If Jalen Rose led the ESPN Knicks, his first two choices for the coach are a guy the team isn’t considering and one who calculates a shot from outside.
Mark Jackson and Jason Kidd.
“Two of the best minds who have ever played basketball deserve another chance,” Rose told The Post.
Jackson, a former Warriors manager, is not among the 11 Knicks candidates after he got lost with David Fizdale for work in 2018. Kidd – the Lakers’ assistant, former Nets and Bucks manager, and former Nets guardian / Knicks – had his second interview last week.
Jackson and Kidd are similar to Rose’s eyes: both star guards, both do not receive enough credit to develop their stars. In turn, both men were expelled from the teams (Golden State, Milwaukee) who went great.
Kidd and Jackson should be commended for their early work with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Splash Brothers (Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson), respectively, Rose said.
“The hardest thing for a coach to do is develop a superstar,” said Rose, whose 10th annual Detroit charity golf tournament is still active next month. “Jason Kidd, all he did was help develop Greek Freak. He wasn’t even in the Green Room [during draft]. He left the stands [selected 15 in 2013].
“I would compliment Mark Jackson on what he has been able to do with the Warriors. Develop the Splash Brothers. Ten years ago, [Jackson] said they were going to be the best shooting ranges of all time and he was training them. And Draymond Green, it was a second round choice.
Kidd was fired from Milwaukee in the middle of the 2017-18 season. Jackson of Golden State was rebounded in 2014.
“They deserve another opportunity,” said Rose. “The hardest thing is to develop a team through the project and win with those same players.”