NBA Rumors: Phil Jackson told Carmelo Anthony that Steve Kerr will be hired
By Josh Hill
With just a few games left in the first round of the NBA playoffs, it appears that the timeline rumored to be set for the Knicks hiring a head coach will indeed be met. Nothing official has come out of New York just yet, but a new report has surfaced claiming that Phil Jackson informer Carmelo Anthony that Steve Kerr will be hired as the Knicks next coach.
Per The Wall Street Journal, Jackson even went a step further in selling Kerr as head coach to Anthony by saying Kerr will be an extension of Jackson himself and that Melo will essentially have two head coaches in New York.
"“Phil wanted [Anthony] to know that Kerr and his thinking will simply be an extension of himself,” one of the sources said. “He wanted Carmelo to know he’ll still be able to coach him by extension.”"
It’s uncertain if this did anything to calm Carmelo’s fears about Kerr being a rookie head coach, but hearing that Jackson is going to essentially use Kerr as a surrogate head coach is an interesting approach. Jackson clearly doesn’t want to dive back into coaching, but he also doesn’t want to get out of the pool.
Kerr’s hiring is expected to be announced soon but with jobs in Los Angeles and other big markets opening up, he’s no slam dunk to get hired by the Knicks.