Daily News: Knicks interviewed Bill Cartwright for assistant coaching job

This comes from Mitch Lawrence of the Daily News:

In a move that suggests that Steve Kerr is close to taking the Knicks' head coaching job, Bill Cartwright has emerged as Kerr's first lieutenant after interviewing for an assistant coach's position with the team, the Daily News has learned.

Cartwright, a former Knick center and long-time NBA assistant coach and head coach, was in New York last weekend to meet with Phil Jackson, according to a person close to Cartwright. Kerr was also in the city last weekend to talk to Jackson about the head coaching post, and it's probable that Cartwright and Kerr met to discuss a key position on Kerr's new staff.

So, pulling what the source said from what the information suggests, Cartwright met with Phil Jackson, and their meeting was an interview specifically for an assistant coach's position. Cartwright, of course, played several seasons on the Bulls with Kerr and under Jackson after a long time in New York, so the ties are clear. Cartwright went on to serve as an assistant under Jackson during the Bulls' championship years, then head coach in Chicago for a couple spells, then assistant coach again in Phoenix, then most recently a head coach in Japan. He's very tall, has a very raspy voice, and collects transistor radios. Seems cool, seems like a guy with good coaching experience. Here's an "interview" (note: this is actually a series of badly cropped photos of Cartwright set to funk music).

So, Steve Kerr remains far and away the top candidate to be the Knicks' next head coach, and Bill Cartwright seems like a solid candidate to be an assistant, since he's the only other person we know of who's met with Phil Jackson and the two of them reportedly met about an assistant gig.