fishmike wrote:GustavBahler wrote:fishmike wrote:GustavBahler wrote:fishmike wrote:GustavBahler wrote:HofstraBBall wrote:blkexec wrote:Miller is a rookie....Thibs is a vet.....Inever liked JVG when he was coaching the knicks. Offense was boring. Thibs at least has coached recently and has adjusted to today's basketball. Plus his roots on defense doesnt go away. Hes one of the best defensive minded coaches out there, next to JVG.Right now, it doesnt matter what moves we make, until we develop an identity. Thibs will help lead that cultural change, and attract other two way defensive minded players like Morris.
Agree with this. Understand the love for Miller but also feel Knick fans are enamored with underdog blue color guys. Not a bad thing but unrealistic. IMO, just getting a decent guy to coach the team, Miller, leaves out the most important factor needed for the Knicks right now. Lets face it, NO ONE wants to come here. Except to get overpaid. Thibs has a much better rep, league wide, then Miller. He changes the perspective for many fee agents. Rose knows that. He knows that we need to be able to attract the elite players in the league. Dolan also knows that. Reason why he hired Rose. NO way Miller sticks. Like the guy but he is a better fit for teams looking to slowly develop young players. And feel Dolan is tired of doing that and now looking to get some big names and win. Always liked Thibs so either way, happy to hear he may be the next coach.
Wanting Miller to stay isnt about sentiment. He's doing a good job with a lottery team. The players seem to respect and play hard for him. Is good with Xs and Os, big on details. Miller worked his way up the organization.
Not so sure Thibs has a great rep outside of Ex-Bulls who he famously ran into the ground, with multiple players ending up in the hospital. KAT might be a Diva, but he is part of the younger NBA generation that Thibs apparently had trouble connecting with. Thibs is an old school coach, not confident he can connect with players who arent willing to be ridden as hard as his vets were in Chicago.
As a Knicks fan, if Thibs was introduced, there would be some questions Id like to see answered
What lessons have you learned from your last coaching gig? Do you believe in load mgmt for vets? Will anything be different from your last stop?
I dont see this move attracting elite players. They will see another coach on the Knicks coaching carousel.
coach is a big hire, and big job and the critical bridge between the FO and players. If you are coming into a situation with the level of historic dysfunction that the Knicks have had you are not hanging the coaching gig on a guy with a couple decent months under his belt, you just are not doing that. Its not a reasonable or realistic expectation under any circumstances. Hopefully the next FO will ID some of the things that are working here and keep that and continue to grow that, and is it possible that includes Miller? Maybe, but its not as simple as "this guy has been good so he should stay." It just isnt and assuming it is and using that as fuel vs. the new FO doesnt make sense either.
As for Thibs? You cant say he doesnt have coaching chops and somehow the TWolves are used as a bad example but they won 47 games under Thibs and havent seen a win total like that since the KG/Spree/Cassel/Wally team and they have been worse without Thibs so there's that...
You just made a great case to never to promote an asst. coach. Miller has been acting like a "bridge". The players are responding, and putting in the effort. Miller just mentioned that he is in constant touch with Perry over who plays. Miller is doing his job, on and off the court.
The last thing the Knicks need to do is to fix something that isnt broken. Absent the team crashing and burning for the rest of the season, firing a coach who is doing his job is counterproductive. We're far enough away from the last coach to say that the improved play, (in spite of all the injuries) is a more than a bump from a change of coach.
2021 is a huge FA summer Giving Miller a season to make a case to stay on is the way to go. If it doesnt work out, then go for the splash hire in advance of free agency. Dont see the rush to replace Miller, not with our rep for keeping coaches on a short leash. Miller looks like a better coach for the job with his chops and experience at developing players.
The only thing I made a case for is folks to open their eyes to how the world works... today's topic is how to hire an NBA coach.
Do the Knicks have winning record under Miller? Are the a playoff team under Miller? Has any young player broken out under Miller?Miller took a really garbage squad and make them slightly less garbage. That is not the same as doing a great job and cementing a permanent role. You missing some perspective here. Miller has done a nice job. He's coaching. Its not really anything that special.
Nobody is firing Mike Miller. We dont even had a FO right now. He's a interim coach and doing great in that capacity. Next FO gets to build their org how they see fit and Mike Miller has been ok. Try to have some perspective on Miller's "achievements"
Its been more than a slighty better winning pct., even after trading away our best player. This team looks like it can at least challenge elite teams. With this roster, thats no small thing. Thibs had more by the time he left Minny, and did less or the same. Not to mention his relationship with his stars. That kind of a move isnt today's NBA. Most teams would give Miller another season, considering his in the organization and making the team more competitive. Firing, replacing, Miller with a retread would be classic Knicks.
really? How are you quantifying that statement? You are hiring your next coach because despite losing to them we now look like a team that can be challenging? Do you have any examples of new GMs or FO hires that came in and kept the interim guy vs. hiring his own? I cant think of one example despite you saying "most teams" would give Miller a chance. I totally disagree. Most teams would follow through the hiring and building of their staff as planned even if the guy who took over midseason coached a .200 team to a .400 team.But as you feel "most teams" would do this any real world example would be more convincing.
I am not opposed to keeping Miller. He's been fine. This notion that he's been great and deserves a shot to be the perm HC and if he's not is just "more typical Knicks" is silly though and is fantasy based. I get why you want him to stay but you gotta open your eyes and be realistic on this one.
when are we going to start building?
I keep Miller because he's done a pretty good job, seems like a real HC with blue collar appeal, and I think he's a good match for what we have as a roster at the moment. Which is young and still building.
I keep him because he seems like a great teacher, and we have so many young guys that need to learn and become better pros.
I keep him so that maybe some of our players can have the same coach for more than one season.
I keep him because I don't think Thibs or anyone else is going to make a material impact to the W/L record with what will likely be our roster next year.
Are there better coaches out there? Absolutely.
Do any of them want to come here? And, if they did, how much of a difference would they make?
I'd also argue that having Miller in year 2 puts us on a better footing to start next year successfully. We're slow out of the gate every year because there has been enormous turnover every summer, either with the FO, coach or roster.
Give me Miller next year, VanVleet and most of the roster back, and I think we can aim for 36-44 wins, and maybe put us on a solid footing to make a pitch to Giannis Antetokounmpo coming in in 2021 and taking a solid, respectable roster to the finals out of the east.
2/24/2020 1:29 PM