It might seem fair to assume that Knicks interim head coach Kurt Rambis is merely a placeholder, not a contender for the job next year and beyond, but the current state of the organization makes things a bit more complicated than that.

Team president Phil Jackson put Rambis, his former assistant coach in Los Angeles, in charge after he fired Derek Fisher on Feb. 8, vowing that Rambis would remain the coach through the end of the season. Jackson never mentioned whether he would consider Rambis, who went 32-132 in two seasons as the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, for the full-time job.

At the time, Rambis downplayed his prospects, saying, “I’ve been around too long to have that hope,” but he’s clearly aiming high, insisting that his goal is “to get this team in the playoffs.”

If that seemed unlikely at the time, it seems nearly impossible now that the Knicks have lost 13 of their last 15 games. The Knicks didn’t acquire any roster reinforcements at the Feb. 18 trade deadline, and were 61/2 games out of the Eastern Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot on Thursday afternoon.

Yet Rambis has continued to coach the team in a way that appears counterproductive to its long-term goals in what may be an effort to stoke his candidacy for the coaching position going forward.