The poaching failed! Another person rejected the Knicks

According to the latest report by SNY reporter Ian Begley, former NBA point guard and current Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coach Pablo Prigioni has decided to reject the invitation from the New York Knicks and will continue to stay with the Timberwolves as an assistant coach. This decision has caused setbacks to the restructuring plan of the Knicks new coach Mike Brown.

Prigioni's NBA career is a legend. In the 2012-13 season, at the age of 35, he made his debut in the NBA, playing for the New York Knicks, and started 10 times in 11 games in the playoffs, becoming a key rotation of the team. Since then, he has also played for the Rockets and the Clippers, and eventually retired in 2017. After retiring, Prigioni transformed into a coach and joined the Timberwolves as an assistant coach, and stayed for six years. During this period, he helped the team reach the Western Conference Finals for two consecutive years and established a deep cooperative relationship with Carl Anthony Towns.

In addition, he also coached the Argentine national team and led the team to win the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, proving his coaching ability.

Prigioni's decision was not surprising. The Timberwolves' record has steadily improved in recent years, and they even entered the Western Conference Finals last season. The team's atmosphere and future development are quite clear. In contrast, the Knicks are still in the rebuilding exploration period, and there is also uncertainty about the running-in between the new management and the coaching staff.

In addition, Prigioni has a close relationship with core players such as Towns, and he plays an important role in the Timberwolves' tactical system. If you switch to the Knicks at this time, you will not only need to adapt to the new environment again, but you may also lose your existing coaching influence.

It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time the Knicks has encountered recently. It is reported that Warriors assistant coach Terry Stotts is also rejecting the Knicks' list. Behind the continuous walls, the competition logic of the league coaching market is reflected - high-quality assistant coaches are more inclined to stay in teams with mature systems rather than risking to join a new team that is still being reorganized. Although Mike Brown joined as the champion coach, the construction of the Knicks coaching staff still requires time to accumulate trust.

The Knicks' assistant coach recruitment continues. Although Prigioni's rejection brings setbacks, it also reminds the team: in the coaching market, sentiment and fame are not omnipotent, and building an attractive tactical blueprint and working environment is the core competitiveness of recruiting talents.