When the New York Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau earlier this year, they were swinging for the fences, so to speak, on his successor.

Although Thibodeau led the Knicks to their first Eastern Conference Finals berth in a quarter of a century, following a six-game series loss to the Indiana Pacers, Thibodeau was relieved of his duties. That set off a flurry of reported attempts by New York to hire one of the top coaches in the NBA, including the Boston Celtics ' Joe Mazzulla , according to insider Marc Stein.

In addition to formally requesting (and being denied the chance) to interview the Dallas Mavericks' Jason Kidd, Minnesota Timberwolves' Chris Finch, Chicago Bulls' Billy Donovan, Houston Rockets' Ime Udoka, and Atlanta Hawks' Quin Snyder, the Knicks considered Mazzulla,

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