Filed under: Knicks, NBA Media Watch, NBA Rumors, New York, MSG

(Here’s one blogger’s attempt on boiling down the Jeff Van Gundy situation for you.) Yesterday during ABC’s epic Suns-Spurs battle, the Knicks’ coaching vacancy — for which color analyst #1 Mark Jackson is a top candidate — came up on the air. JVG (color analyst #2) was asked about his interest by play-by-play man (and Knicks broadcaster) Mike Breen. JVG called himself a “superdelegate” and insisted Jackson, his partner who was sitting less than five feet away at the time, was the right candidate for the job and should be hired.

So is JVG interested or not? During Friday’s press call on Isiah Thomas’s reassignment, new boss Donnie Walsh mentioned he’d be interested in finding out JVG’s interest level in returning to Madison Square Garden. JVG’s weekend interview with the New York Post’s Marc Berman provides a hint of an answer in discussing unresolved tension between himself and Knicks owner James Dolan over JVG’s previous hasty exit.

“I made a decision that was right for me and what I thought was right for the Knicks at the time. If that overshadows my service to the Knicks in his mind, I’d be disappointed.”

I’m not clear as to why Van Gundy would be concerned with Dolan’s feelings on the subject were Van Gundy not interested in spending that earned “service to the Knicks” in order to get back into the franchise. JVG doesn’t strike me as someone who needs to feel loved by everyone he’s crossed paths with.

Jackson remains a prohibitive favorite — Phil Jackson would have to abandon the Lakers or M. Jackson would have to seriously blow his meetings with Walsh, I think, to derail Mark’s path to the bench. That’s not going to happen, so the rest of this might as well be idle chatter. But it bears remembering that JVG holds a bit of interest in this job, and possibly others.

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