5 potential head coach candidates of the New York Knicks

Former NBA guard Jeff Hornacek was fired by the New York Knicks after the 2017-18 NBA season came to a close this week. During his two years with the team, they had a disappointing record of 60-104.

You would think that it wasn't all Hornacek's fault this season as they lost their superstar Kristaps Porzingis to an ACL tear on February 6th. However, the Knicks had a 23-32 record at that point and was in 11th place in the Eastern Conference.

The end of the 2017-18 season marked the fifth-straight season that the Knicks missed the playoffs. They have also missed the playoffs in 11 of the past 14 season going back to the 2004-05 season.

The last championship for the Knicks came in 1973, and they are actively looking for a new head coach that can finally turn around this once great franchise. This article will take a look at five potential head coaches that could complete this task.

The first coach currently has a job in the NBA, but for how much longer?

#5 Doc Rivers

Will Doc Rivers be switching coasts in the offseason?

As I recently wrote about earlier this week on Sportskeeda, there is an expectation that Doc Rivers and the Los Angeles Clippers are going to part ways after this season.

With the departures of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, and potential departure of DeAndre Jordan, the championship window has closed in LA, and they may look to reboot.

Rivers does a good job at rebuilding teams though when you look at what he did for the Orlando Magic and Clippers this season after all the injuries they endured.

He's also a proven winner with a 2008 NBA Championship with the Boston Celtics.Finally, Doc is no stranger to New York as he played for the Knicks from 1992 to 1994.

#4 David Blatt

It didn't end well in Cleveland for David Blatt, but the league should give him another chance...

Many people believe that David Blatt didn't get a fair shake in Cleveland when he coached the Cavaliers from 2014 to 2016.

He was fired in the middle of the 2015-16 NBA season even though the Cavs had the best record in the league at 30-11.

Blatt has history with Knicks President Steve Mills as they played basketball together for Princeton.

He was being considered for the job two years ago, but they went with Jeff Hornacek instead.

Even though Blatt was highly successful as a head coach overseas, there is a worry that Blatt has the ability to work with NBA personalities.

"A lack of fit" was the reason that Cavs General Manager David Griffen fired Blatt in 2016.

#3 - Jay Wright

Would Jay Wright leave the college game behind for a chance to coach the Knicks?

The most interesting name on this list is Villanova head coach Jay Wright who is fresh off his second NCAA Championship in three years with the school.

Wright is an interesting candidate because he has never coached in the NBA before.

Wright's been at Villanova since 2001 and coached at Hofstra before that from 1994 to 2001. His career head coaching record in college is 542-250; which is a winning percentage of .684.

There are reports that the Knicks intend to reach out to Wright, but it is unknown if he desires to leave a team he's been with for 17 years.

#2 David Fizdale

David Fizdale is one of the more exciting young head coaches in the NBA. He led the Memphis Grizzlies to a third-seed in the Western Conference of the 2016-17 NBA Playoffs, but lost in the first round to the San Antonio Spurs in six games.

He was surprisingly fired the following season after a 7-12 start.

Frank Isola of the New York Daily News mentions that Fizdale is a disciple of former Knick and Los Angeles Laker head coaching great Pat Riley; which makes the potential of hiring Fizdale all the more intriguing.

Championships are in Fizdale's pedigree as he won two as an assistant with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013.

#1 Mark Jackson

Under Mark Jackson's leadership, the Golden State Warriors turned from a perennial lottery pick team to NBA Champion contenders.

For nearly 25 years, the Warriors were a dismal team, and within Jackson's second and years with the team, they made the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time since the 1991 and 1992 seasons.

The Warriors front office admitted the team is remarkably better under Jackson, but they needed someone different to win an NBA Championship; which was the reason why they fired Jackson and hired Steve Kerr.

Coincidentally enough, Kerr won the NBA Championship in his first season with the Warriors.

While Jackson is a great announcer for ABC and ESPN, it's clear he's a great head coach too. Considering he played for the New York Knicks from 1987 to 1992 and then again in 2001 to 2002, there is history with this hire and there is history of Jackson turning bad teams around.