Although I don’t love Mark Jackson, there’s no reason to rush this process if Pax is interested in Thibodeau, Avery or D’antoni. I do appreciate how KC mentioned Tyrone Corbin’s name three days after Sam Smith floated it on North’s show. Does this guy do any original reporting?

I don’t know what Pax’s plan is, but I’m happy that he just didn’t rush out and sign Carlisle w/o doing due diligence on all potential candidates. I agree with an earlier post from Matt that he should have started to compile a list once Skiles was fired, but even that list wouldn’t have had Johnson or D’antoni on it as their teams’ respective falls have been largely unexpected.

Pete Vecsey, a man who mocked Jackson during his time in New York, christening him “Trade Mark,” has suddenly gone soft on him. He recently wrote an article saying that the fact that Jackson has no previous coaching experience is no big deal, citing his “knowledge and communication of the game spoke for itself as one of the game’s all-time assists artists, something the TV audience became privy to when he became a broadcaster for the YES Network.”
What baffles me is this emphasis about Jackson abilities as a color analyst. While admitting that Jackson is “extremely self possessed, he knows the game, can teach it articulately (or in some graphic terms if necessary) and will be demanding.” Explain to me what separates Jackson from, say Kenny Smith? The former Tar Heel, who entered the NBA via the same 1987 NBA draft as Jackson, is just as knowledgeable as “Trade Mark.”
All these analysts know the game because they’ve been around it all their lives. If they couldn’t articulate it, they would have been sent packing. Knowledge of the game from an analyst’s seat? Big deal!

I always get suspicious when a clean slate rounds up the usual suspects as they begin a full-court press. His former coach, Rick Pitino, whose opinion you should take with a grain of salt, compares Jackson to Pat Riley. Are you kidding me? “He prepares like Riley. Mark is one of the few guys who could be a head coach right away because of how bright and thorough he is.” Really? On the basis of what? Your word, Slick Rick? Talk about a snake oil salesman.
His old coach at St. John’s Lou Carnesecca chimed in, “He’s always known how to handle people. He demanded the respect of the players and they all loved him.”
Reflecting on his love affair with Jackson which goes back to his rookie year, Pitino said, “When Mark was drafted he was the darling of New York. When he got to the Knicks, I told him he was going to take us to the Promised Land.” The Knicks are still waiting to get there.

After all that selling, Knicks President Donnie Walsh isn’t biting. He probably feels the sell is too well put together. Good for him! Maybe Pax will be the sucker to take the bait.
If this guy was a can’t miss, Walsh would have gobbled him up in a second. After beating around the bush, Walsh gave him an interview last Thursday. Why all the caution on the part of the Knicks? I would have thought that he aced it. Maybe he didn’t? I think Walsh knows this guy better than Jackson and his backers think.
This guy doesn’t want to coach anywhere else but New York, because he knows that his honeymoon will be a long one. I am puzzled by Pax’s thinking. Is he trying to help Jackson drive up his price?