Knicks tap top Jazz assistant

The Knicks have added another piece to their coaching staff.

Utah Jazz assistant Johnnie Bryant has been hired by the Knicks to be the associate head coach under new head coach Tom Thibodeau, according to The Athletic.

Bryant, 34, worked with the Jazz since their 2014-15 season. He has been credited with developing stars Damian Lillard, Paul Millsap, Gordon Hayward and Donovan Mitchell.

“He’s really intense, but he’s laid back at the same time — he’s always got something to say,” Mitchell told The Salt Lake Tribune of Bryant in 2018. “I work as hard as I possibly can to shut him up.”

Bryant joins a Knicks team trying to rebrand and renew its name and reputation, which of course involves building a better team starting with the coaching staff.

On July 25, the Knicks finally reached a deal with Thibodeau to become the floundering franchise’s head coach. The former Knicks assistant helped guide the Derrick Rose Chicago Bulls to their best seasons in the post Jordan-era in his first stop as an NBA head coach. He then spent two and a half seasons in charge of the Timberwolves. His flaw with the Bulls and T-wolves was his relationship with the front office (Bulls’ Gar Forman and John Paxson), ownership (Twolves’ owner Glen Taylor) and top stars (T-wolves’ forward Karl-Anthony Towns), which led to his dismissal from both teams.

Thibodeau and the Knicks have been filling out the rest of his team since.

On Aug. 11, the Knicks added longtime Kentucky assistant Kenny Payne as Thibodeau’s first assistant. Payne worked for a decade at Kentucky under John Calipari. Thibodeau had issues connecting with this generations’ stars, so that’s where Payne fit in.

Payne had a good relationship with Kentucky stars Towns, Anthony Davis and current Knicks Kevin Knox and Julius Randle. He’ll be crucial when this year’s big free-agent stars are shopping for teams.