Official Knicks Coaching Search Thread pt. 2 (update: poll added 6/18/25)

[Ravenxvirall]

Its real weird I have a negative reaction to reading Billy Donovan and have no clue if he is good or not.

If we actually hire Billy Donovan I’m pretty sure I would start throwing up immediately.

[thebuzzardman]

You can’t hire a grown man named Billy

[Adelheid]

Marcus Morris Sr. "you have to be a coach that listen to the guys. There have to be a coach that takes in what players are saying so that they dont have to go the media and say like that, right? Thats the type of leadership that New York needs"

Watch on YouTube

[Ravenxvirall]

You can’t hire a grown man named Billy

If Madison isn’t his last name it’s a no go.

[Capn'O]

You can’t hire a grown man named Billy

I feel like "Billy" is more of a baseball thing.

[mpharris36]

the coaching requests put the ball in the coaches corner. If they want to leave its now up to them to put pressure on there current situation,

Donovan is a interesting case. CHI really doesn't have a team that is going to compete....Billy is from Long Island, grew up a Knicks fan (Huge Clyde fan), played for the Knicks. One of his best friends is Mo Cheeks who works on our staff.

Where did Billy play H.S.?

St. Agnes, just googled it.

[Spot31]

the coaching requests put the ball in the coaches corner. If they want to leave its now up to them to put pressure on there current situation,

Donovan is a interesting case. CHI really doesn't have a team that is going to compete....Billy is from Long Island, grew up a Knicks fan (Huge Clyde fan), played for the Knicks. One of his best friends is Mo Cheeks who works on our staff.

Bring Billy the kid home!

[spree2kawhi]

It’s hard to believe they fired Thibodeau just for the sake of firing him, not because they knew who they wanted next.

[Guano]

You can’t hire a grown man named Billy

When the vibes are validated by reason.

[NiceLikeChrist]

One thing to note about Jenkins. It’s documented that Ja wanted him gone because the offense took the ball out of his hands and had him sacrificing minutes and stats all season long

I think we can all agree at this point that Brunson has a chip on his shoulder, can be a bit of a diva, and sometimes does too much trying to prove people wrong. I’m not sure how well he would receive someone like Jenkins or if he would end up feeling the same way Ja did. But a Jenkins offense probably unlocks more of the team at brunsons expense.

On the other hand a Mike brown offense probably unlocks the best of Brunson and towns at the expense of everyone else.

[ScienceOfLosing]

One thing to note about Jenkins. It’s documented that Ja wanted him gone because the offense took the ball out of his hands and had him sacrificing minutes and stats all season long

I think we can all agree at this point that Brunson has a chip on his shoulder, can be a bit of a diva, and sometimes does too much trying to prove people wrong. I’m not sure how well he would receive someone like Jenkins or if he would end up feeling the same way Ja did. But a Jenkins offense probably unlocks more of the team at brunsons expense.

On the other hand a Mike brown offense probably unlocks the best of Brunson and towns at the expense of everyone else.

I like Indiana’s team style of ball. Their talent level is lower than ours and that says a lot considering they got past us.
I like Brunson, but he needs to use his hero ball only when necessary.
I have hope Kolek and Pacom usher in more of a team style of ball and Brunson follows suit.
I’m sure the rest of the starters would appreciate Brunson being more of a distrubutor and doing his stuff more in critical spots but NOT forcing things. And Josh who I like, to the bench.

[BKlutch]

You can’t hire a grown man named Billy

As proven by the infamous Billy Carter.

[Jalen Bluntson]

It’s hard to believe they fired Thibodeau just for the sake of firing him, not because they knew who they wanted next.

Then don't believe it. They fired him because of the way he ran the team. Which was less than optimal. He made glaring mistakes all year long. He plateaued in January and stagnated the rest of the year. He blew the chance to get to the finals. Nothing he did help us beat Celtics either. We struggled to beat the Pistons as well.

There was a list of reasons they fired him for. It certainly wasn't just for the sake of firing him.

[god shammgod]

It’s hard to believe they fired Thibodeau just for the sake of firing him, not because they knew who they wanted next.

Then don't believe it. They fired him because of the way he ran the team. Which was less than optimal. He made glaring mistakes all year long. He plateaued in January and stagnated the rest of the year. He blew the chance to get to the finals. Nothing he did help us beat Celtics either. We struggled to beat the Pistons as well.

There was a list of reasons they fired him for. It certainly wasn't just for the sake of firing him.

this is false. he changed our defense completely and out-coached mazulla. he made some mistakes vs indy but you don't need to lie about the series prior to make your argument better.

[Jalen Bluntson]

It’s hard to believe they fired Thibodeau just for the sake of firing him, not because they knew who they wanted next.

Then don't believe it. They fired him because of the way he ran the team. Which was less than optimal. He made glaring mistakes all year long. He plateaued in January and stagnated the rest of the year. He blew the chance to get to the finals. Nothing he did help us beat Celtics either. We struggled to beat the Pistons as well.

There was a list of reasons they fired him for. It certainly wasn't just for the sake of firing him.

this is false. he changed our defense completely and out-coached mazulla. he made some mistakes vs indy but you don't need to lie about the series prior to make your argument better.

Boston shot 25% from 3 on 100 attempts in the first two games. THAT'S what won that series. They also lost their best player in game 4. NOTHING Thibs did won that series. Saying otherwise is simply not true. I watched those games. We played like shyt for the majority of those games. If Boston hits ONE more three in both of the first two games it's a wrap.

Thibs wasn't fired for the sake of firing him. His coaching was that bad.

[god shammgod]

Then don't believe it. They fired him because of the way he ran the team. Which was less than optimal. He made glaring mistakes all year long. He plateaued in January and stagnated the rest of the year. He blew the chance to get to the finals. Nothing he did help us beat Celtics either. We struggled to beat the Pistons as well.

There was a list of reasons they fired him for. It certainly wasn't just for the sake of firing him.

this is false. he changed our defense completely and out-coached mazulla. he made some mistakes vs indy but you don't need to lie about the series prior to make your argument better.

Boston shot 25% from 3 on 100 attempts in the first two games. THAT'S what won that series. They also lost their best player in game 4. NOTHING Thibs did won that series. Saying otherwise is simply not true. I watched those games. We played like shyt for the majority of those games. If Boston hits ONE more three in both of the first two games it's a wrap.

Thibs wasn't fired for the sake of firing him. His coaching was that bad.

and if one of our guys makes one more free throw at the end of game 1 we're probably in the finals. that's the nature of basketball.

your whole argument is discredited when you can't admit a recognized fact. and it's a recognized fact that thibs out coached mazulla in the series prior. the boston fans will tell you that themselves.

[Jeff Van Gully]

Then don't believe it. They fired him because of the way he ran the team. Which was less than optimal. He made glaring mistakes all year long. He plateaued in January and stagnated the rest of the year. He blew the chance to get to the finals. Nothing he did help us beat Celtics either. We struggled to beat the Pistons as well.

There was a list of reasons they fired him for. It certainly wasn't just for the sake of firing him.

this is false. he changed our defense completely and out-coached mazulla. he made some mistakes vs indy but you don't need to lie about the series prior to make your argument better.

Boston shot 25% from 3 on 100 attempts in the first two games. THAT'S what won that series. They also lost their best player in game 4. NOTHING Thibs did won that series. Saying otherwise is simply not true. I watched those games. We played like shyt for the majority of those games. If Boston hits ONE more three in both of the first two games it's a wrap.

Thibs wasn't fired for the sake of firing him. His coaching was that bad.

this exchange has turned to more of a general thibs conversation and less about the search. please pivot back or continue elsewhere accordingly.

[prophet_of_rage]

One thing to note about Jenkins. It’s documented that Ja wanted him gone because the offense took the ball out of his hands and had him sacrificing minutes and stats all season long

I think we can all agree at this point that Brunson has a chip on his shoulder, can be a bit of a diva, and sometimes does too much trying to prove people wrong. I’m not sure how well he would receive someone like Jenkins or if he would end up feeling the same way Ja did. But a Jenkins offense probably unlocks more of the team at brunsons expense.

On the other hand a Mike brown offense probably unlocks the best of Brunson and towns at the expense of everyone else.

I like Indiana’s team style of ball. Their talent level is lower than ours and that says a lot considering they got past us.
I like Brunson, but he needs to use his hero ball only when necessary.
I have hope Kolek and Pacom usher in more of a team style of ball and Brunson follows suit.
I’m sure the rest of the starters would appreciate Brunson being more of a distrubutor and doing his stuff more in critical spots but NOT forcing things. And Josh who I like, to the bench.

Indiana lost 1 more game than we did. Their talent level is not beneath ours. We have the top center in Towns but Hali and Jalen are close. Siakim is better than OG. Nembhard/Nesmith is on par with Hart/Bridges. Mathurin is better than Deuce. McConnell is better than Payne. Mitch and Turner kind of stalemate. It's pretty even. They just don't have sexier names than we do because nobody checks for Indiana.

Sent from my SM-S9080 using RealGM mobile app

[VirginiaKnickFan]

Shams on the Rich Eisen Show:

Shams Charania: “Yeah, yeah, yeah—I’ll give you some examples. I’m not going to say that this was exactly what happened with Kidd, but among the five rejections, some of the scenarios I heard were: Teams would just hang up. Some would say no—and then hang up. In other situations, there was profanity involved. You know—some literal ‘F— no’ responses. In a few cases, it was the team owners calling directly and saying: ‘You’re not talking to our guy.’ So, listen—the Knicks probably expected some of these responses. Anytime you reach out to other teams for their head coaches, you’re going to be susceptible to some kind of reaction. They went through this whole exercise as an educational process, in their minds—to see which coaches they could potentially talk to.

[Jalen Bluntson]

this is false. he changed our defense completely and out-coached mazulla. he made some mistakes vs indy but you don't need to lie about the series prior to make your argument better.

Boston shot 25% from 3 on 100 attempts in the first two games. THAT'S what won that series. They also lost their best player in game 4. NOTHING Thibs did won that series. Saying otherwise is simply not true. I watched those games. We played like shyt for the majority of those games. If Boston hits ONE more three in both of the first two games it's a wrap.

Thibs wasn't fired for the sake of firing him. His coaching was that bad.

and if one of our guys makes one more free throw at the end of game 1 we're probably in the finals. that's the nature of basketball.

your whole argument is discredited when you can't admit a recognized fact. and it's a recognized fact that thibs out coached mazulla in the series prior. the boston fans will tell you that themselves.

No. The opponent missing WIDE OPEN looks is not credit to the coaching. Not at all. As for game one of the ECF. COACHING hel is ed lose that game. You're rebuttals are discredited immediately because they are false. Losing a game up 9 with 54 seconds left and your best defender sitting on the bench to close the game? BAD COACHING.

He wasn't fired for the sake of firing him. There is a long list of reasons and, they are the same reason he always gets fired.

would love to assume you just didn't see my reply. -JVG