Jazz assistant joins Thibs’ Knicks staff
Tom Thibodeau’s Knicks coaching staff continues to have an offbeat feel as the Knicks will add Jazz assistant Johnnie Bryant as an associate coach, a source confirmed.
According to a source, the hiring was made from a player-development angle but it also could be a lure for Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell.
The hire adds another member to the Knicks staff who Thibodeau has never worked with. Bryant is close to Mitchell, who reportedly was frustrated in March with teammate Rudy Gobert after the center tested positive for COVID-19. Gobert mocked the NBA’s coronavirus guidelines before his positive test and Mitchell ended up testing positive a day after Gobert.
“What’s Understood Doesn’t Need To Be Explained! Love always!” Mitchell wrote in a post on Instagram, accompanied by four photos of Mitchell and Bryant working together, shortly after the news broke. “Now before you go, we got some s--t to handle first.”
Mitchell scored 57 points in the Jazz’s 135-125 Game 1 overtime playoff loss to the Nuggets on Monday.
There’s speculation Mitchell, whom the Knicks passed on in the 2017 NBA Draft, will ultimately want out of Utah after the Gobert incident. His former agent is Knicks president
Leon Rose.
Portland’s Damian Lillard has spoken highly of Bryant from his AAU days when Bryant was in college and served as a mentor to Lillard, then a seventh-grader. Lillard has called Bryant his “big brother.’’ Both are from Oakland, Calif.
Bryant, whose been with the Jazz since 2012 and attended the University of Utah, has been credited with the development of Gordon Hayward and Paul Millsap in Utah. The hiring is the second Jazz employee Rose has plucked — stealing away noted college scout Walter Perrin.
Kenny Payne was added last week to Thibodeau’s staff and Mike Woodson is expected to be in the fold shortly. Thibodeau has not worked with either.
Before Thibodeau was hired The Post reported he was open to having the front office help choose the coaching staff, which is something he has never experienced. Ed Pinckney, a former Thibodeau assistant, is reportedly no longer in the mix.
➤ Former Knicks interim coach Mike Miller is unlikely to return as he explores other coaching opportunities, according to a source. Miller is under contract for next season, as The Post reported last month. Miller could return to the Knicks in a scouting capacity if he doesn’t find another position.