The New York Knicks made the shocking decision to fire Tom Thibodeau after he coached the team to its deepest playoff run in decades. Now, the franchise will not let its foot off the expectation-mobile's accelerator, but will welcome a new coach to try to get the team further next season.
Plenty of names have been floated. Jason Kidd and Ime Udoka, currently Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets heads, respectively, are thought to be options, but require approval from their incumbent teams to even participate in interviews. Other flashy names exist in the proverbial free agent coaching market.
Among those, technically speaking, is Jay Wright, who coached Villanova to two titles in 2016 and '18. The Knicks roster Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges, each part of the 2016 title-winning team coached by Wright (Brunson and Bridges were also a part of '18). The fit is obvious given the experience key pieces of the roster have with Wright.
Previous reporting has indicated that there was little chance of Wright even entertaining the job, considering he is enjoying his retirement. Now, we've learned the New York Knicks understand that too and won't be pursuing the longtime Nova coach, according to Ian Begly of SNY.
"Leon Rose & Wright have a close relationship and speak regularly. Because of that, Rose knows Wright is very happy as a retiree, per league source. So Wright is not a candidate for the job, league source said," Ian Begly reported on Saturday.
Sounds like that's that. While the Knicks could have attempted to convince Wright otherwise, all indications are they won't. Sometimes, finding the right candidate comes down to weeding out who isn't a fit first.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Knicks Have Reportedly Made Decision on Jay Wright Coaching Pursuit.
