As much as he fancies himself the consummate contrarian and Zen-versed outlier to conventional thinking, Phil Jackson’s supposed preference for removing the interim label on Kurt Rambis as the Knicks’ head coach now seems extreme and perhaps even irrational.
On Thursday, Larry Bird, the Indiana Pacers’ president, announced that Frank Vogel would not return as head coach after five and a half seasons, five playoff appearances and two Eastern Conference finals runs, thwarted in both of those instances by no less formidable an opponent than LeBron James’s Miami Heat.
Vogel, 42, has won more N.