Rick Pitino's true feelings after Knicks fire Tom Thibodeau

Matthew Wadleigh

Rick Pitino's true feelings after Knicks fire Tom Thibodeau  image

The New York Knicks firing head coach Tom Thibodeau despite an Eastern Conference Finals run has been quite the conversation. 

Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle weighed in, saying he thought it was fake. 

"Thibs went in and changed so much. You look at all that and what happened yesterday, I thought (the news) was a fake AI thing. No way possible. I know how the players feel about him, too," Carlisle said. 

Now, another prominent basketball head coach has chimed in. On Wednesday, prior to the New York Yankees home game against the Cleveland Guardians, St. John's coach Rick Pitino spoke about Thibodeau being fired

"I feel bad for Thibs, because he captured all of New York and captured something very, very special. A lot of us don't comprehend what happened, but Thibs is going to be well taken care of and move on to other pastures," Pitino said. 

In five seasons, Thibodeau led the Knicks to the playoffs four times and brought them to their first Eastern Conference Finals trip in over two decades, yet they moved on from him. 

Pitino said only time will tell if it ends up being a mistake, but right now, it's a sour taste for Thibodeau and others after a successful playoff run that ended two games short of an NBA Finals berth. 

So, where does New York go from here? Who knows, but it will be a long summer. 

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Matthew Wadleigh

Matthew Wadleigh is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He was born and raised in Southern California and grew up a San Diego sports fan (yes, it’s tough, except for Aztecs hoops). Matthew went to Fresno State as a journalism major and got to see Davante Adams, Derek Carr, Paul George and Aaron Judge in person. Matthew has written for publications including ClutchPoints, Sportscasting, Fansided, Trojans Wire, UCLA Wire and Buffaloes Wire.