JOB ON ‘D’ LINE
SACRAMENTO — This was the mandate to Jeff Hornacek from the front office: play hard and play defense. Winning is secondary. You could argue, with strong empirical evidence, that’s an unfair demand given the high number of poor individual defenders on the roster. But fairness is rarely part of the job description for NBA coaches — as Hornacek can attest from his days in Phoenix — and security is about as steady as Donald Trump’s hair in a hurricane.
So defensive no-shows like Friday night’s 128-105 debacle defeat to the Clippers are understandably frustrating to Hornacek, who was atypically scathing in his postgame interview.
“It was terrible,” he hissed. “It was a terrible defensive effort.”
There was much more from Hornacek in that interview. He questioned the Knicks’ pride. He implied they were soft against L.A. center DeAndre Jordan, who dunked with no resistance while scoring 19 points on 11 shots and taking just two free throws. “You foul the guy,” Hornacek said. That game, that dud of a performance, was the Knicks letting go of the rope. A day later after practice, the coach’s anger had subsided but he was still preaching the same message about pride and effort. He also hinted at a potential lineup change for Sunday against the Kings, with defense in mind as the Knicks own the worst defensive rating in the NBA over their last 10 games.
One option is swapping the struggling Michael Beasley for Lance Thomas.
“I was upset,” Hornacek said Saturday after a lengthy evening practice that included a dissection of film from the horror show against the Clippers. “Just competing, the getting after it. I think when you see something happen over and over and you don’t knock someone over. Maybe that’s old school, I don’t know. But when they keep scoring the same way and you don’t fight to keep it from happening again, it gets frustrating. …I think they accepted getting scored on.”
Hornacek is not without fault for what will surely devolve into consecutive 50-loss seasons. When he had more power as a fresh hire last season, Hornacek should’ve pushed back at Phil Jackson’s triangle intrusions. Instead, he gave an executive the run of the offense and, predictably, that backfired.
This season, Hornacek was handed more control but also a very flawed roster — filled with slow defenders and poor shooters, along with four traditional centers who all felt they deserved playing time. Not a good recipe.
Still, the fact that the Knicks never built an identity — and never could fight through the adversities of injuries or playing on the road — is a big pockmark on the coach’s resume. Hornacek is under contract through next season, but head coaches are rarely on the sideline with expiring deals. GM Scott Perry has notably stopped short of publicly committing to Hornacek beyond the rest of the season, which is shaping up like a 19-game death march to the draft lottery.
Games like Friday aren’t exactly persuasive arguments for Hornacek. His remedy in practice was to stay out of the discussion during the film session, allowing the players to police themselves.
“We kind of put it on them to discuss it today. I do that occasionally where we let them talk about it,” Hornacek said. “That way you get an understanding of whether they’re really seeing it.” Emmanuel Mudiay felt it was productive. “A lot of people with themselves said, ‘I should of done this, I should’ve done that.’ So that was good. That was a good little coaching scheme he had so we can get on each other.”
We’ll see if it strikes a chord. Sacramento is a good place to start because the Kings (19-43) are awful and in full tank mode. Either way, it’s difficult to see a path where Hornacek is coaching next season. From the beginning of this one, he sat in the tenuous position of being the previous regime’s hire.
Replacement candidates like Mark Jackson, Doc Rivers and Jerry Stackhouse are already being tossed around — mostly in speculation — in NBA circles. From a money-grabber’s perspective, the Knicks coaching job is always pretty enticing. But for stability, winning and legacy, let’s just say Larry Brown, Phil Jackson, Lenny Wilkens, Mike D’Antoni, Isiah Thomas and Derek Fisher would rather scratch the Knicks off their credentials.
If Hornacek is not retained after this season, the next coach would be the franchise’s fifth in the last six years. It’s a frustrating existence, and even a composed coach like Hornacek can get frustrated after another lost game in another lost season.
RETURN OF TROY: The Knicks signed Troy Williams to a second 10-day contract on Saturday, extending the athletic wing’s trial four more games until they have to make a decision on the rest of the season.
The move was expected with Williams playing well in his four games while averaging eight points in 12.5 minutes. Under the rules, the Knicks are unable to offer him a third 10-day contract and would need to sign the 23-year-old for the remainder of the season if they want to keep him.
KNICKS at KINGS