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New York • Phil Jackson has moved slowly in his search for a new head coach, but he may have finally settled on one.
As first reported by Bleacher Report, the Knicks president is set to hire former Utah Jazz player and assistant coach Jeff Hornacek as the third coach of his tenure running the franchise.
According to one person familiar with the situation the deal is not quite as close to complete as reported with contract negotiations not even started yet, but there clearly was a mutual affection between Jackson and Hornacek. ESPN reported that other candidates had been told that the team had settled on Hornacek.
If the deal comes to fruition it would be a startling move for Jackson, who last month spoke about the need for a coach who has connections with him. When he fired Derek Fisher in February he placed his longtime friend, Kurt Rambis, as place as the interim coach, and listed him that day as the only coach certain to get an interview.
The requirements were supposedly a relationship with Jackson and a willingness to run Jackson's preferred system, the Triangle Offense.
Jackson passed on a number of high-profile candidates early in the process — Tom Thibodeau heading to Minnesota and Scott Brooks landing the Washington job with neither coach getting a phone call from Jackson — and conducted a Triangle Offense seminar for some of the players on the roster with Rambis joining him in teaching it.
Jackson reached out David Blatt, Frank Vogel and Hornacek in recent weeks. Blatt had been fired by the Cavaliers in January and Vogel was let go by the Pacers when the team was knocked out of the playoffs, Larry Bird not offering him a new contract.
In 2013-14, Hornacek's first season as a head coach, he led the Phoenix Suns to a 48-34 record and finished second to San Antonio's Gregg Popovich in Coach of the Year balloting. The Suns were 39-43 the next year in an injury-plagued season and then this year, with a 14-35 record he was fired.
Well-respected around the league, he interviewed for the Washington and Sacramento openings before sitting down with Jackson.
For Jackson, Hornacek comes from outside of his coaching tree. Hornacek never played for him or coached under him. He was instead, a part of the Jazz squad that fell twice to Jackson's Chicago Bulls squad in the NBA Finals.
Speaking on SiriusXM's NBA Radio, former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said, "The things I've heard is that he's not going to be required to run the triangle, which is smart from the standpoint that he's never taught it before. So you don't want to come in trying that you've never played in or taught. I'm interested in that. But I think it's an inspired choice."
Jackson has been silent on the search process, but he dropped hints at his press conference after the season ended that would have made Hornacek an unlikely choice.