Phil Jackson talks New York Knicks' coaching search

New York Knicks’ president Phil Jackson probably thought his coaching search would be done by now.

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It looked like Jackson would be hiring a former player of his, Steve Kerr, to coach the Knicks. In fact, many assumed the deal was essentially done. Instead, Kerr threw Jackson for a loop and accepted the head coaching job with the Golden State Warriors instead, choosing a far superior roster over his friendship with Jackson.

That has caused Jackson to move on to another former player – current Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Derek Fisher. Jackson told Ian Begley of ESPN New York why he’d prefer to hire a coach in his inner circle.

"Instead of talking to coaches with experience on the bench, Jackson has focused his search on two men new to coaching with whom he has a previous relationship: Steve Kerr and Derek Fisher.Earlier this month, Jackson explained the rationale behind talking only to those in his “circle.”“I have a big circle,” Jackson said with a grin.He added, “I’d like to have a prior relationship with a coach so that we know that we’ve gone through some kind of issues together. We’ve dealt with some kind of battle situations. We’ve had conflicts, we’ve had disagreements and we know how to work things out. Those, I think, are part and parcel I think to having a relationship with people that can work together that can still disagree and come to terms.”"

Begley added that although Jackson has not reached out to former Golden State Warriors’ head coach and New York Knicks’ point guard Mark Jackson, he hasn’t ruled out doing so.

Jackson spoke to Fisher on Wednesday.

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Phil Jackson talks New York Knicks’ coaching search

By Andrew Melnick | Jun 7, 2014