With as much persistence as when he once defended the NBA’s elite stars, Metta Sandiford-Artest has shared his case on his social media accounts for why he should become the New York Knicks’ head coach following Tom Thibodeau’s firing.
@MettaWorld37
I could see the garden from LA baby!!
Go @nyknicks. Don’t let these media distract you. I’m the guy.
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No one will doubt Sandiford-Artest’s playing credentials (1999-2014, 2015-17). He became one of the league’s most respected and feared defenders for hjs physicality, toughness and smarts.
He excelled as a primary or secondary scorer with teams that won the NBA title (2009-10 Lakers) or made deep playoff pushes (2003-04). He revitalized his career and behavior after being involved with the “Malice at the Palace Brawl,” an incident that resulted in an NBA record 86-game suspension without pay.
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As for Sandiford-Artest’s coaching credentials? After serving as a player development coach with the Lakers’ G League team (2017-18), Sandiford-Artest has worked as an assistant coach with the Palisades High School girls basketball team and Cal State Los Angeles.
But he doesn’t have any proven head-coaching experience, as other possible candidates have experience in the NBA (Michael Malone, Jeff Van Gundy) and NCAA (Jay Wright). Sandiford-Artest also has expressed disinterest in accepting an assistant-coach or player-development role and hasn’t worked formally with an agent.
No matter, Sandiford-Artest addressed those issues with Sportskeeda in a wide-ranging interview. In part one of a two-part interview, Sandiford-Artest also talked about Thibodeau’s dismissal, the Knicks’ playoff run and the criticism that Karl Anthony-Towns received for his postseason play.
Editor’s note: The following one-on-one conversation has been edited and condensed.
Metta Sandiford-Artest Exclusive
What was your reaction to Thibs getting let go after helping the Knicks get to the East Finals?
Sandiford-Artest: “I was a little bit surprised. I was very surprised. I thought Thibs would be there next year. I was not in the rooms. I know a few people in the front office with the Knicks. But I’m not talking to them about firing coaches. I just do community service with the Knicks. But I don’t know anything. I’m lost. I found out just like everybody else found out. I just want everybody to know that the Knicks organization that I one hundred percent want that head-coaching job.
I coach Division II women’s basketball. We’re getting ready for our season next year. I’m the general manager with the San Jose basketball. I’m in talks with San Jose. I got a staff. So I can be a general manager at one place. I can also be a head coach at one place and have my staff do the rest while I’m working as if I’m being the head coach for the Knicks.”
That’s not going to work (laughs).
Sandiford-Artest: “I have a staff. How are you going to tell me that it’s not going to work? I have a full staff.”
The Knicks would want you just focused on one job
Sandiford-Artest: “I’ll only be focused on the Knicks job. My staff is going to keep my business running. My staff is going to make my sports business running.”
I thought you were talking about doing that while managing other teams.
Sandiford-Artest: “No, no. I’m going to be focused on my job at the Knicks. That’s what I’ll be focused on. So I’ll need my staff to take everything off my plate. I got a staff right now with 20 people. I’m the chairman of a company right now, and I have people that work for me. I have a sports management and have agents. I’m managing this transaction by myself every way around.”
Will you be open to join anyone’s staff?
Sandiford-Artest: “I don’t really want to, honestly. I love all the coaches. I’m so happy and really happy that people can feed their families. If I’m ever able to coach, great. If not, someone else is able to feed their families. That’s how I view it. Everybody is trying to coach. So I’m happy about this situation. This is a great game. But that’s not what I’m doing right now. I’m either head coaching, raising my family or doing some business. I only have room for so many things. I have room for head coaching. Other than that, I’m doing a lot with the teams.
I do a lot of charity events. I still work with the teams. I’ve done community stuff with the Knicks. I’ve done community stuff with the Lakers. I love doing community stuff with the NBA teams. I either want to stay doing community stuff, or I want to be a head coach. After that, I don’t have any more time.”
Why doesn’t it interest you to be an assistant coach or a development coach?
Sandiford-Artest: “I did try that route [with the South Bay Lakers]. I have specific places that I want to coach. There’s about seven of them. I’ll try to go after those opportunities. The other ones, I’m not really going after. I’m going after specific roles. I had an opportunity, but sometimes I wouldn’t get a call back. Sometimes you see somebody, and they don’t call you back. At some point, that strategy is not going to work if you keep getting turned down all the time.”
What were those opportunities?
Sandiford-Artest: “I tried to be a G League coach. I was supposed to get a callback. I didn’t get the call back. I wanted to be a head coach for a G League team because I wanted to be ready for a head coach in the NBA. I just never got the call back. Certain people didn’t pick up the phone. For me, there are a lot of people that want to coach and have a plan. Their agents have a strategy. People have to understand. I’m my own agent. I have a strategy for me. I want to be as respectful and humble as possible. I’m my own agent. I have agents that work for me and partner agents that represent coaches. But no one speaks for me because I speak for myself. From that perspective, I have been trying. That’s six years of trying. So now I’m going to the next phase. I’ve been an associate head coach for six years. So now it’s onto the next phase.”
Do you expect to hear from them at all?
Sandiford-Artest: “I don’t know. I don’t control anybody. I’m just putting my name out there. If they call, I’ll go out and be ready to take the job. I’ll have to do something incredible and make people believe. So I would have to go back to when I was a child and how I was playing basketball and winning championships all around New York City until college. What I love about the Knicks, that would be an amazing piece of content and it’ll be explained that I’m a champion in New York. How many people are those? How many people played in New York City like I did in 1997, went 27-0 in high school and went to St. John’s and turned them around?
I was at No. 15 ready to go to the New York Knicks [in 1999; Chicago picked Artest at No. 16]. They passed, and that was their mistake. Who knows how that would’ve turned out? Who else has that history and played in New York at the end of their career and also works with the New York Knicks’ community team? From that perspective alone, the organization likes me. I know that. I know I got people who like me. There are going to be a lot of questions, but I can answer all of them.”
How would you answer them?
Sandiford-Artest: “Depends on what is asked. Ask questions and tell me how you want to take this conversation.”
You’ve never been a head coach before, the Knicks are trying to win a championship and there are other candidates that have already gotten there. How do you answer that?
Sandiford-Artest: “We’ve seen this story before. You hire a coach that’s supposed to turn it around after you see their record and you look at their stats. That question is good, but I think that questions should be shown with stats. I would love to answer that for you. To answer your question, I’m ready because I turned Cal State Los Angeles around. When we got there in Division II basketball, Cal State had never been to the NCAA tournament. Now that program is turned around. So boom I’m coming out the gates with experience. I have had a 5 am or 6 am practice every day in the last six years. I’m ahead of the game. I take that and then match it up. Now you tell me where you want to start.”
What if their response is, ‘We love what you just said and your playing career. How about you join the head coach’s staff since they’ve already won championships before or have had a lot more experience with the NBA?’
Sandiford-Artest: That’s not a good second question. That’s a good 10th question. That’s a disrespectful second question (laughs). Name another person that has the media hot? I know it’s super hot right now. I’m hearing in the city that I’m the people’s choice right now. Name another coach for the Knicks right now today that has the media hot for the Knicks job?
It just started. But there’s talk about [Michael] Malone, [Jeff] Van Gundy or Jay Wright.”
Sandiford-Artest: “But is my name out there?”
Well, yeah, because you could put it out there (laughs).
Sandiford-Artest: Let me ask you a question. Is my name out there?”
Yeah
Sandiford-Artest: “Okay. Who’s No. 1? Who’s No. 2? Give it to me in order.”
I don’t know what their ranking is.
Sandiford-Artest: “I’m asking you.”
They haven’t done anything yet. But all of those other coaches have been head coaches before with a lot of success.
Sandiford-Artest: “But if you had to pick out the five, my name is there, right? What order are you going in?”
Wright would be intriguing because he won an NCAA championship and coached the Villanova players. Malone has already won an NBA title two years ago. Van Gundy used to coach the Knicks before and is respected lot within the Clippers for how he coached the team’s defense.
Sandiford-Artest: “But how are they going to get the players? I’m going to get to the players. Say if they give me an interview. I would ask, ‘How are they going to get the players?’ I would’ve joined Thibodeau’s staff. But that didn’t happen.”
What’s your outlook on how things will play out?
Sandiford-Artest: “I don’t know. But they didn’t pick a coach yet. I’m ready to go. I’m looking more at it that I’m ready. They should go with the top coaches right now that they have a relationship with. I love the organization, so I’ll have a leg up on somebody. You have to respect that part.”
Why not have an agent through all of this?
Sandiford-Artest: “I have an agent. I have an agency. I have my own agency. I’ve built it for 10 years. That’s a long time.”
But what about having an agent that can negotiate and has relationships with front offices and ownership?
Sandiford-Artest: “I have three agents in the industry. They’re not known agents. But they have done business in the NBA.”
What about agents that have represented coaches before and they can talk with the front offices?
Sandiford-Artest: “No, I have a whole team. I don’t need anybody to talk for me. It’s easier than that. The agent can work with the team. You can hire somebody else to manage me. I’m with that. But in terms of hiring an agent to do a transaction, that doesn’t make sense. But you can hire people for services. This is operational structure.”
But they have relationships with GMs.
Sandiford-Artest: “I’ll call some agents. I’ll call a few agents and see if they want to work with me. But honestly, I don’t need them for this. But I’ll definitely call a few.”
Any CAA or Wasserman talks?
Sandiford-Artest: “I love CAA. I love Wasserman. I have an agency. I have some friends at CAA that asked me if I want to do anything with CAA. I said I want to form a partnership. I’m actually in talks with different people and different agencies because I have an agency with Hong Kong. My agency is in talks with agents. I love Jason Glushon’s agency. That’s my guy. So from that perspective, I got many different forms of business. I’m working with different agencies in different capacities. But as far as working with representation as a coach, my goals are way different. So I can’t be with somebody that doesn’t have the same goals. My goal is to win an NBA title. I don’t have a Plan B.
So right now, I go back to Cal State LA. I get up at 5 am and we get on the grind. When there is an opportunity, there is experience that comes with that. Also a lot of players call me to practice. I’ve mentored plenty of players. I also do a lot of community service with teams. Even if I never get a chance to coach, I’ll still do my community service with the Indiana Pacers. I’ll do my community service with the Lakers. I’ll still do my community service with the Knicks. I love doing community service with the Knicks.”
What community service things do you do?
Sandiford-Artest: “Sometimes I’ll sign autographs or show up to an event for unfortunate kids. It’s really whatever they tell me to do. I love working with the NBA. People ask me, ‘Why are you so excited when a team calls you and you say, Yes?’ You have to look at my career. My career has had so many ups and downs. So to be involved, I’m excited. To be with the NBA, I take it as a win. I’m trying to put as many wins under my belt. So anytime I do an event, that’s another award for me. That’s another win because I took so many losses in the NBA. I’m trying not to take this for granted, whether I coach or not.”
What did you make of the Knicks’ playoff run?
Sandiford-Artest: “I thought it was great. I thought it was fun and exciting as a fan. They played one of my favorite teams with the Pacers. My family moved to Indiana so we love Indiana. We love the Knicks. So it was exciting to see. I thought they played well and thought it was exciting.”
What did you make of the criticism KAT received for his play?
Sandiford-Artest: “I don’t really know. I haven’t paid attention. I’ve seen things online. But I don’t know. I thought he played well. I’m not coaching him. So I don’t have an opinion on that. The only thing I can say is, as a team, they played well. Getting slack happens. I played in the East against Philly and Boston, and their fans pressured us. So I’m numb to any opinion of fans. We need the fans because they pay our salaries when I was playing or coaching. We need those opinions because it draws a lot of engagement. That’s my holistic view on that. So I don’t know what slack he’s getting. If I were to coach him, I’d tell him not to listen to the slack. I would just watch the tape and get ready to get it going.”
KAT got criticized for his defense and his fouling.
Sandiford-Artest: “I’m not worried about that. You win with what you got. I’m not paying attention to people’s flaws. I’m paying attention to our strengths and making our weaknesses a strength. I can’t make somebody a great defender. I’m not going to try to make somebody [Victor] Wembanyama when you’re not. We have to focus on how to win. That’s the last thing I’m worried about with somebody’s flaws.”
What leaves you encouraged about the Knicks?
Sandiford-Artest: “They’re dogs. I’d love the opportunity to coach some dogs. I’m arguably one of the biggest dogs. When you got a bunch of dogs in the room, anything can happen.”
Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Blue Sky, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.
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