Kurt Rambis would love to become head coach of the New York Knicks on a permanent basis, but he also stressed that he's not the puppet of Phil Jackson.

"I grew up playing basketball a certain way and it's very consistent with what Phil believes and thinks," Rambis said Wednesday on the heels of a Daily News report that he's a frontrunner for the Knicks head coaching spot. "So I don't consider myself a puppet of his. It's just a mindset of how we think the game should be played."

Rambis and Jackson are far closer than Jackson was with Derek Fisher, who tried to distance himself during his tenure as Knicks' coach.

Rambis most recently was a head coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he struggled with a rebuilding roster.

"It would be fantastic. I want to be a head coach in this league. This is a great franchise, it's a terrific city, fanbase," Rambis said. "It would be a thrill beyond thrills in order to take this situation from where it was when we all first came here and turn it into a situation where it's extremely promising and we have a chance to get in the playoffs and do well in the playoffs. And get this city and this organization a potential championship. That's a goal and that would be a tremendous thrill."