Tom Thibodeau fired pt 2

[Enzo954]

Alan Hahn pretty much said that they wanted to end this now instead of kicking the tires and having to fire Tom mid season, which would be disastrous.

I hate to keep going back to Game 6 versus Boston, but something wasn't right man. The look on Jalen's face when he was telling Tom to take everyone out spoke a thousand words.

I 100%, believe that Jalen knew well before we lost that Tom was done. That's why he lashed out at that reporter for asking that question. That was the first time I've ever seen him lose his composure like that. He knew, and it probably hurt like hell.

This situation sucks but I think all parties involved moved forward for the greater good of the team

Yeah, listen, that Game 6 ish was highly unusual. Like, he shot down Rick about 3 or 4 times. Sorry, man, but that's embarrassing, and hard to justify.

I keep saying this and I'm not even joking about it. Bryant was like the Thibs whisperer last season. I really, really liked last year's Thibs. This year, I don't know, man. Maybe he hated that Rick was promoted to assistant or something? Maybe Rick has more pull than we think? Kind of contextualizes Donte's blow up at Rick. Or I'm just looking at smoke and mirrors.

Donte was cussing at Tom, not Rick. He told Rick that as they were getting separated.

I don't know how much sway Rick has outside of being Jalen's Dad. I would like to know though.

Also, I would have asked Dolan to cough up top dollar to keep Bryant employed. We could have had a transition to him from Tom without all this drama.

I completely disagree about who Donte was yelling towards. When that video came out, I must have watched it a dozen times and while Donte was at the free throw line he was definitely looking at Rick when he was talking smack. He later denied and said it was towards Thibs.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

it's all especially bizarre to me when juxtaposed against the end of ECF G1 where thibs then didn't ride the group that had the game in hand.

like, snoop on the wire. **** the rotation, old man.

The playoffs showed the flaws in Thibslam, and the righteous crusaders against its spread have secured our seat in the Kingdom of the Finals.

thibslam is about toughness and togetherness. we stand with you against extremism.

painting all nation family as extremists is a problem. you know that.

We must move on from the shackles of Thibslam, and embrace the warmth of a new day, no more bean pies my brother, you're free now.

[JayTWill]

Donte was cussing at Tom, not Rick. He told Rick that as they were getting separated.

I don't know how much sway Rick has outside of being Jalen's Dad. I would like to know though.

Also, I would have asked Dolan to cough up top dollar to keep Bryant employed. We could have had a transition to him from Tom without all this drama.

yeah, but some of it was about rick, right? there was a daddy comment in there.

rick wasn't coming to see him over thibs.

I dunno, I'm going by what Donte said here:

Watch on YouTube

"I was talking to Thibs"

I think Rick thought Donte was getting at him.

After Josh Hart openly discussed how Donte tried to murder him in college with 10lb weight plate, I'm glad cooler heads prevailed

Watch on YouTube

[cgmw]

Yeah, listen, that Game 6 ish was highly unusual. Like, he shot down Rick about 3 or 4 times. Sorry, man, but that's embarrassing, and hard to justify.

I keep saying this and I'm not even joking about it. Bryant was like the Thibs whisperer last season. I really, really liked last year's Thibs. This year, I don't know, man. Maybe he hated that Rick was promoted to assistant or something? Maybe Rick has more pull than we think? Kind of contextualizes Donte's blow up at Rick. Or I'm just looking at smoke and mirrors.

Donte was cussing at Tom, not Rick. He told Rick that as they were getting separated.

I don't know how much sway Rick has outside of being Jalen's Dad. I would like to know though.

Also, I would have asked Dolan to cough up top dollar to keep Bryant employed. We could have had a transition to him from Tom without all this drama.

I completely disagree about who Donte was yelling towards. When that video came out, I must have watched it a dozen times and while Donte was at the free throw line he was definitely looking at Rick when he was talking smack. He later denied and said it was towards Thibs.

So I sat basically on/behind the Knick bench half a dozen times this season, and the dynamic I witnessed was:

• Thibs does not acknowledge the existence of any human in the room except the 5 players on the court, the 3 refs, the 1 replay assistant, and the 1 bench player whose name he hollers for substitutions. He literally ignored all other Knick players, coaches, or employees from the moment he stepped out of the tunnel until the moment he went back in. No collaboration, no tips, no nothing. In the very rare occasion that an assistant would hand him something or whisper something, he did not speak back to them or even acknowledged their existence.

• Rick is the boss of everything else. Rick talks to the players, talks to the other assistants, and was the visible/vocal leader of the 10 players and 10 Knick employees who actually sit on the bench.

That was the dynamic. Weird as all hell, but it seemed to work.

[Jeff Van Gully]

The playoffs showed the flaws in Thibslam, and the righteous crusaders against its spread have secured our seat in the Kingdom of the Finals.

thibslam is about toughness and togetherness. we stand with you against extremism.

painting all nation family as extremists is a problem. you know that.

We must move on from the shackles of Thibslam, and embrace the warmth of a new day, no more bean pies my brother, you're free now.

i can recognize how a false prophet had led us astray as but a mortal man. the vibes were to be immaculate and they were not.

the nation has gone as far as it can because of its rigid teachings and improprieties of its supreme leader.

we will espouse winning through toughness and togetherness in other ways, brother nodopeonsundays. my brothers and sisters who love basketball from all walks are allies and not threats.

i know this displeases many who remain with the nation. but i wish them no harm or ill will.

[Jeff Van Gully]

Donte was cussing at Tom, not Rick. He told Rick that as they were getting separated.

I don't know how much sway Rick has outside of being Jalen's Dad. I would like to know though.

Also, I would have asked Dolan to cough up top dollar to keep Bryant employed. We could have had a transition to him from Tom without all this drama.

I completely disagree about who Donte was yelling towards. When that video came out, I must have watched it a dozen times and while Donte was at the free throw line he was definitely looking at Rick when he was talking smack. He later denied and said it was towards Thibs.

So I sat basically on/behind the Knick bench half a dozen times this season, and the dynamic I witnessed was:

• Thibs does not acknowledge the existence of any human in the room except the 5 players on the court, the 3 refs, the 1 replay assistant, and the 1 bench player whose name he hollers for substitutions. He literally ignored all other Knick players, coaches, or employees from the moment he stepped out of the tunnel until the moment he went back in. No collaboration, no tips, no nothing. In the very rare occasion that an assistant would hand him something or whisper something, he did not speak back to them or even acknowledged their existence.

• Rick is the boss of everything else. Rick talks to the players, talks to the other assistants, and was the visible/vocal leader of the 10 players and 10 Knick employees who actually sit on the bench.

That was the dynamic. Weird as all hell, but it seemed to work.

this is not how basketball family should feel.

Spoiler:

this is how it should feel

Watch on YouTube

[MrDollarBills]

Donte was cussing at Tom, not Rick. He told Rick that as they were getting separated.

I don't know how much sway Rick has outside of being Jalen's Dad. I would like to know though.

Also, I would have asked Dolan to cough up top dollar to keep Bryant employed. We could have had a transition to him from Tom without all this drama.

I completely disagree about who Donte was yelling towards. When that video came out, I must have watched it a dozen times and while Donte was at the free throw line he was definitely looking at Rick when he was talking smack. He later denied and said it was towards Thibs.

So I sat basically on/behind the Knick bench half a dozen times this season, and the dynamic I witnessed was:

• Thibs does not acknowledge the existence of any human in the room except the 5 players on the court, the 3 refs, the 1 replay assistant, and the 1 bench player whose name he hollers for substitutions. He literally ignored all other Knick players, coaches, or employees from the moment he stepped out of the tunnel until the moment he went back in. No collaboration, no tips, no nothing. In the very rare occasion that an assistant would hand him something or whisper something, he did not speak back to them or even acknowledged their existence.

• Rick is the boss of everything else. Rick talks to the players, talks to the other assistants, and was the visible/vocal leader of the 10 players and 10 Knick employees who actually sit on the bench.

That was the dynamic. Weird as all hell, but it seemed to work.

If this is true this is really bad

[Enzo954]

I completely disagree about who Donte was yelling towards. When that video came out, I must have watched it a dozen times and while Donte was at the free throw line he was definitely looking at Rick when he was talking smack. He later denied and said it was towards Thibs.

So I sat basically on/behind the Knick bench half a dozen times this season, and the dynamic I witnessed was:

• Thibs does not acknowledge the existence of any human in the room except the 5 players on the court, the 3 refs, the 1 replay assistant, and the 1 bench player whose name he hollers for substitutions. He literally ignored all other Knick players, coaches, or employees from the moment he stepped out of the tunnel until the moment he went back in. No collaboration, no tips, no nothing. In the very rare occasion that an assistant would hand him something or whisper something, he did not speak back to them or even acknowledged their existence.

• Rick is the boss of everything else. Rick talks to the players, talks to the other assistants, and was the visible/vocal leader of the 10 players and 10 Knick employees who actually sit on the bench.

That was the dynamic. Weird as all hell, but it seemed to work.

If this is true this is really bad

It's 100% true. Exactly how Jeff Teague explained how Thibs acts on his podcast the other day. If you're not a starter or 6th man he completely ignores you. If you're an assistant coach he doesn't listen to you. He wants control of everything and that's the way it's going to be.

[The KnicksFix]

Wow this Pacers analyst NAILS some stuff here ....

Read on Twitter

Exactly this
I asked all year to just try Mitch and deuce in the starting lineup
With KAT and hart off the bench
If you make the argument you don’t trade for KAT to come off the bench, well okc just signed Ihart to a massive contract and he hasn’t started a game for them during the first two finals games. It’s about adjustments, and Thibs never tried anything new

Thibs would have been fired on opening night if he suggested that and rightfully so.

He definitely should have tried Deuce with the starters though.

True, but I would have tried it at least once in the regular season and moreso when we went down 0-2 against the pacers

[Clyde_Style]

The playoffs showed the flaws in Thibslam, and the righteous crusaders against its spread have secured our seat in the Kingdom of the Finals.

thibslam is about toughness and togetherness. we stand with you against extremism.

painting all nation family as extremists is a problem. you know that.

We must move on from the shackles of Thibslam, and embrace the warmth of a new day, no more bean pies my brother, you're free now.

Allahu!


Geshundheit!

[Clyde_Style]

Donte was cussing at Tom, not Rick. He told Rick that as they were getting separated.

I don't know how much sway Rick has outside of being Jalen's Dad. I would like to know though.

Also, I would have asked Dolan to cough up top dollar to keep Bryant employed. We could have had a transition to him from Tom without all this drama.

I completely disagree about who Donte was yelling towards. When that video came out, I must have watched it a dozen times and while Donte was at the free throw line he was definitely looking at Rick when he was talking smack. He later denied and said it was towards Thibs.

So I sat basically on/behind the Knick bench half a dozen times this season, and the dynamic I witnessed was:

• Thibs does not acknowledge the existence of any human in the room except the 5 players on the court, the 3 refs, the 1 replay assistant, and the 1 bench player whose name he hollers for substitutions. He literally ignored all other Knick players, coaches, or employees from the moment he stepped out of the tunnel until the moment he went back in. No collaboration, no tips, no nothing. In the very rare occasion that an assistant would hand him something or whisper something, he did not speak back to them or even acknowledged their existence.

• Rick is the boss of everything else. Rick talks to the players, talks to the other assistants, and was the visible/vocal leader of the 10 players and 10 Knick employees who actually sit on the bench.

That was the dynamic. Weird as all hell, but it seemed to work.

That's actually revolting

Tom's an Orc on the spectrum

Your account makes me more certain than ever that players who praise him are either being politically correct or are starters with a selfish streak who are the beneficiaries of his monomania

Seriously, F that guy. Glad he's gone

Spoiler:

[Capn'O]

monomania

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

Thibs has his way of doing things. A lot of it works. Brunson grew a lot under Thibs. KAT, for all our talk about his trouble integrating, had a great season. Deuce developed. Mitch grew a lot under Thibs from a foul machine to a dominant defender. Donte had his best year. We made the semis three straight years and the ECF this year. Whoever is on the floor is using busting their ass. Etc. etc.

He's just completely unable to recognize his weaknesses and that's always his undoing. It always comes to a head and we seem to have hit it off at the pass before things became untenable. His way is good. The "or the highway" keeps him from being great.

[Clyde_Style]

monomania

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

Thibs has his way of doing things. A lot of it works. Brunson grew a lot under Thibs. KAT, for all our talk about his trouble integrating, had a great season. Deuce developed. Mitch grew a lot under Thibs from a foul machine to a dominant defender. Donte had his best year. We made the semis three straight years and the ECF this year. Whoever is on the floor is using busting their ass. Etc. etc.

He's just completely unable to recognize his weaknesses and that's always his undoing. It always comes to a head and we seem to have hit it off at the pass before things became untenable. His way is good. The "or the highway" keeps him from being great.

That muppets clip is on another plane. I do not advise watching that under the influence of anything hallucinogenic

That tunnel Thibs exists in during a game that CGMW described does not really result in hyperfocus. The trademark Thibs sideline squint was in my experience the visual equivalent of a needle skipping at the end of Side A.

It is possible to find accomplishments for most coaches who ultimately fail, so I can't really offset his weaknesses with the list of individual player improvements like that. Some player skills will shine more when greenlit than not, but things like year over year improvement (for example, Mitch fouling less) to me is 90% contingent on a player's desire to learn and work hard. The coach can enable or disable some of that, but without playing time those improvements will not manifest. Reps are required. So if Brunson or KAT play big minutes and improve that's largely due to them IMO.

Anyway, I found his narrow focus and inability to learn new things and to adjust was very frustrating, but most coaches have their worn grooves and there are not that many great coaches who are on a continual learning path who know how to maximize every player. Thibs being good is fair enough, but he is not a great coach. And every good coach wears out their welcome if they don't achieve some kind of personal greatness that transforms the players. I know Pops benefitted from some legendary lineups, but I still think he's a great coach who adapted over time to work with each player's abilities. He seemed to build up players who'd otherwise get discarded in other systems.

We all want a great coach. Some people get angry at fans who are not satisfied with just a good coach. That's their prerogative. Personally, I think Thibs often descended into the depths of terrible and often sucked ass as a coach, but that's just me venting because we had a good enough roster to advance further with just good coaching and Thibs was not even good during these playoffs. He was mostly terrible and only occasionally did he hit the right buttons.

[Adelheid]

yeah, but some of it was about rick, right? there was a daddy comment in there.

rick wasn't coming to see him over thibs.

I dunno, I'm going by what Donte said here:

Watch on YouTube

"I was talking to Thibs"

I think Rick thought Donte was getting at him.

After Josh Hart openly discussed how Donte tried to murder him in college with 10lb weight plate, I'm glad cooler heads prevailed

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

advance to 3:04

[MrDollarBills]

I dunno, I'm going by what Donte said here:

Watch on YouTube

"I was talking to Thibs"

I think Rick thought Donte was getting at him.

After Josh Hart openly discussed how Donte tried to murder him in college with 10lb weight plate, I'm glad cooler heads prevailed

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

advance to 3:04

"Let Dad run the show".

"I was talking to Thibs".

Seems like Rick either thought Donte was saying something to him disrespectful or didn't appreciate Donte sh*t talking Tom.

i think Rick said they cleared the air afterwards.

I wish we could bring Donte back man. Delaware Jordan been watching that brother hoop since he was in high school, they used to air his school's games on Comcast

[MrDollarBills]

I dunno, I'm going by what Donte said here:

Watch on YouTube

"I was talking to Thibs"

I think Rick thought Donte was getting at him.

After Josh Hart openly discussed how Donte tried to murder him in college with 10lb weight plate, I'm glad cooler heads prevailed

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

advance to 3:04

This video is really good. I didn't realize how bad LeBron cusses these refs out

Ant and Luka are hilarious. For Ant you can tell its all fun for him playing against the older guys. I love when Randle is talking trash to Jae Crowder (I would not mess with Julius) Ant just chimes in with "Shut the f*ck Jae"

But that clip of D'Angelo Russell antagonizing Steph that was the dumbest sh*t I've seen in a minute. Like why out of any player on the planet would you trash talk Steph. dude bitched his whole existence.

Draymond and Rudy are just very unlikable human beings. I can see why people hate them.

And every fan in this video needed their ass beat. Grow up. There's never a reason to talk to these guys like that. That dude who called Broadie a boy really needed some firm correction.

[Adelheid]

been keeping mental note of the vid since i saw it the 1st time several months ago...thought alot of you may have seen it already (before i posted it)

true, really good vid by the content creator. Awesome when you realize there are plenty of thrashtalk still going around

[god shammgod]

Read on Twitter

[Billy Goat]

I completely disagree about who Donte was yelling towards. When that video came out, I must have watched it a dozen times and while Donte was at the free throw line he was definitely looking at Rick when he was talking smack. He later denied and said it was towards Thibs.

So I sat basically on/behind the Knick bench half a dozen times this season, and the dynamic I witnessed was:

• Thibs does not acknowledge the existence of any human in the room except the 5 players on the court, the 3 refs, the 1 replay assistant, and the 1 bench player whose name he hollers for substitutions. He literally ignored all other Knick players, coaches, or employees from the moment he stepped out of the tunnel until the moment he went back in. No collaboration, no tips, no nothing. In the very rare occasion that an assistant would hand him something or whisper something, he did not speak back to them or even acknowledged their existence.

• Rick is the boss of everything else. Rick talks to the players, talks to the other assistants, and was the visible/vocal leader of the 10 players and 10 Knick employees who actually sit on the bench.

That was the dynamic. Weird as all hell, but it seemed to work.

If this is true this is really bad

Winning is bad?

[Wildcat]

Exactly this
I asked all year to just try Mitch and deuce in the starting lineup
With KAT and hart off the bench
If you make the argument you don’t trade for KAT to come off the bench, well okc just signed Ihart to a massive contract and he hasn’t started a game for them during the first two finals games. It’s about adjustments, and Thibs never tried anything new

Thibs would have been fired on opening night if he suggested that and rightfully so.

He definitely should have tried Deuce with the starters though.

True, but I would have tried it at least once in the regular season and moreso when we went down 0-2 against the pacers

I don't like KAT, but him on the bench is asinine. Knicks win Game 1 if Thibs adjusted in the 4th. And thus don't lose Game 2 because they're not spooked.

Regular season Deuce was absolute trash. Postseason Deuce was better. I think moving Mitch in was the right move. But the move was wasted the first game it was introduced because KAT picked up 2 stupid fouls, which put Hart with the starters at like the 7 minute mark.