New York Knicks: Second Half Preview
What Exactly Is Kurt Rambis?
With Derek Fisher officially out as head coach, Phil Jackson tapped one of the few members of his coaching tree to fill the role for the remainder of the season, naming Kurt Rambis interim head coach.
Rambis, a Triangle offense disciple, found some success as an interim for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1998-99 season, coaching the team to an impressive 24-13 mark in just 37 appearances. After years serving in L.A. as an assistant to Phil, Rambis finally got a permanent head coaching gig for the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2009.
The results?
Not good.
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In just two seasons as the helm, Rambis led the T-Wolves to a 32-132 record before getting the axe. After a season back on the Lakers bench, Rambis returned to Jackson’s side in 2014 with the hope that he’d be able to accelerate the learning curve that comes with the Triangle offense.
The 57-year-old Rambis is regarded as one of the best Triangle-minds in the NBA, but in 2015, what exactly does that mean? The Triangle is an offense predicated on midrange jumpers, a format of scoring that statistically doesn’t make sense in today’s three-point heavy game. But with Phil Jackson in charge, there’s a borderline slavish devotion to the system, with Derek Fisher’s desire to move away from the offense reportedly being one of the reasons he was let go.
I don’t think anyone thinks Kurt Rambis is the long-term solution to the Knicks’ head coaching search, but if he can maybe inspire a few wins out of a team that at points looked dead in the first half, Rambis would deserve a huge amount of credit. Fisher seemed to have lost the team coming into the break and although Rambis lost the one game he was in charge for, there’s at least a minimal amount of hope that he can drag something out of these guys.
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