Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
New York Post
Knicks lose top replay man Scott King to Spurs in coaching quandary
By Brian Lewis,
11 hours ago
The Knicks just lost their player development coach — and their challenge ace — when Scott King left for San Antonio.
King — well regarded in the Garden and in league circles — had not only risen to assistant director of player development, but was also in charge of coach’s challenges, responsible for advising head coach Tom Thibodeau with a thumbs up or down. And it’s been an area of strength for the Knicks.
“In certain situations, we feel there’s an advantage to knowing that you’re 100% certain, that you’re still gonna have one,” Thibodeau said during the Knicks’ run to the Eastern Conference semifinals this past season according to Yahoo.
King’s abilities made the Knicks one of the top challenging teams in the NBA. Getty Images
King, according to Thibodeau, had been researching challenge trends across the rest of the NBA “and we’ve actually been very successful with it.”
With this past campaign being the first full season that teams had been awarded an additional challenge, the Knicks were more aggressive utilizing challenges early in games from the midway point on.
King, ubiquitous with his iPad ready to advise Thibodeau, was a huge part of that.
The Knicks won 47 challenges, the 11th most in the NBA.
They led the league in both total challenges (8) and successful challenges (6) during the first round of the playoffs, saving an estimated 7.88 points in six games against the 76ers, a series that saw them outscore Philadelphia just 650-649.
After getting his initial job doing basketball operations for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants back in 2017, he was a video intern for the Detroit Pistons the next year.
King came to the Knicks as assistant video coordinator in 2019, and earned a promotion to assistant director of player development.
Tom Thibodeau will now have to replace a big part of his coaching staff. Robert Sabo for NY Post
Some may recall King for an incident in 2021-22 when Julius Randle disrespectfully brushed the former’s iPad away and walked away from the coach as he was trying to show the power forward something.
It wasn’t a good look for Randle, but the young coach was undaunted and stood up for himself.
Thibodeau downplayed the incident at the time, and is said to hold King in high regard.
Now he’ll have to replace the former Stony Brook product, and his replay right-hand man.
For the latest in sports, top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com/sports/
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Comments / 0