Back in March, Jalen Brunson pulled off a move that I don’t think I’d ever seen before: He made James Dolan blush. New York’s captain was chatting with Dolan—the billionaire owner of the Knicks, Rangers, Sphere, and a solid chunk of my psyche—on The Roommates Show, Brunson’s side-hustle video podcast with his teammate Josh Hart. Dolan was in the middle of deflecting credit for building this year’s exciting new iteration of the Knicks roster, saying things like: “I am not the architect of this team; [current Knicks president and former CAA superagent] Leon Rose is the architect of the team,” and “I mean, this team’s going to be together for a while now; they’ve architected it that way.” (Oh, and: “Mostly, I’m signing the checks.”)
Spring was in the air. The Knicks exuded confidence that they could improve upon last year’s merry two-round playoff run. And here was their owner, chopping it up on a player pod, of all places. Dolan described his role as one of strict oversight, but not nitty-gritty involvement. Brunson asked an earnest follow-up: Had Dolan always delegated decisions this way?
Dolan, to his credit, snorted “… no!” in pretty much the exact volume and cadence knocking around the head of any Knicks fan listening. “We wanna go over that? Really?” he continued, smiling but definitely reddening, too.
You’ll need to be more specific, I thought about what Dolan meant by “that.” Really, it could refer to multiple decades’ worth of times that he’d infamously meddled in and/or undermined official Knicks business—from the Isiah-as-Svengali era(s) to the Carmelo Anthony trade; from pissing off Phil Jackson to banning Charles Oakley. I also thought: Great, now he’s gonna shun Brunson for that, too, but I was wrong. Instead, Dolan went ahead and neatly summed up the bulk of 21st-century Knicks history, even throwing a little self-awareness in for good measure.
“I mean, there were times when ya sort of reach for that shiny, sparkly object,” Dolan acknowledged in an understatement bold enough to project on his Sphere. “‘Maybe this is what we need’—especially when things were not going well, right?—‘Let’s bring in this guy, and maybe he’ll turn it all around for us.’ Sometimes it’s a player, sometimes it’s a coach, right? And you know what I've learned over time, is that doesn’t work.” (Oh my god, he admit it!)
I found myself revisiting this conversation last week as I searched for clues or insights about what the devil the Knicks have been up to over the past couple of weeks.
Here’s what we know: On April 13, the New York Knicks finished the regular season with a 51-31 record that was good for third in the East and capped off the team’s finest back-to-back campaigns since the mid-’90s. (It also marked the fourth time in Tom Thibodeau’s five years in New York that the team made the postseason.) On May 16, New York stunned the defending champ Boston Celtics in six games. On (crosses self) May 21, the Knicks were on the sickening end of a statistically improbable, déjà-vu-choked meltdown of their own in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. On May 31, the Knicks lost in six to an ascendant Indiana Pacers team that is currently battling the Oklahoma City Thunder for the NBA title.
And on June 3, in a statement that both was and wasn’t surprising, Rose wrote: “Our organization is singularly focused on winning a championship for our fans. This pursuit led us to the difficult decision to inform Tom Thibodeau that we’ve decided to move in another direction.”
Here’s what we still don’t know: which direction that is, and where it leads, and who’s even driving.
Life sure was different back when the New York Knicks were a team that actually won NBA titles. For one, there was no 3-point line. No ESPN either. Neither Timothée Chalamet nor his spiritual elder Chloë Sevigny had even been born, quelle horreur! According to The Incredible Knicks—a book whose title makes it clear that it was written in the early 1970s and not a moment sooner—the late, great New York head coach Red Holzman once coolly told a TV reporter that “I don’t worry about winning or losing. If I lose too often, they just go and get themselves another coach.”
Half a century later, it’s a whole new world by every measure. These days, NBA teams live and die by the 3. (In the 2025 playoffs, the Knicks memorably did both.) Games and highlights are broadcast and dissected on multiple channels devoted 24/7 to sports. The courtside celebs are cool and/or conspicuous in varying measures, even when the Knicks aren’t incredible at home. And as for the coach? Well, in the Knicks’ case, Thibodeau won more often than he lost—but even that didn’t stop the team from going and getting themselves another coach.
Or trying to, anyway.
“He took that job when the Knicks were just buns,” said Hart in tribute to Thibodeau this past Friday on the most recent installment of The Roommates Show, its first new episode since the Knicks’ season-ending loss. “They were, like, 20 wins.” (After rewinding to make sure Hart hadn’t said “bums,” I looked up what “buns” meant in this context: “synonymous with ‘ass,’ meaning ‘bad’ or ‘of poor quality.’” Sounds about right!)
“He should get a lot of credit for that foundation that he built,” added Hart. But Hart also pointed out that pro sports is one hell of a gauntlet for everyone involved. Between the Knicks and Hart’s former teams around the NBA, “Thibs was my sixth coach in eight years,” he said.
Now, the search is on for lucky no. 7. Who wants to be the next coach of Your! New! York! Knicks?! No, seriously, who? The ideal candidate joins a team with Finals-or-bust expectations (Thibs was fired despite making the final four); an always-on media spotlight; Brunson’s dad on staff; a roster that tiptoes the tightrope between close-knit and cliquish; this special soul; and an owner who will always have one eye on those shiny, sparkly objects, even if he says he knows better. (U like what u see?) Who wouldn’t want to join the ranks of Dolan-era skippers like Derek Fisher, Kurt Rambis, and Jeff Hornacek?
When word began spreading last week that the Knicks had started reaching out to prospective head coaching candidates, the news felt both unbecoming and oddly fascinating. Unbecoming because the Knicks’ prime “targets” all seemed to be established, successful coaches in obvious, committed relationships with other teams—could this seriously be the Knicks’ post-Thibs “plan”?! And oddly fascinating for the exact same reasons.
Chris Finch in Minnesota! Jason Kidd in Dallas! Billy Donovan with the Bulls, and Quin Snyder with the Hawks!! The Houston Rockets’ Ime Udoka!!!
That’s a lot of shiny, sparkly objects! And that’s a lot of permission denied, again and again—in some cases, reportedly “firmly.” Kicking tires is one thing, but the scope and moxie of this Knicks strategy were unusual, even by the NBA’s drama-queen standards.
ESPN insider Shams Charania told Rich Eisen that, according to his reporting, responses to various Knicks inquiries included teams hanging up on them … and also teams saying “F--- no!” and then hanging up on them. Charles Barkley called the Knicks the “stupidest damn people in the world.” Detroit Pistons coach (and former Knicks assistant) J.B. Bickerstaff remarked: “There are some places that don’t value what coaching is or what it can bring.” To put it another way? The early days of the next great Knicks coaching search were pretty buns, technically speaking.
Over the weekend, after the Knicks racked up n-os from different area codes (and probably earned Donovan a new Bulls contract; happy to help!), it was reported that the team would be formally interviewing a pair of former NBA Coaches of the Year, Taylor Jenkins and Mike Brown. The iffy news: Both men were fired in the past six months by far less successful NBA teams than the Knicks. The good news: There are no pesky front offices in the way to firmly flip off yet another New York request! Already, I’ve learned a thing or two while monitoring the situation for further updates. For example, every Knicks fan seems to have a unique personal algorithm that shakes out like so:
- Anyone MORE conspiratorial than I am is obviously engaging in dreaded “Knicks for clicks” garbaggio and is not to be trusted.
- Anyone LESS conspiratorial than I am is a poseur who missed Garden Kremlinology 101; lacks proper context re: the customs and lore of Knickerbocker basketball under imperial Dolanist rule; and is not to be trusted.
While we await additional intel and eventually a final answer on who will be calling plays and timeouts (and making exasperated expressions toward Karl-Anthony Towns at regular intervals) next season, I still find myself with so many questions.
Are the Knicks making a change for the sake of making a change? Which players’ exit interviews shook Knicks executives into their clear sense of urgency around the coaching change? (Mikal Bridges, almost certainly, but who else?) What exactly do the Knicks intend to prioritize in their current search, and is another stab at the pick-and-roll involved? Who’s really “the architect” of the organization in uncertain times like these: Rose or Dolan? Why, oh why, is the Knicks’ every awkward networking maneuver so excruciatingly public? On WFAN this month, callers and hosts alike have been in a constant state of arguing over competing theories and observations. To paraphrase just a few:
The Knicks have no plan!
Obviously Leon Rose has a plan. Have you even heard of CAA?
The Knicks should apologize and rehire Thibs. Now that he’s been scared straight, he’ll do better with his rotations and minutes this time, I just know it!
First time, long time. I’ve been thinkin’: How about Jay Wright from Vil Anover? My buddy shook his hand on campus once.
Classic Dolan—he’s so clearly behind all of this mess.
Classic Rick Brunson—he’s so clearly behind all of this mess.
They should really be asking Giannis who HE wants …
Johnnie Bryant could be the new Jeff Van Gundy—but then who’s the Don Nelson?
Ya think Pat Riley would agree to trade Spoelstra to make amends for breaking up with the Knicks by fax? Clear his conscience and such? I’ll hang up and listen.
And so forth. Me, I’ve been trying to do my best to thread the needle, find the nuance, and gracefully ignore triggering headlines like “Mark Jackson grateful for Rick Pitino’s Knicks coaching endorsement” and “Door not completely closed on Jason Kidd.” For a while there, the Knicks did something radical for them: They slow-cooked. They drafted sensibly, kept to the recipe, and showed restraint around emptying the pantry for every tempting marquee ingredient that went on sale. They looked for hard-nosed guys who could take the heat and thrive in the kitchen; they prioritized salt over sizzle. They got us salivating, and now they’ve got us wondering: What will the Knicks serve up next?
“You really have to do the fundamentals, the basics,” Dolan told Brunson and Hart in March. “There is no, you know, waving the wand over a team and making it all of a sudden a great team.”
It’s the kind of lesson that takes decades to learn—and only one dumb, hot, desperate summer to immediately forget.
