There aren’t many proven winners on the interview circuit at the moment, so I’m guessing Avery Johnson will be able to pick his next destination.

Could he land in New York?

The possibility exists, but it’s likely Johnson will first decide where he’s got the best chance to succeed long term. Right now, the Bulls might be in a better situation with a nucleus of talented players in need of direction.

He is the kind of defense-and-rebounding head coach a lot of you have been clamoring for.

What do you think?  

On your mark, get set …

I’m guessing there are several executives in the league getting ready to go after Mike D’Antoni should SI.com be right about his impending dismissal in Phoenix, and it’s worth noting that Jack McCallum knows that organization better than anyone out there.

The carousel is about to spin a little faster.

With somebody like D’Antoni on the market, teams like Denver and Toronto could explore their options even deeper and join Chicago and New York in the race for coaching talent. The hiring process could jump to light speed once Phoenix general manager Steve Kerr makes a public announcement. 

And if Donnie Walsh isn’t hustling for an interview, we can assume he’s committed to Mark Jackson.

What do you think about D’Antoni in New York?

There was a lot of suspicision early on about the style of play he implemented, but within a season of his arrival, every team in the NBA was exploring ways to play more like Phoenix.

It’s fun to watch.

While the Suns piled up wins, they never did win a championship. Was it the lack of committment on defense? Was it the constant presence of Tim Duncan? I can go either way in that argument. 

I can’t wait for the NBA to release the new schedule.

The official press release from Charlotte has just confirmed Larry Brown is taking over as head coach of the Bobcats, which creates a return date worth circling on the calendar. He’s still not at liberty to go into great detail about what happened in New York because of the settlement he signed, but the wandering hall-of-famer is a master of thinly-veiled comments.

What are the fans going to do when he’s introduced at MSG? 

It’s hard not to wonder if the Knicks would be a better franchise had Isiah Thomas been more accomodating. The roster purge would’ve started two years earlier, if nothing else.

Meanwhile, it seems Donnie Walsh is still doing homework.

If there is a possibility of Tom Thibodeau interviewing during a break in the postseason action, the Celtics aren’t doing him any favors by letting Atlanta hang around. The series will go until at least Friday now, and there’s not likely to be any significant time off between rounds even if Boston wins out. 

And it might be smart to slow down where Sam Mitchell is concerned. The powers that be in Toronto must first decide whether they are comfortable eating up to $9 million. It’s not likely to be an easy decision. The fiscally prudent Raptors have already begun wondering how they will be able to afford T.J. Ford and Jose Calderone, so they aren’t likely to simply throw money away.

There was a time when picking on Mark Jackson was trendy.

It’s been nearly 20 years since he lost popularity here and wound up getting dealt, so I was kind of wondering out loud whether there’s been a maturing process. And just like Donnie Walsh, I spoke with people who’ve known Jackson for decades.

Nobody is sounding the alarm.

“Mark was a little defensive in his second and third seasons with the Knicks, but he learned to deal with all that,” said Pat Quigley, who coached Jackson at Bishop Loughlin High School. “He’d be new to coaching, so maybe there would be some insecurity … but he’s a quick study and I think he’d be fine.”

Walsh is back in New York today, but nobody seems to know exactly what he’s up to.

Chicago wants to speak with Jackson next, but that so far doesn’t seem to be increasing the urgency here.

I’m kind of interested to see how the organization handles Patrick Ewing, who probably isn’t coming back to New York at this point unless he’s the head coach. Maybe an interview corrects the situation, but there was obvious disappointment in his remarks over the weekend.

Did you see Pat Riley went back into the front office and left 37-year-old Erik Spoelstra in charge?

He started out in Miami’s video room and spent 13 seasons on the sideline assisting Riley and Stan Van Gundy. It’s a pretty good idea, really, developing future coaches on the sideline.

By now, we’ve all heard Patrick Ewing wonder out loud why he isn’t being mentioned to succeed Isiah Thomas.

Well?

I agree he’s been typecast. After working to educate Yao Ming and Dwight Howard, it’s hard to see Ewing as head coaching material. He’s already gotten a number of endorsements.

What do you think?

Should the Knicks grant Ewing an interview when Orlando is done? He’s got more sideline time than Mark Jackson, along with a network of basketball know-it-alls who might serve on his staff.

I like the idea of interviewing somebody like Kenny Smith to serve under Donnie Walsh for the next four years. And it wouldn’t be a bad thing if the Knicks bring in a couple of guys to learn how to run a basketball program.

Allan Houston always wanted to get into the front office.

Just in case you’ve been looking around for details about the Walsh-Jackson meeting in Phoenix, there probably won’t be any more until somebody is hired. It’s a sign of respect. Walsh has a lot of trusted confidants in the league who will not leak details.

It’s not like we’ve stopped making phone calls.

It’s getting harder to find out exactly what Donnie Walsh is up to because he doesn’t share a lot of details around the league or within the organization. We only know that he did not interview anyone today at Madison Square Garden.

So did he sit down with Mark Jackson off campus?

That’s entirely possible. Most of the insiders I’ve touched base with have more questions than answers. I was told by a Boston Celtics team spokesman this afternoon Walsh had not called to request permission to speak with Tom Thibodeau.

Does that mean it really is a one-horse race?

That’s probably not the case, but since Walsh knows what he’s looking for and if Jackson meets all the criteria, there is a chance an offer might be extended in short order.

Another head coach with years of experience just hit the market.

He’s got a history alongside Donnie Walsh, too!

Larry Brown wants to get back in the game. He stepped down today as Phildelphia’s executive vice president of  God knows what to pursue a head coaching job on the college or pro level. There are rumors linking him to the open job at Stanford.

The nomadic hall-of-famer has not been on the sidelines since a 23-59 disaster in New York in 2005-06.

“He has the taste of coaching back in his mouth,” Brown’s agent, Joe Glass told the Associated Press. “It would be refreshing to have a situation going that he could enjoy, rather than the last one, to say the least.”

There’s been so little to cheer for so long, Knicks fans can’t help but clamor for the way things used to be at Madison Square Garden.

And now the organization has an opportunity to make some changes.

Maybe it’s a good time for Patrick Ewing to return to New York and help out regardless of who Donnie Walsh picks to coach. There’s no room for anybody else on the sideline, though. What the Knicks need more than a reminder of how good it used to be is an experienced staff.

Mark Jackson and Tom Thibodeau better show up having already made contact with an NBA lifer they believe in. And the rest of the staff needs to be a mix of former players who can pass along the knowledge required to develop talented individuals  and longtime assistants who enjoy sitting in front of a television screen digesting scout tapes.

I know there’s a lot of people around the Knicks who’ve expressed a desire to help. There’s an equal number of people around the Knicks who’ve expressed criticism.

Let them show up for training camp.

Look at how many former Yankees show up in Florida to help out. There’s no reason why the new coach shouldn’t let Clyde Frazier get on the court and run a defensive clinic down in Charleston this fall. It would be good to have Charles Oakley show up to bang with the bigs, just to give them a taste of the old rules. A good talk from John Starks on the art of maintaining intensity would be helpful. Let the players get a look at the way Allan Houston sets up the same way for every jumper.

And when the season tips off, everybody steps back.

Let the new coach develop a strong voice, and let the people hired to formulate a game plan and teach individual skills do their jobs.

When the press release landed in my e-mail this afternoon, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

The good folks across the river want everyone to know that Vince Carter underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle today. Dr. Martin O’Malley performed the procedure at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. He removed multiple loose bodies along with a bone spur.

Sound familiar?

I was led to believe that kind of an issue was season-ending. Carter must be one tough son of a gun!

I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me until yesterday, but there’s something peculiar about Jeff Van Gundy’s recent public display of affection.

Why did he pick Mark Jackson?

Tom Thibodeau spent nine seasons lugging a clipboard for Van Gundy and breaking down film to the point of exhaustion. He is responsible for implementing game-to-game schemes that made New York and Houston stand out defensively. Isn’t that worth a mention?

Maybe there is a back story.

Van Gundy has always had great respect for Jackson, which is why the Brooklyn native enjoyed a homecoming late in his career. They are very much alike in word and deed. Jackson wears better suits than Van Gundy, though.

Don’t know if we’ll get a good answer to the question, but I thought it was worth mentioning.