Much respect to Thibs for making the Knicks respectable again. But it shouldnt take being 0-2 in the ECF to start trying out new lineups, rotations. It was a sign of desperation, and Leon probably didnt like it.

Speaking of Leon, at some point Dolan would start wondering if Leon was right for the job, if it was another season of overplaying the starters, not developing the bench.

TBH Im glad. We need a new voice in the locker room. Apparently there was a lot of discord in the locker room which doesnt reflect well on the coach.

Philc1 wrote:

MaTT4281 wrote:This terrifies me...

Damn.

Gotta bad feeling this is the precursor of a KAT for KD swap. Yuck.

I feel the opposite. This to me says they want someone to maximize KAT and the offensive talent we have.

Not an obvious list of better coaches. Don't need a player's caddy. To exceed Thibs you need someone with strategic vision, analytical brilliance....who is that?

GustavBahler wrote:Thats why you dont lock the Thibs thread.

Much respect to Thibs for making the Knicks respectable again. But it shouldnt take being 0-2 in the ECF to start trying out new lineups, rotations. It was a sign of desperation, and Leon probably didnt like it.

Speaking of Leon, at some point Dolan would start wondering if Leon was right for the job, if it was another season of overplaying the starters, not developing the bench.

TBH Im glad. We need a new voice in the locker room. Apparently there was a lot of discord in the locker room which doesnt reflect well on the coach.

Maybe it was Dolan who passed it down. If so, Leon has to own it.

VDesai wrote:I can understand, but still makes me feel terrible. Thibs rescued the team from oblivion. 5 yrs, 4 playoff appearances. Team was less than its parts this year, but hard to penalize him for only a really good year when it could have been great. Imagine that's how your job goes...thats why I feel terrible about it.

Not an obvious list of better coaches. Don't need a player's caddy. To exceed Thibs you need someone with strategic vision, analytical brilliance....who is that?

I agree with this which is why I think they have intel on the next big time coach from someone’s bench and not just going the simpleton route with Bud or Malone.

jskinny35 wrote:

Chandler wrote:FWIW Malone and Budenholzer have each won championships without dream teams. Actually doing it is always worth something

Budenholzer obviously had all world Giannis but if you're really honest about it there wasn't even a big two, let alone a big three. He had lots of really good players but only one all NBA as far as I recall. He was also successful in Atlanta with completely different style of play, and again FWIW has this SAS roots where they often seem a step ahead of the competition

Malone also had all work Joker. But next best player was Murray. Obviously a lot to like but we're not talking Warriors in their prime or Heat with Lebron.

They should both be serious, respectable candidates.

I have a tough time imagining Leon rolls the dice with J.Bryant. Thought he was great here, but they's have balls of steel firing Thibs after ECF to give it to Bryant

Again just have to imagine Leon liked his KAT acquisition more than Thibs did, and must have felt that was the best way forward. E.g., trying to get Giannis or KD unless it's straight up just exacerbates a depth problem if Knicks have to throw in other talent.

Really feel for Thibs though.

Pure speculation
Maybe there was an exit interview/meeting with Thibs and he expressed concern that KAT can't play defense at the championship level... they just acquired him and felt it was Thibs job to teach him and they weren't going to move him?

Yes maybe something along those lines

One other thing: we sucked ass against the top teams this year. That's a pretty bad thing if you're singularly focused on a championship because those are the teams you will be playing deep in playoffs

In Strategic thinking/game theory, there is something called "loser's tennis". The basic idea (as applies here) is the way you should play a mediocre, bad team is different. Keep hitting the ball over the net, keep it in play. Wait for the opponent to flub. The game theory part is the decisions you're making -- keep it in play

That style of play however gets you killed when you're playing the best. Then you need to hit the lines, corners, drop shots etc (probably screwing up the specifics as I don't play tennis).

Thibs had two all NBA guys. and OG and Mikal are not shabby. Yet we were getting smoked by the top tier teams

ANd I loved beating the Celtics of course but if we're honest KP was a zero, and Brown was running at 50%. Yes, I know part of the game but let's not confuse this with two teams being at full strength and we beat them

we stole game 1 the way the pacers stole game 1

Knixkik wrote:Malone or Bryant we thinking ?

Prefer Malone

martin wrote:

Philc1 wrote:

MaTT4281 wrote:This terrifies me...

Damn.

Gotta bad feeling this is the precursor of a KAT for KD swap. Yuck.

I wouldn't be surprised this this type of thing pushed Leon to move Thibs out.

Leon would have already had feelers out on any of the big names being floated as moving out there and this type of thing would have moved him under the right circumstances IMHO

Suns want a center. KD wants out. Uh oh my God rooting for KD would make me nauseous and he will be 37 next November

Malone
Budenholzer
Taylor Jenkins
James Borrego
Mike Brown
Frank Vogel

2 of those guys have titles. Does anyone firmly believe that there's a mind on that list that's better than Thibs, thats more creative or better at implementing that can coax another 2 series wins out of this team?