During his first sit-down interview since being named Knicks president, Leon Rose discussed a wide variety of topics, including the team's head coaching search.
Rose, speaking with MSG's Mike Breen, discussed the format of the coaching interviews, what he's looking for in a head coach, and how long he thinks the hiring process will take.
Miller didn't name any outside candidates, but he did confirm that interim head coach Mike Miller is on the list.
"What I witnessed before I was here and what I saw being around Mike Miller - first class, did a great job in a very difficult situation, and we're so appreciative of that. Mike is the first person that we talked to," said Rose, who hasn't had an introductory press conference yet.. "We're setting it up in two phases. We're having shorter meetings, kind of break the ice, with the various candidates, and then we're going to have full interviews with the candidates, and Mike, obviously, is one of those candidates. We're anticipating that to go to mid-to-late July, and hopefully by the end of July make a decision, whether it's to keep Mike or to go in a different direction.
"But it's really exciting. There's a lot of really great candidates, and I'm not going to get into who the candidates are, but it's exciting. We're looking at a lot of different people with a lot of different mindsets, philosophies, and for me personally, this is educational, and I need to make sure that we go through this process and we dot every 'I' and cross every 'T' in order to make the right decision."
Here is the latest on the coaching search, which includes nearly a dozen candidates.
Rose said the following when asked about what he's looking for in a coach:
"We want to find the right leader that can develop our young players, as well as hold everyone accountable and take us from development to becoming a perennial winner," Rose said in an interview with Mike Breen that aired Wednesday night on MSG Network. "We also want somebody that we think will be collaborative with the front office and someone that, when you're in that huddle and you're looking in that coach's eyes, every player that's looking at him knows that that person is driving the ship and going to get the job done."
Agents and coaches who have a vested interest in the Knicks' process have long believed that Rose is most likely to hire Tom Thibodeau. But there is legitimate internal support for Kenny Atkinson, as SNY reported earlier this month.
When asked about it, Rose said that he's not going to impose his "own philosophy or style of play" on the head coach (that was an issue that arose during Phil Jackson's tenure as Knicks president).
Rose also addressed several other topics in the sit-down:
On the Knicks becoming a destination in free agency
"What we have to create is an environment where players want to come here," Rose said. "And the way we do that is on the day-to-day with the players we have, the organization we have and making sure every aspect of that is player-friendly and first class. We're going to work as hard as we can that this is the place you want to be at. We have the greatest city in the world, we have an iconic arena and we just need to create culture that people are going to want to be part of."
The Knicks have mostly failed to attract top free agents to New York over the past 20 years. The club can create significant cap space this offseason and in subsequent offseasons, so Rose & Co. should have the tools to attract free agents to the Garden.
On some young players on the Knicks' roster
"I think it's still a little early to call that just because of how much time we have until the draft, until free agency in order to fully evaluate. And some of those decisions come after the draft. Right now, I look at Mitchell Robinson and RJ (Barrett), two young core pieces.
"I look forward to working with Kevin [Knox]. I think he's just starting to scratch the surface," Rose said. "Frank Ntilikina, given the right circumstances, I think can really prosper. And Dennis Smith, that's a special talent right there. And we have some solid veterans. Julius (Randle) coming back.
"In the short time that I've been here, we've had a lot of discussions about players playing but having to be held accountable," Rose said. "And players having to earn the minutes. So even though they're younger players, there has to be a standard, there has to be accountability in order for them to grow and improve. There has to be a balance between playing through their mistakes and accountability. As an agent, I didn't want any balance. I wanted them to play. Sitting in the chair I am now, there's going to have to be accountability, there's going to have to be standards and learning by coming out of the game and sitting there and learning from watching."
Rose added that he hoped to have more chances to observe the current Knicks roster in training sessions this summer. The Knicks -- and the other seven teams not participating in the re-start to the NBA season next month -- may participate in a training camp of sorts in the coming months.
"I've personally watched a lot of film and had a lot of discussions with (GM) Scott (Perry) and with others in order to get up to speed and to be in position to be able to make the best decisions that I can," Rose said.
On the draft
"This draft, there's a couple guys that might stand out and after that there's a lot of equality," Rose said. "A lot of guys who are close with different skill sets, different positives, different negatives. Each scout, there's varying opinions, more varying opinions than there has been in past years."
The Knicks finished with the sixth-worst record in the NBA and will have an 8.6 percent chance of landing the sixth pick and a nine percent chance of landing the top pick. They would have a 37.2 percent chance of landing a top-four pick.
The Lottery will take place on Aug. 25 and the draft will be on Oct. 15.
The Knicks have their own first-round pick and have the Clippers' first-round pick as a result of the Marcus Morris trade.
They also have an early second-round pick.
Last month, the club had LaMelo Ball as the top point guard on its board (Most teams probably have Ball at the top of their board). Ball's father, Lavar, has talked about wanting LaMelo to be drafted by the Knicks. Others in Ball's circle outside of LaVar would also like to see LaMelo in New York. The Knicks have probably done their due diligence on many players in the draft. They have scouted Cole Anthony extensively, as SNY reported last month.
Rose will rely on the scouting of Perry and his staff to evaluate players. He said having extra time to do so will be a benefit.
"We're going to make the most of it," Rose said.
The club has had regular calls with staff to discuss prospects and has interviewed prospects via video conference.