Israeli Hoops Coach David Blatt May Get New York Knicks Gig
Image by Getty Images
David Blatt, the Israeli-American who was fired as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, reportedly is under consideration to become the head coach of the New York Knicks.
ESPN reported Monday evening that Blatt is in the running for the job currently being filled by interim coach Kurt Rambis, citing unnamed league sources.
Blatt played college hoops with Knicks general manager Steve Mills at Princeton in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Several other coaches with NBA coaching experience are currently available, some with past ties to the Knicks.
Blatt said at the time of his firing that he planned to try to remain in the NBA, as opposed to returning to coaching in Israel and the European leagues, where he led Maccabi Tel Aviv to five national titles and the 2014 Euroleague championship and the Russian national team to a bronze medal during the 2012 London Olympics.
Blatt was fired in January as head coach of the Cavaliers, after leading them to the 2015 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games. At the time of his firing, the Cavs had the best record in the Eastern Conference.
He reportedly also is being considered as of the Brooklyn Nets, the New York Post reported. The team is owned by Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov, who knows Blatt from his time as a coach in Moscow.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
