karl is not a good coach, but his assistants are some of the best in the league, if we could keep them w/o keeping karl it would b ok… possible coaches if karl walks, tim grugich (sp?), jeff van gundy, larry brown (long shot), avery johnson, byron scott, and adrian dantley

the assistants stay if karl leaves. grugich has had many opportunities to be a head coach in the past. a new coach will want his own people. van gundy will want a huge contract and place the team in slow motion. avery johnson would be my choice if karl does not stay. he will want at least 4 years which was the big hang up with him not getting the detroit job. byron scott has a negitive history with smith and andersen from their time in nawlins. top dollar is out of the question. my hometown favorite would be maurice cheeks. he was a head coach in philly and portland. he is an assistant in ok city. cheeks has stood up to allen iverson and worked with the jail blazers in portland. cheeks is a chicago native and might be in the running for the chicago job.

I have the utmost confidence the front office will do the right thing and Karl will gracefully bow out at years end. For a team like New Jersey forever in rebuilding mode they will look to Karl and his streak of winning seasons for stability and success when the bar is set low. New Jersey is a very nice place.

There is no competition for signing Karl right now, there may be at the end of the year. But it would be irresponsible and unnecessary to extend now given the circumstances