nyvector16 wrote:All our young talent went from being liabilities under Thibs to big assets under Brown.
This is the way forward with the new 2nd Apron limitations.
Knicks specifically quoted player development in new CBA era as a reason for moving on from Thibs and they were spot on!We are in such a good place because Knicks mgmt saw through the overplaying starters routine and actually understand how basketball works both on the court and managing a roster.
We have two weak links at the moment taking a roster spot, but that will be handled as well.
Great time to be a Knicks fan!!!
That's really the key point: management saw the need to replace Thibs. I hold this front office's management abilities in way higher esteem than I do Thibs coaching abilities. And good management decided it was time to upgrade the coach.
When we drafted Kolek, we set a new NBA record for the highest guaranteed multi-year contract ever awarded to a 2nd round player coming out of the draft. Another team eclipsed that record right afterwards, but how often do you see a FO going all in on a 2nd rounder from the get go like that?
That kind of commitment was not carried through by Thibs. Kolek needed to upgrade his defense of course, but seeing how well he has done that it is not like he couldn't have been coached up during the previous season too and he would only suddenly turn into a viable defender a couple weeks ago. IMO, Brown pushed Kolek in ways Thibs did not do.
Thibs was one of those coaches who would go months without talking to bench players. There are numerous accounts of former players who say Thibs never talked to them more than once or twice while they were a Knicks. I don't know how that is going to work, but I think the FO saw the way he would completely block out players they drafted to be developed and had enough of Thibs pig headed ways. You don't see that now. Brown is talking to everyone on the roster. They clearly hired Brown in part because of this and it is showing results.
And it is probably true Bridges didn't want Thibs back. Coming from one of the iron men of his era, for Bridges to publicly challenge Thibs for his minutes managements was the writing on the wall.
When your FO and starters don't want the coach back, I'm pretty sure I'm not making up reasons for Thibs failure to stick as a coach. Rose thought it was serious enough an issue to fire Thibs just a year into a new extension.
12/28/2025 9:03 PM