“There’s not one benefit of coming in as an interim coach,” Van Gundy said, speaking of the task generally. “Not one. No preparation time. You have to take over for someone who hired you who just got through a traumatic, life-altering experience of losing a job. You have to navigate how you can be loyal to that person and at that same time move forward with your team to get them to play well. That’s a very hard thing to do.” And he adds: “As a lifer who has not had it easy to get to the NBA, he is enjoying this great opportunity. And I’m not going to be surprised at the end of the year if Steve Mills and Scott Perry say, ‘Hey he did such a great job that we’re going forward with him.’”
Tag: Mike Miller (coach)
“Mike Miller hasn’t had an easy path in …
“Mike Miller hasn’t had an easy path in coaching,” said TV analyst and former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, who had Miller on his 2018 USA World Cup Qualifying Team coaching staff. “Give him a lot of credit for all the work he has put in to get to this point. He’s a no-nonsense, straight-shooting, not-looking-for-any-limelight guy. He just wants to coach basketball and do the best job he can to help the players.”
“Totally committed. No one outworks …
“Totally committed. No one outworks him,” said Jim Wooldridge, who hired Miller on three different occasions at Southwest Texas, Kansas State and UC Riverside. “Very selfless. He’s not a self-promoter. … No one will be better prepared. The players, if they don’t already, will understand it’s not about him, it’s about them.”
“Very good teacher, poised on the …
“Very good teacher, poised on the sidelines. His team was prepared every night. He did a really good job in the G League,” said one veteran NBA executive who watched Miller with Westchester. “He put in the triangle [offense] when he got there. They actually ran it better than the Knicks did.”
Fizdale has been out west, too, in Los …
Fizdale has been out west, too, in Los Angeles, walking his dog, according to his wife’s Instagram and thinking about what he could have done better. He was extremely close to the players. As Julius Randle said, Fizdale wanted to know them as people. Right now Miller wants to know them as basketball players for the short term. “He was just the right guy at the time,’’ one person familiar with the decision told The Post. “He’s got an unflappable demeanor and that was needed for the guys. Plus, he was the only one on the staff with a lot of head-coaching experience.’’
Charles Oakley says even though the …
Charles Oakley says even though the dude’s a LEGEND in New York, Patrick Ewing simply ain’t the right guy to take over for David Fizdale as Knicks head coach. But, don’t worry, Oak’s got someone in mind — Mark Jackson!!
TMZ Sports spoke with the ex-NY star …
TMZ Sports spoke with the ex-NY star about the coaching vacancy … and, while he lists off a number of ex-Knicks who are qualified for the gig, Ewing ain’t one of them. Why?? “Ya gotta be a different type of coach than Patrick,” Oak tells us. “I think he tried before and they didn’t hire him. So, I don’t know. We’ll see what happens.”
Now Mike Miller is interim coach, and …
Now Mike Miller is interim coach, and he’ll probably keep the job as long as the players respond to him. But there have already been ownership-level discussions about hiring a new coach in-season if the team continues to crater, according to sources. Hiring a coach in-season is risky for all sorts of reasons. Most notably, it complicates the decision about Mills’ and Perry’s futures with the franchise.
Chris Iseman: Doesn’t sound like Mike …
Malika Andrews: Knicks interim coach …
Malika Andrews: Knicks interim coach Mike Miller said that he has “no sense of time” over the past 24 hours — he was alerted to the coaching change Friday afternoon but couldn’t offer specifics. Miller said he has spoke to Fizdale since he was fired.