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The Knicks’ front office made it fairly clear that the search for their next head coach is the top priority after blowing off an NBA league office conference call in order to interview candidates Will Hardy and Jason Kidd on Thursday.
But the front office is apparently so focused on the coaching search that they don’t plan on conducting any more draft interviews this month, according to Mike Vorkunov.
Knicks have made the head coach search their priority. Knicks gave their scouting staff off for July, sources told The Athletic, giving them a break during this endless offseason, pushing some draft interviews back. Knicks were preparing for June draft until NBA moved it to Oct.
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) July 2, 2020
The front office has already interviewed a few draft prospects, including top French point guard Killian Hayes and JUCO guard Jay Scrubb.
In a normal year, the draft would have been held already, and we’d be in the midst of Summer League excitement. Alas, the draft won’t be held until friggin’ October this year, annoys the crap out of me. So there’s not much point in going all-out with the draft scouting in July. (NOTE: Though it won’t stop me from looking at the same Devin Vassell highlight video 10 times on YouTube.)
Per Marc Berman, the front office would rather open training camp next season (whenever that will be) earlier than the 22 playoff bubble teams, so that whoever they draft in October can get some extra reps with the current Knicks. That sounds fair.