At the end of the hiring process for a young assistant coach, Jeff Van Gundy walked Steve Clifford into the office of New York Knicks president Dave Checketts. As it turned out, Checketts didn't keep the coaches long, but did dispatch Clifford with marching orders that would long nourish his professional basketball life. Checketts told Clifford that he couldn't be sure that Van Gundy was one of the best 30 head coaches in the world, nor that Checketts himself was one of the 30 most qualified to run an organization.