New York Knicks could consider David Blatt

David Blatt is on the short list of candidates under consideration to be head coach of the New York Knicks.

According to the New York Post, Blatt, who was 70-48 with the Cleveland Cavaliers before he was fired in January, is very high on the list of general manager Steve Mills. Mills and Blatt were teammates on the Princeton basketball team.

Interim coach Kurt Rambis, former Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau and Golden State Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton are thought to be targets of Knicks president of basketball operations Phil Jackson. The Knicks haven't made the playoffs in three years and lost 50-plus games for the second consecutive season.

"If we get the right pieces and continue to grow as a team and everything, we see this turning around real quick," Rambis said Sunday. "The potential is there to turn it around really quick."

Star forward Carmelo Anthony said he enjoys playing for Rambis, despite the fact the team is well under .500 since he replaced Derek Fisher.

"He was kind of a big-time influence in what we had going on early in the season and even last year, being the associate head coach," Anthony said. "But just the way that he was able to jump right in there, get guys' attention and get guys to play. Usually in that situation it takes time to come in. Most people put in a new system, a new offense, a new defensive scheme. He jumped right in there because it was the same system."