Thibs has his flaws, maybe the team of assistants he can surround himself with can balance things out. Bring Woodson as your additional defensive coach, a young offensive coach maybe from the assistants they interviewed and a good developmental coach to round things up.

TripleThreat wrote:

djsunyc wrote: i'm not saying he's a bad coach but the league has changed dramatically and he hasn't shown to be the defensive coach he was prior. having a bottom 5 drtg lays alot at the players feet but it's also apparent that his defensive coaching acumen was overrated. they were ranked 25th in 17/18 with teague, butler and taj gibson starting. if the wolves were middle of the pack drtg then you would be talking about what a great coaching job he did but b/c they were awful, you are absolving him of any of the responsibility.

You are absolving Karl Anthony Towns of responsibility. Convenient that you don't mention him. No one is going to have even a league average defense with KAT patrolling the paint. KAT is bad mix of don't understand/don't give a ****/plays too soft on defense, his offense is great though and that's all he clearly cares about. And I'm not a huge Wiggins fan, but the team doubled down and got KAT's buddy, Russell, and that dude is also pretty horrible when it's not time to play offense.

Team defense, you need everyone to buy in and commit and put in the relentless effort to win.

Thibs has many flaws, but I'm just not apt to hang him here because his franchise guy doesn't give a ****. Compiling counting stats on offense does not count as actually giving a ****. You have to forego your own counting stats and think about quarterbacking the defense from the pivot. Protecting the rim and blocking shots are two different things, KAT doesn't know the difference. The troubling thing is not just KAT is not where he's supposed to be on defense, but that he doesn't know why he needs to be there in the first place.

Also Thibs coached 18-19 season, so its been exactly 1 season of NBA basketball since Thibs was coaching. This is not a long layoff.

What is good coaching? Is that when you recognize your personel and work accordingly? Thibs was handed scorers in Minn. Lets see how that worked out with some data driven analysis going year by year:
Off Rtg: 106.5 (12th of 30) Def Rtg: 110.1 (28th of 30) (Sam Mitchell) 2015
Off Rtg: 110.8 (10th of 30) Def Rtg: 112.0 (27th of 30) (Thibs) 2016
Off Rtg: 113.4 (4th of 30) Def Rtg: 111.1 (27th of 30) (Thibs) 2017
Off Rtg: 111.4 (11th of 30) Def Rtg: 112.9 (24th of 30) (Thibs 19-21, Saunders 17-25) 2018

Obviously he clashed with management and flamed out, but what did "Mr. Defense the league has passed him by" do with scorers? Got them to be an elite offense. Im sorry, but Minn is far more a success than failure if you give it an ounce of perspective. He would be a good hire here and a guy who could really elevate RJ's game for starters

smackeddog wrote:Consensus seems to be Thibs has been chosen and is just awaiting the conclusion of contract negotiations (Jonathon Macri said that's what he'd hear from writers). Of course if he ends up not being the coach, it's their biggest mess-up since KD and Kyrie, so they'll probably pivot to blaming Dolan for interfering in contract negotiations

smackeddog wrote:Consensus seems to be Thibs has been chosen and is just awaiting the conclusion of contract negotiations (Jonathon Macri said that's what he'd hear from writers). Of course if he ends up not being the coach, it's their biggest mess-up since KD and Kyrie, so they'll probably pivot to blaming Dolan for interfering in contract negotiations

Do we as a fan base still feel not signing KD and Kyrie was a mess up?

KnickDanger wrote:

smackeddog wrote:Consensus seems to be Thibs has been chosen and is just awaiting the conclusion of contract negotiations (Jonathon Macri said that's what he'd hear from writers). Of course if he ends up not being the coach, it's their biggest mess-up since KD and Kyrie, so they'll probably pivot to blaming Dolan for interfering in contract negotiations

Do we as a fan base still feel not signing KD and Kyrie was a mess up?

Durant and Irving were never going to sign with the Knicks. Hard to call something that would never happen a mistake.

However, running the hypothetical, if Irving and Durant both wanted to sign here and play for the Knicks, just for open cap space, and the Knicks turned them down, then Yes, that would be gigantic mistake.

A mistake on a level, once that got out into the open press, that would get lots of people fired.

The average NBA GM could care less if the team he's building will win a ring five years from now, because odds are he won't be there in five years. He's thinking the next two weeks, maybe the next two months, just trying to keep his job. Signing Durant and Irving gives you like 5 years of job security. Not signing them means you'll be immediately fired.

https://eu.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2020/07/18/monty-williams-addresses-steve-blake-and-larry-greer-no-longer-suns-staff/5465657002/

Jimbo5 wrote:I don't know what this means, but Jonathan Marci reported that Atkinson just finished an interview yesterday. I thought all interviews concluded last Friday. Is it a 3rd interview? So it seems the coaching job is between Kenny and Thibs.

LOL, all these writers really don't know anything!

I started off wanting Atkinson, then warmed to Thibs and went off Atkinson, I give up! Either is fine!

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://www.twitter.com/JCMacriNBA/status/1285534032437141506

smackeddog wrote:

Jimbo5 wrote:I don't know what this means, but Jonathan Marci reported that Atkinson just finished an interview yesterday. I thought all interviews concluded last Friday. Is it a 3rd interview? So it seems the coaching job is between Kenny and Thibs.

LOL, all these writers really don't know anything!

I started off wanting Atkinson, then warmed to Thibs and went off Atkinson, I give up! Either is fine!

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://www.twitter.com/JCMacriNBA/status/1285534032437141506

When you have your top pick and are negotiating, you keep your second pick around and let it out he is still in play.

Thibs will negotiate for more control, Knicks will push back via another option.

martin wrote:

KnickDanger wrote:

smackeddog wrote:Consensus seems to be Thibs has been chosen and is just awaiting the conclusion of contract negotiations (Jonathon Macri said that's what he'd hear from writers). Of course if he ends up not being the coach, it's their biggest mess-up since KD and Kyrie, so they'll probably pivot to blaming Dolan for interfering in contract negotiations

Do we as a fan base still feel not signing KD and Kyrie was a mess up?

not me

Especially knowing KD would be out fully for a year and then maybe not 100% for the next. So for 2 years you are paying KD to get healthy. He will be 33/34 in that 3rd year, 4th year player option.

And then the injury risk for the Flat Earther.

They got a new coach.

By the time KD is maybe back to some sort of prime, DeAndre will be 34 and still without a jumpshot.

Brooklyn is cap locked, so good luck over there.

agree with Martin. Dodged a bullet. KD and Kyrie is feeling more like KG and Pierce minus the picks. In addition to injuries they are both somewhat sensitive souls and probably a horrific situation for Knicks where people would expect instant turn around

martin wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

Jimbo5 wrote:I don't know what this means, but Jonathan Marci reported that Atkinson just finished an interview yesterday. I thought all interviews concluded last Friday. Is it a 3rd interview? So it seems the coaching job is between Kenny and Thibs.

LOL, all these writers really don't know anything!

I started off wanting Atkinson, then warmed to Thibs and went off Atkinson, I give up! Either is fine!

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://www.twitter.com/JCMacriNBA/status/1285534032437141506

When you have your top pick and are negotiating, you keep your second pick around and let it out he is still in play.

Thibs will negotiate for more control, Knicks will push back via another option.

I'm terrible at negotiating, I'd never think of doing that

smackeddog wrote:

houston20 wrote:I would be shocked if thibs isn't the coach i think second interview with kenny is due diligence that's all . Knicks still have lot of time to name a coach before the draft in august plus the season probably going to be push backed again until late decememeber or january depending on covid situation.

Might have been a 3rd interview, coming now would indicate it's either:

a) Thibs is turning down/ couldn't reach an agreement
b) as Martin suggested its to pressure Thibs in negotiations
c) maybe interviewing him for another role- maybe head of player development? (if they drastically bump the salary for that role), or associate coach

Or, not for nothing, it could just be that they like Atkinson and want to negotiate further with him.

Head coach and front office have to be on same page for organization to have any shot at success or even moving forward. So, you talk further