The New York Knicks are going international in their effort to find a new head coach — literally. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, New York’s brass will meet with former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt in Europe next week.
The Knicks are meeting with David Blatt in Europe next week on head coaching job, and plan also to interview Spurs assistant coach James Borrego, league sources tell me and @IanBegley.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 20, 2018
Not to read too much into this, but president Steve Mills and GM Scott Perry taking a trip across the pond to meet with Blatt is no small thing. As we already know, NBA head coaching searches tend to be done at a frantic pace. This specific meeting will take some time.
Currently the head coach of Darüşşafaka in Turkey, Blatt coached the Cavaliers to an NBA Finals appearance in 2014-15. He was unceremoniously ousted from the job halfway through the following season. A widely respected basketball mind, is a former national coach for Russia and took on the same role for Maccabi Tel Aviv prior to joining the Cavaliers.
Blatt joins Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer, among others, as a candidate to replace the recently fired Jeff Hornacek.