Jerry Stackhouse is many things — NBA All-Star, scoring champ, former Brooklyn Nets guard, entrepreneur, basketball analyst in Detroit, Ophiotaurus. But there’s another title Stackhouse is looking to add to the list: NBA assistant coach… with the New York Knicks, according to NBA.com:
Stackhouse said he talked with the Hawks last summer, soon after retiring, about staying in his adopted hometown as a player-development coach and that he met with new president Phil Jackson about a role with the Knicks in 2014-15. While staff decisions in New York are essentially on hold until a head coach is hired, the sense from Stackhouse’s side is that “there could be some realistic possibilities coming in.”
There’s a lot of moving parts over in Manhattan: they still don’t have a head coach after Phil Jackson’s former player and friend Steve Kerr spurned the Knicks to coach the Golden State Warriors, and they’re now on the fast track to signing former Oklahoma City Thunder guard Derek Fisher, who is expected to retire. But with a brand new head coach, will Jackson want another recent retiree in Stackhouse on his bench, or will he opt for a veteran-laden bench? The Knicks are putting themselves in an identical position to the Nets last year by hiring a point guard fresh off retirement; Stackhouse would’ve accepted an assistant coaching gig with the Nets, but he was never a serious consideration once Kidd was hired.
Stackhouse did not officially retire after last season, but stepped away from the game to work with the NBA Player’s Association. He told The Brooklyn Game last year he’d love to get into coaching, starting with coaching his son’s AAU team. It’s been a dream of his for the last few years, and the NBA is the next natural step.
NBA.com — Stackhouse Hoping For Coaching Career
