Multiple New York Knicks players have gotten surprisingly candid about former head coach Tom Thibodeau's tenure in town.
The 67-year-old was let go by New York brass this offseason, despite having led the team to a 51-31 record and its first Eastern Conference Finals in 25 years.
Known as a great tactician, Thibodeau has worn out his welcome at each of his three NBA stops — he previously led the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves. He also took to the Bulls to an Eastern Conference Finals in 2011, and has been named Coach of the Year with Chicago and New York.
Thibodeau's New York tenure
Across his five seasons with New York, Thibodeau notched a 226-174 regular season record and a 24-23 playoff record.
Five-time All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns, whom Thibodeau coached from 2016-19 in Minnesota and last season in New York, reacted to Thibodeau's surprise firing during an interview with Sean Gregory of Time.
New York replaced Thibodeau with former Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown.
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“I’ve always had instability in my career,” Towns said in reaction to the Thibodeau situation. “You always think the best, and you also expect the worst. So you never know.”
Backup point guard Miles McBride, meanwhile, expressed optimism on the Brown era in conversation with Stefan Bondy of The New York Post, while subtly critiquing Thibodeau's approach to the game.
“Last year, we might’ve gotten a little bit stagnant, and the last couple years,” McBride said.“And I feel like what [Brown’s] been preaching is just being able to play with pace, and it’s not just the guy with the ball.”
Brown, 55, logged a 107-88 regular season record during parts of three seasons with Sacramento, and a 3-4 playoff record.
“He’s giving us the foundation, and we’re just going to work off of it,” McBride added. “So I’m really excited to see all our creativity with each other that we’ve been working on these last couple months.”
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