New York Knicks Rumors: Why would Jeff Van Gundy want to return?

As the losses pile up for the New York Knicks, head coach Mike Woodson’s seat keeps getting hotter and hotter to the point of you have to wonder exactly how many losses Woodson has left in him.

That number can’t be a lot.

June 7, 2012; Boston, MA, USA; ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy before game six of the Eastern Conference finals of the 2012 NBA playoffs between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

With that being said, the vote of confidence that Knicks owner James Dolan gave Woodson is all but gone after nine consecutive losses and according to the New York Post’s Marc Berman, Dolan could reach out to former Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy as a possible replacement.

"The Post has also learned that if Dolan eventually makes a move, old enemy and ex-Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy would not be ruled out as a future candidate — though such a hire seems more sensible in the offseason if Dolan goes with an interim coach."

That’s fine and dandy as I am a big supporter of Van Gundy’s, but Dolan has to be smoking something if he feels luring JVG back to the Big Apple will be as easy as simply reaching out to him.

You simply have to ask the question of why Van Gundy would want to come back in the first place?

The likely scenario is that he won’t.

Certainly Van Gundy would eventually want to get back into coaching as he is a fine coach.

But he has a great gig right now on television and it would likely take a great situation for him to get up and leave that.

The Knicks are not a great situation for any coach to want to get into.

No coach in their right mind would jump into this job knowing that the Knicks will be cash strapped once again next season. They don’t have the talent to win now and they won’t be able to upgrade much next season either.

Having potential cap space in 2015 may be attractive to a coach, but Van Gundy knows first hand that if anyone can screw that up by then, it’s Dolan and company.

Then there’s the fact that the Knicks won’t be able to add young talent. With next to no draft picks the next couple of years, the team won’t be able assemble to young talent this organization is completely void of.

You also have to consider that the only way this team could get that type of talent in a timely fashion would be to trade their best player. Any coach serious about this job would expect to have Carmelo Anthony on board, but if the Knicks decide to hold onto him, which is all but assured, he could still bolt at the end of the season. That didn’t seem likely a month ago, but the more the Knicks lose, the chances of that happening slightly increase.

Therefore Van Gundy would be crazy to want to come back to New York knowing that the cupboard is bare for likely two years.

But that’s not even the biggest reason why Van Gundy would be nuts to want to come back.

That reason simply lies in the fact that Dolan still owns the team.

Why would he want to work for him?

Van Gundy knows what this situation is all about and how difficult it is to deal with a guy like Dolan. He would be insane to even consider the thought.

At the end of the day, no one would like to see Van Gundy back on the Knicks sidelines more than me. But it also makes very little sense that he would even consider the opportunity, knowing first hand how Dolan and company operates.

Dolan may very well pick up the phone to call Van Gundy in the near future. If he was smart he wouldn’t answer.