Tom Thibodeau fired pt 2

[Billy Goat]

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Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's obviously Bridges


The fact he came out and complained about the minutes earlier and he's up for an extension, he's the only guy who could be a free agent that could force their hand.

He was right to do so. Playing a 7 man rotation was absurd and I'm glad the players weren't cool with it.

Complaining about getting too much burn is the most 2025 thing ever

[Gravy]

Russo believes Dolan was behind the firing while Leon was on Thibs side

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[Enzo954]

It seems odd to me that Leon would fire Thibs immediately after the playoffs without having his replacement already in place and ready to go. Therefore, I believe the Thibs situation is worse than we all thought. IMO there was most likely a rift happening behind the scenes between the front office and Thibs, and unless we made it to the finals, Thibs was gone no matter what. His refusal to utilize the bench and Mikal publicly speaking out against it was probably his undoing.

A few things that Jeff Teague said on his podcast the other day really stood out to me. Keep in mind that Jeff played for Thibs and stated that he loves him to death, yet Jeff still critiqued the hell out of him.

He stated that:

If Carlisle and Thibs switched places, the Knicks would have won that series.
Thibs offensive system is an old, boring, slow and stagnant. Everything is half court slow, ISO, or a pick and roll with Brunson.
Thibs should have an offensive coordinator, but he doesn't let assistant coaches do anything and he wants total control of everything.
Thibs doesn't really coach players, he just yells stuff like "Cmon" and "Damn".
Thibs isn't very personable with players outside of the starters. If you're the 10th man on the bench, he'll probably never talk to you.

Leon and Wes know tons of current and former players in the league. I'm sure they got the same feedback from those guys as well. Now we're hearing that some current players didn't want to play for him next season and also other players in the league who aren't starters wouldn't want to come here because they know that Thibs would never play them. Just a recipe for disaster going into next year and a move had to be made to replace him.

[Context]

Crazy stuff but most of us knew this….
I don’t buy for a second that Leon has no idea or plan regarding the coaching hire.

They talked to JB through back channels to ask if he'd take the NY job over the PHO job, JB said yes, Thibs gone. Now they perform the coach search while JB apartment hunts in NYC.

man I hope it happens CS!!!

[Besart19]

We need Billups

At least we will excell on defense and shooting

[Knicks Byke]

poor thibs.

feel bad for the old man, hope he gets to stick around at least.

[Context]

It seems odd to me that Leon would fire Thibs immediately after the playoffs without having his replacement already in place and ready to go. Therefore, I believe the Thibs situation is worse than we all thought. IMO there was most likely a rift happening behind the scenes between the front office and Thibs, and unless we made it to the finals, Thibs was gone no matter what. His refusal to utilize the bench and Mikal publicly speaking out against it was probably his undoing.

A few things that Jeff Teague said on his podcast the other day really stood out to me. Keep in mind that Jeff played for Thibs and stated that he loves him to death, yet Jeff still critiqued the hell out of him.

He stated that:

If Carlisle and Thibs switched places, the Knicks would have won that series.
Thibs offensive system is an old, boring, slow and stagnant. Everything is half court slow, ISO, or a pick and roll with Brunson.
Thibs should have an offensive coordinator, but he doesn't let assistant coaches do anything and he wants total control of everything.
Thibs doesn't really coach players, he just yells stuff like "Cmon" and "Damn".
Thibs isn't very personable with players outside of the starters. If you're the 10th man on the bench, he'll probably never talk to you.

Leon and Wes know tons of current and former players in the league. I'm sure they got the same feedback from those guys as well. Now we're hearing that some current players didn't want to play for him next season and also other players in the league who aren't starters wouldn't want to come here because they know that Thibs would never play them. Just a recipe for disaster going into next year and a move had to be made to replace him.

At this point with information coming from former players how can anyone defend Thibs. During the season I posted Garnett and Pierce (who played for him and won a chip with him as an assistant) basically doing the same thing as Jeff.
I also love that Jeff is a point guard so you know he sees the game from the best POV...

[Context]

poor thibs.

feel bad for the old man, hope he gets to stick around at least.

I dont feel bad - he got 30 million coming to him. And you know what- If he would just OPEN HIS MIND
he could get another coaching job and have a chance to EVOLVE and reinvent himself. It's hard but then again
it's not that hard. Just LET GO THIBS. If anyone on this boards knows Thibs. Tell him I will help him for a consultant fee
I'm dead series too...

[Context]

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dolan back to being involved. oh boy.

and If he did. I'm happy he did. Thibs was a miserable brilliant basketball mind lost in his ego.
He let game one of the ECF slip away. He did that. There was NO EXCUSE for it.

[Context]

Can anyone explain the love for Bryant? What is his offensive and defensive philosophy?

viewtopic.php?p=118855652#p118855652

[BKlutch]

It's obviously Bridges


The fact he came out and complained about the minutes earlier and he's up for an extension, he's the only guy who could be a free agent that could force their hand.

He was right to do so. Playing a 7 man rotation was absurd and I'm glad the players weren't cool with it.

Complaining about getting too much burn is the most 2025 thing ever

LOL - Maybe because too much burn on this team leads to burned out.

[Context]

He was right to do so. Playing a 7 man rotation was absurd and I'm glad the players weren't cool with it.

Complaining about getting too much burn is the most 2025 thing ever

LOL - Maybe because too much burn on this team leads to burned out.

[E-Balla]

It's obviously Bridges


The fact he came out and complained about the minutes earlier and he's up for an extension, he's the only guy who could be a free agent that could force their hand.

He was right to do so. Playing a 7 man rotation was absurd and I'm glad the players weren't cool with it.

Complaining about getting too much burn is the most 2025 thing ever

These players SUCK! You don't want to play so much cool ride the pine.

[Clyde_Style]

Mikal.


You know it.

I still find it kind of funny that the goofiest Knick had the most backbone

He had the most complaints.

You must feel a unique kinship with him

[BKlutch]

I can't believe Dolan unilaterally decided Thibs had to go in 2 days, and Leon said, "I'm shocked! We all love him and want him to stay until he's 90 years old, or even longer!" EVEN IF Dolan first approached Leon about this (and I think Leon approached Dolan first), Leon had to be totally ready to make this decision. If they clashed over it, maybe Leon would say this wasn't what he signed up for and would look around for another gig (I think there would be lot's of jobs available for Leon if he leaves). Without any sources, I can't believe Leon just caved to Dolan on this.

There's been too much going on during the regular season and even more during the playoffs. I think most of us recall hearing, "If Thibs doesn't make it to the ECF, he's not going to stay as coach." We even discussed would he be able to stay after screwing up game 1 and game 2 so badly. Of course, he couldn't be fired during the playoffs, but I can't believe Rose has been so smart during his tenure here but had no idea about Thibs. That's. just. not. possible.

[E-Balla]

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dolan back to being involved. oh boy.

I feel like this was very obvious. They said he was in the player meetings that led to his firing. But as usual this board is reactionary so they're going to love his move even though it's yet another sign that we're headed back into the dark era. Overpaying for big names, trading draft picks, firing coaches that do nothing but win, etc.

[Context]

I can't believe Dolan unilaterally decided Thibs had to go in 2 days, and Leon said, "I'm shocked! We all love him and want him to stay until he's 90 years old, or even longer!" EVEN IF Dolan first approached Leon about this (and I think Leon approached Dolan first), Leon had to be totally ready to make this decision. If they clashed over it, maybe Leon would say this wasn't what he signed up for and would look around for another gig (I think there would be lot's of jobs available for Leon if he leaves). Without any sources, I can't believe Leon just caved to Dolan on this.

There's been too much going on during the regular season and even more during the playoffs. I think most of us recall hearing, "If Thibs doesn't make it to the ECF, he's not going to stay as coach." We even discussed would he be able to stay after screwing up game 1 and game 2 so badly. Of course, he couldn't be fired during the playoffs, but I can't believe Rose has been so smart during his tenure here but had no idea about Thibs. That's just not possible.

My position is if you watched game one of the ECF and you still wanted Thibs here. I'm not wasting my time debating with you. 9 points 54 seconds to go
I watched 79/80 full games last season and in the first 20-30 games the Knicks offense was humming. Those minutes caught up to us.

[E-Balla]

All I gotta say to this is why was he in the meeting?

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[Jalen Bluntson]

After watching a 20mil dollar player ride the pine for over a year the FO had to be wondering WTF the HC was doing. Watching 6-7 man rotations in November and December must have been annoying. Millions of dollars being wasted on players that can't get any minutes? Bringing in vets only to watch them rotting on the bench. Starters dealing with overuse injuries before NYE? Then after squandering away winnable games in the ECF he half ass tried to use the bench and they won a game.

There is enough reason to assume they were growing tired of the same things many of us were.

Not sure how much of a plan they had going before making this decision but, I think they knew this was coming if he couldn't win the ECF.

Hopefully they get this right. It's no guarantee but, this had to happen either way.

[BKlutch]

All I gotta say to this is why was he in the meeting?

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Unless we know somebody who was there, we can only guess. It could have been that Dolan wants to tell Leon what to do now, but I don't think Leon would be happy with that. It could be that Leon knew he wanted to fire Thibs, and asked for Dolan's sign off. They discussed hearing from the players, and Dolan said he'd like to be at that meeting. (not too ominous) It could also be Leon wanted Dolan to hear about what was going on and also felt that having Dolan there would make the front office seem more of one mind, so the players wouldn't wonder "can Leon do this?" (I go with this one)

But it could certainly be anything else and without a credible source, it's all just speculation.