David Blatt joins New York Knicks as basketball operations consultant
Thursday 19 December 2019 07:01, UK
Former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt has joined the New York Knicks as a basketball operations consultant.
Blatt, who coached the Cavs to the NBA finals in his debut campaign in the league in 2014-15, has made it clear that he will not pursue the team's head coaching job.
Interim coach Mike Miller has filled the role since the firing of David Fizdale on December 6.
"I look forward to the next step in my career as I officially retire from coaching and pursue other opportunities in basketball," Blatt said.
"I've long been intrigued by working in a front office and thank Steve (Mills) and Scott (Perry) for the opportunity to be a resource to the basketball operations staff."
Despite a 30-11 start to his second season in Cleveland, Blatt was fired and replaced by Tyronn Lue, who went on to lead the Cavs to the title that season. Blatt's record in Cleveland was 83-40.
A coach in the EuroLeague before joining the Cavs, Blatt returned to Europe after his firing. But in October, he resigned from his position with Greek club Olympiacos, two months after he announced he had multiple sclerosis.
In a Knicks statement, team president Mills and general manager Perry said Blatt would be "a great asset" to the Knicks, assisting in the front office, with the G League team and international scouting.
The Knicks have made a disappointing 7-21 start to the season, but three wins in their last five games have seen them move off the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
The famed franchise have reached the NBA playoffs just three times in the last 15 seasons, with their failure to land star players in free agency this summer having left the team in rebuild mode.
