills, one of his best friends after they shared the Princeton backcourt in the late 1970s. They also were in each other’s wedding parties.
A Blatt hiring would serve as the beginning of Jackson passing the torch to eventual successor Mills, though Knicks brass believes Blatt has shown the adaptability to run Jackson’s triangle offense. The Wall Street Journal reported Blatt was on Jackson’s list of Pistons head-coaching candidates when serving as a Detroit consultant a few years back.
Jackson is believed to have gotten a recommendation from Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who nearly hired Blatt as an assistant coach two years ago before Blatt was hired by the Cavaliers.
A Blatt hiring would be ironic for Carmelo Anthony, who has appeared to lobby against a Rambis hiring. However, Blatt had a falling out with Anthony’s buddy, LeBron James in Cleveland, part of a locker-room mutiny that included Anthony pals Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith. Both are former Knicks.
One of Blatt’s downfalls in Cleveland was his being too sensitive about being viewed as a novice head coach after earning legendary status overseas.
“He bristled with the media treating him like a rookie, he took umbrage to that,’’ one NBA executive told The Post. “In LeBron’s world, what you did in Europe, it’s irrelevant.’’
Anthony going public again last week about the need to open up the search further has raised eyebrows among Knicks’ brass. If Rambis becomes the permanent coach Anthony would be in an awkward position of recruiting free agents to play for a head coach he didn’t want.
Meanwhile, new Lakers coach Luke Walton, Jackson’s preferred choice whom he interviewed two days into the search, told reporters he won’t bring the triangle back to Los Angeles.
“I don’t think the triangle’s the most appropriate offense for the players that they have in place right there,” Walton said. “So I think I’m going to bring more of the style and spacing that we use up here [in Golden State], which has elements of the triangle, that philosophy.”