Morning Knicks 7/2: Ewing Endorses Thibs, Second Round Targets, and More
-Some people may be confused as to why Patrick Ewing is not one of the many candidates the Knicks are interviewing for their head coaching position. Ewing is still the head coach of Georgetown, so he could be perfectly happy there, but he did comment on the coaching search on SiriusXM NBA Radio. Ewing thinks that the current favorite, Tom Thibodeau, would be a "great candidate for the job." You can read more about Ewing's comments from Forbes's Adam Zagoria.
Before Thibodeau was head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, he started his NBA career as a Timberwolves' assistant under Bill Musselman, his first mentor. Perhaps history repeats itself and Thibodeau, a former Knicks' assistant under Jeff Van Gundy, becomes the next head coach of the Knicks. Marc Berman of The New York Post wrote a detailed article about Thibodeau's time with Musselman and just how much he learned from the Cavaliers' and Timberwolves' head coach. The piece includes great quotes about Thibodeau from Van Gundy, as well as Musselman's son Eric who spent plenty of time in the NBA and is the current head coach at Arkansas.
-It's easy to focus on the two first-round picks the Knicks have in the 2020 NBA Draft, but an early second round pick shouldn't be forgotten about. The Athletic's Mike Vorkunov tried to find some underrated names the Knicks could target with pick 38, and one player stuck out to him: Mason Jones. The Arkansas' guard is a solid shooter, but Vorkunov likes him because he has an incredible knack at getting to the rim. If Jones leans on that special skill and can improve the rest of his game, perhaps he's worth a flier from Leon Rose.
