Knicks’ Future Uncertain

Not much has been said lately about the tenuous state of Jeff Van Gundy’s job security, the possibility of Phil Jackson replacing him as coach of the Knicks and the interoffice politicking at Madison Square Garden.

“That’s the way it should be,” Van Gundy said.

Thanks to his own silence on the issue, that’s the way it is as Van Gundy’s team nears the midway point of its Eastern Conference final series against the Indiana Pacers.

To see Van Gundy in public these days, there are no outward signs of the turmoil he has been enduring throughout this soap-opera season. After being close to losing his job on several occasions before becoming the eventual survivor in a power struggle with now-former general manager Ernie Grunfeld, Van Gundy seems to have shed some of the beleaguered look that left huge, dark circles under his eyes earlier this season.

“It’s died down, but I’m sure it’s going to come back up,” New York guard Chris Childs said of the Van Gundy-Jackson furor, adding that it was easily the craziest he had seen in his three years with the Knicks.

“It’s controversy at its fullest. It’s one of the premiere coaching jobs, one of the premiere front office jobs in the game, and one of the premiere coaches of all time,” Childs said.

Officially, the Garden management is sticking to its long-held stand that everyone’s performance--coaches and players--will come up for review at the end of the season.

Garden President Dave Checketts reiterated that statement before the start of Game 2 in Indianapolis.

Unofficially, no one is quite sure what Checketts is up to. After lying about his face-to-face meeting with Jackson in mid-April, a report surfaced that Checketts and Jackson had met again at a midtown Manhattan hotel. That was followed by a report that the two had already agreed to a deal that would bring Jackson to the Knicks next season.

“I’m not going to dignify either report with a response,” Checketts said.

Amid it all, Van Gundy has been tirelessly plunging himself into his job, burying any animosity or hurt feelings beneath hours of preparation.

Van Gundy has one year remaining on his contract, plus an option year for about $3.5 million that becomes guaranteed if the Knicks reach the NBA finals.

“I don’t know how he does it,” Knick forward Larry Johnson said. “It’s very stressful for us. We know what he’s going though, we know what type of coach he is.”

No one is quite sure what Van Gundy will do when the season ends, whenever that may be. There are those who believe he deserves a long-term extension; there are others who believe he feels betrayed by Checketts and will choose to depart, his dignity intact, from the team he has spent 12 seasons with as an assistant and head coach.

“Jeff Van Gundy has proven he is in the top echelon of NBA coaches,” said his agent, Rob Ades, “but I do not know what Jeff wants to do. After the season, I’ll sit down with him and ask him what he wants to do.”

The rift with Grunfeld stemmed in part from Van Gundy’s dislike of the trade that sent Charles Oakley to Toronto for Marcus Camby. Grunfeld thought Camby should have been given more playing time, and there are many in the organization who have questioned the coach’s insistence on bringing Latrell Sprewell off the bench.

Van Gundy’s father, Bill, said even he was unsure exactly what his son was thinking.

“What he’s keeping inside, I don’t know,” said the elder Van Gundy, who spent four decades as a basketball coach. “He does not want to discuss that. That’s not important. What’s important is what he can do as a coach--and that’s really how he’s getting through it all.”

Van Gundy’s wife, Kim, was nearly moved to tears during the second-round series against Atlanta when a sellout crowd of nearly 20,000 chanted her husband’s name and gave him an extended standing ovation.

Van Gundy himself admitted it was a moment he’ll cherish.

“I would be lying to say it hasn’t affected him at all, but I don’t think it has had any real effect on him that has been detrimental to anyone other than himself,” Van Gundy’s father said. “I’m sure that it bothers him, I don’t know how much. But he’s been in the coaching business and around it his entire life, and he knows the business. He’s pretty tough.”

Jackson has already been offered a lucrative contract by the New Jersey Nets, who reportedly have grown tired of waiting and are considering pulling their offer off the table. Jackson is said to have priced himself out of the range of Lakers’ owner Jerry Buss, which could leave the Knicks as his last option.

Jackson has not spoken publicly about his interest in the Knicks’ job, but that hasn’t stopped other coaches from doing so.

“It’s happened many times, but there should be respect among coaches that they do not pursue a job that’s filled,” said Indiana assistant Dick Harter, who worked with Van Gundy when the two were Knicks’ assistants.

“Yeah, it bothers me that Jeff Van Gundy has a job and somebody is talking about that job while he still has it,” Knicks’ assistant Brendan Malone said. “I think it’s an unwritten rule that coaches don’t go after another person’s job.”

Last season, it was Jackson who was upset over his belief that the Chicago Bulls had already chosen Tim Floyd as his successor.

Said Van Gundy’s father, Bill: “I’m not telling Phil Jackson or anyone else how to run their lives, but if that was one of my sons and I knew they’d done it, they’d catch hell from me, big time.”