Knicks president Phil Jackson already whiffed once trying to bring in one of his former point guards to coach in New York. Now the NBA coaching legend has his eyes on another — Derek Fisher.
Before proceeding with an ongoing coaching search, which was delayed last week when Steve Kerr turned down the Knicks job to coach the Golden State Warriors, Jackson wants to gage Fisher's interest and "seriously discuss" the position, according to an ESPN.com report.
The only issue: Fisher, now a Thunder role player backing up point guard Russell Westbrook, is still playing basketball — Oklahoma City's Western Conference finals series against the San Antonio Spurs begins Monday.
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"I would tell people to allow me to finish my career as a player before they give me another job after that," Fisher said when his name was previously brought up as a rumored potential candidate for the Knicks job. "It's humbling, just to think about people thinking of me in that manner, especially while I'm still playing. (But) I promise you this is the last thing on my mind at this point. I really haven't thought about it that much. Hopefully there's a lot of basketball left to be played this season for sure. Once that's done we'll go from there."
Fisher was the point guard on five of Jackson's title-winning Laker teams, and he's not the only name on the rumored list of candidates who have played for the "Zen Master." Nuggets coach Brian Shaw, Luke Walton and Tyronn Lue reportedly are also on their former coach's radar.
Should Fisher, who's also served as president of the National Basketball Players Association, hang up the basketball shoes and immediately put on the coaching shoes, he'd follow Jason Kidd's recent precedent — Kidd ended his 19-year playing career a year ago to become the Brooklyn Nets' head coach, then led the team to the second round of this year's playoffs.