markdeez33 wrote:I give Thibs all the credit in the world. He's the best coach we have had, BY FAR, since Woody, and prior to Woody, Jeff Van Gundy.
The staggering amount of underachieving, overpaid, unmotivated, and ill fitting coaches we have employed over the last quarter century is insane. It has to be the WORST 25-year run in the entire NBA for that time period.
I thought Phil Jackson would be the one to break the long-running curse, but since he never came down out of the front office, and only hired triangle offense Acolytes, we suffered and would still be suffering, if not for Thibs.
But Kenyon Martin said it best on Gil's Arena, today. "That's what being stubborn gets you!" -- He was so right. Thibs has never improved his weaknesses as a coach, going back 20 years, now. He had a God tier team with DRose in Chicago, and could never get them over the hump. And I can guarantee you, this season was his absolute ceiling as Knicks coach. It would be all downhill from here. The front office made the right call. And now it's up to them to find an adequate replacement.
Thibs had to go. 4-10 in elimination games. His abysmal coaching, God-awful rotation decisions, horrible timeout management, etc. We lost in 7 last season to this exact same Pacers team, yet we were severely injured and we struggled. We lose in 6 this season to the Pacers, with, on paper a MUCH stronger roster, with a MUCH MORE POWERFUL Frontline, and a way deeper bench that Thibs refused to use. Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges are a step above role players on a championship team and Thibs would routinely play them 48 minutes or more a game, depending on if we went into OT.
He rarely used our bench, which is quite deep now, especially compared to past NYK teams. Landry Shamet came to play in the Indy series. Where the **** was he during the 2 previous series? Riding the pine. It's unacceptable, in my opinion. Thibs routinely plays a full game with 7, 8 players max. And he did this dumb **** for an entire 82 game season + 3 playoff series. He is beyond lucky that we didn't suffer any significant injuries from overplaying our rotation. How can any of those bench players gain any confidence in their games or get any consistency going? They NEVER see the floor, outside of practice. How are these young players supposed to develop if they never get any playing time? Thibs has his favorites and he sticks with them, to the point of detriment to the team. It's time to change all of that. NOW. Next season, we need to routinely play these young guys. It doesn't have to be every night. But when we are up BIG, why the hell are Brunson, KAT, Bridges, OG, and Hart still in the **** game? Rest them! Let Hukporti, Dadiet, Kolek, Beauchamp get some development time! Make Shamet a regular rotation player. It's utterly insane that Deuce McBride is the ONLY guy off the bench that gets any significant minutes.
Let's see who steps into the coaches chair, before I can really make an assessment on where this team is headed, but clearly, there's a ton of fatigue and frustration in our locker room, right now.
Thank you Thibs. I wanted you as the Knicks coach going ALL THE WAY back to when JVG was fired and they brought in the likes of Don Chaney, etc. instead of promoting you to HC. But you joined the organization as a HC at the right time, truly. But let's be honest. Thibs is the EXACT same Thibs that coached in Chicago and Minnesota. Absolutely zero improvements in his flaws over the years. He is who he is. He should go to one of these struggling, young franchises down south. Imagine what the Hawks, Magic, Hornets, etc. could accomplish with Thibs as their HC? He peaked with NYK. This was his ceiling. He fluked. He choked. And it's now time for a coaching change while we still have this current personnel on the court.
As long as we don't have a nepo pick in Rick Brunson being promoted to HC, I'm cool. My top 5 picks for coach are:
1. Mike Malone (go back thru my posts and comments, I've been advocating for Malone to replace Thibs as HC since the middle of the NYK-IND series.)
2. Jeff Van Gundy (I would absolutely LOVE to see him return. He's my favorite NYK coach of all time. And I think that he is the perfect coach for the kind of roster we currently have. This team is very well suited to JVG's likes & strengths, and I believe he could do great things with this roster. He taught Thibs everything he knows, but he's not stubborn, and he will play whoever is going to get us a W. He is as competent as a coach as there is.)
3. Patrick Ewing (Ewing has head coaching experience in the NBA & NCAA & was a long time assistant around the NBA. I would love to see him come home & coach here. If there's ever anywhere that Pat will find success as a HC, it's here in New York. He's beloved here. He has a rapport with the front office and with the current roster. I know that he technically did an awful job at GTown and w/ The Hornets. But that is mostly due to the rosters he had at his disposal. With this Knicks roster, I believe he can flourish. He would do wonders for both KAT & Mitch especially.)
4. Mike Budenholzer (This slot would be going to MIKE WOODSON, but he just signed 2 weeks ago as associate HC with the Kings, essentially the lead assistant for Doug Christie. But with Woody gone, Coach Bud is my num. 4. I know a lot of you don't want to pick from the crop of coaches that get moved around every season. But I'm a huge fan of Bud. I was utterly enthralled with the way he turned the Hawks around years back, with Paul Millsap and Korver as the top guys. They won 60 games. He did great stuff everywhere he's been, IMO. He's a Pop protege and a prestige coach that was built by the Spurs org, which if anything, we should be trying to emulate the kind of system that Pop had down in San Antonio, especially since we have the roster to do so. Get these guys away from the over dribbling and ISOs and let's start moving the **** ball and making the extra pass.)
5. Johnnie Bryant (This is the guy everybody here is so high on and the top pick on many lists. I don't know much about him, other than he has history with the org, and he is beloved in CLE and coveted in Phoenix. But I think there are much better choices out there. He's unproven. I think yall just want new, untapped coaching blood.)
Honorable Mention: Mark Jackson (He's a former Knick, he did wonders for the Warriors, and I think he would be a great fit w/ Brunson, especially considering that's the position he played in the league. He's another protege of Van Gundy. Why not give him a chance, if he wants it?)
Please, no Rick Brunson. Please, no Doc Rivers. I would love someone with Knicks lineage, but I would take a flyer on Allan Houston or Kurt Thomas or Marcus Camby wanting to coach a roster before I would ever want either of those dudes up in here.
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RIP mags
* We have a Brunson Burner™ * 
