Stein: The Knicks want to hire Steve Kerr after the first round of the playoffs

Good day! Not much new here-- Phil Jackson still wants to hire Steve Kerr to coach the Knicks and Steve Kerr is still strongly considering coaching the Knicks for Phil Jackson. The main new thing is we've been given goal date by which the Knicks would like to hire Kerr, relative to his current job as a TV analyst:

The New York Knicks are trying to complete a deal with TNT's Steve Kerr that would install him as their new coach after the first round of the playoffs, according to sources with knowledge of the talks.

Sources told ESPN.com on Tuesday that the intention of new Knicks president Phil Jackson is try to secure Kerr as his first coaching hire by early next month, which would theoretically soften the blow for the announcer's current employer to withstand losing its No. 1 analyst in the midst of the playoffs.

Of course, if Kerr wants to quit his job and join the Knicks today, they won't say no. And if Kerr strings the Knicks along until the end of the playoffs or even into June and July, that's probably fine, too. The only previous mention of a timeline was Jackson saying he wanted a new coach by the time Summer League rolled around, and that's a while off.

If Kerr balks, note that Stein goes on to echo the sentiment that Jackson's back-up choices aren't clear. We've seen several Phil-friendly coach-y types pledge their interest and we've seen reporters bring up a lot of those same names, but we have not seen a sourced rumor even close to as strong as all this Kerr stuff. The current, publicly discernible answer to "If not Kerr, then who?" is "Uhhhhhhh....?"

So that's what's up there. Same as it ever was. How are you? What's for lunch?