New York Knicks is considering expanding the player development staff of Thibodeau

The New York Knicks rebuild their staff according to Tom Thibodeau’s preferences.

Following the hiring of New York’s last head coach, SNY’s Ian Begley reported on Friday that the club is looking to expand its player development department and considering a number of assistants who have experience in that area.

Among the names taken into consideration are the University of Kentucky associate head coach Kenny Payne, former NBA assistant coach Ed Pinckney and former Knicks interim coach Mike Miller.

For Thibodeau:

“When you put your staff together, you are looking at the qualities that you think can best fit your team, what you think you need. I think you always sit with your front office to go beyond the people you think can help. I am confident that we sit down, I will listen to the people they have, I will recommend some people I know. Some of them will be on both lists. I am really comfortable with this. I think we will have a great staff and I can’t wait to start. “

Pinckney has previously worked with Thibodeau, for five seasons with the Chicago Bulls and three with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The 57-year-old ex-Villanova star spent 12 years in the NBA and was also assistant to the Denver Nuggets during Michael Malone’s first year as head coach.

In Chicago, Pinckney helped develop a young Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler. In Denver, he helped guide novice Nikola Jokic and second-year player Jusuf Nurkic. In Minnesota, it was Karl-Anthony Towns.

Payne played for the Philadelphia 76ers for four seasons from 1989-90 to 1992-93 after being one of the best in Louisville. He joined the college coach ranks in 2004 as an assistant at Oregon. He collaborated with John Calipari’s staff at Kentucky in 2010.

Calipari has relied on Payne to help recruit and develop some of the biggest names to play for the Wildcats in recent years and could help the Knicks land as a free agency star, which the club has not been able to do in the last years. Among the players that Payne has coached in the UK are NBA stars De’Aaron Fox, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.