The NY Knicks are looking to lock up Steve Kerr as their head coach after he received some interest from the Golden State Warriors and the team will work hard this offseason to retain Carmelo Anthony as a free agent and that means potential trade options involving Tyson Chandler Amar'e Stoudemire, Raymond Felton or Andrea Bargnani for president Phil Jackson.
The Knicks have a number of avenues they can go down this offseason and the main one is signing Carmelo Anthony and while that is still a ways down the road, Phil Jackson knows he has to prepare for every scenario, including the idea of Melo leaving. Jackson has been zeroing on Steve Kerr as head coach and one reason is because of their connections back in Chicago with the Bulls, but also because of the way Kerr can break down opponents and run the Triangle, which Jackson has mastered in years in the league.
According to ESPN.com, a report from the week wrote that Kerr was "too deep" in negotiations with the Knicks for the Warriors to get him and that could lead to a deal getting done this week. ESPN.com writes that the Knicks and Kerr are "optimistic" about a deal getting done and that there is a chance it could be up to $30 million to lock it down and this comes after the Knicks fired Mike Woodson at the end of the season. The report also cites the fact that the Warriors are split on Kerr and that some in the front office and the players want Stan Van Gundy over Kerr and that is another reason why it's likely he ends up in NYC.
The Knicks had hoped to get a deal done by May to get things going this offseason and so not to disrupt the NBA playoffs for TNT, but now it's two weeks into May and no deal is done. Over the weekend reports have the team "getting closer" to a deal with Kerr and they may try and finish things off before he has another game on TV and that is Tuesday in Oklahoma City. The report from ESPN.com also says that Kerr could head to Chicago with Jackson for the scouting combine later this week with a deal being close to done.
Kerr has never been a head coach, but he was general manager in Phoenix for the Suns and Stoudemire is one player that has given him high praise with all the rumors going around. Stoudemire said he adored Kerr I Phoenix, but Jackson knows all options are on the table and that relationship likely will not be enough to keep Stoudemire if a decent enough deal comes along. Stoudemire also said that he wasn't sure what Anthony would do this offseason and if he leaves, all bets are off about trades and free agent targets, as Jackson could get a head start on the summer of 2015 with names like Kyle Lowry or Luol Deng.
The Knicks are going to try hard to keep Anthony and to free up some money they could trade Chandler, who has been a target for the Dallas Mavericks since he left a few years ago for NY.
