Is the Knicks winning the NBA Championship the WORST thing for Thibodeau’s career?! 😬 | First Take

All right, I think it's fair to say now that the coaching change the Knicks made at the end of last season made sense, but for a while it did not.Tom Thibodeau was fired by New York after bringing the Knicks within two wins of the NBA Finals last season.He was, also at the time, the most successful Knicks coach in a generation.Then after a long search came Mike Brown.Long resume, yes, well -respected in NBA circles, but clearly not the top choice for New York, nor the sure bet.Or was he?

At the time, we wondered how this would work, right?Considering it was the finals or bust for New York, but here we are.And finally, now a chance for James Dolan to say, I knew it.

All right.

Do you think James Dolan's Tibbs message is fair or false, even a think?

I think it's kind of foul.And the reason why I think it's kind of foul is because he's on video talking about Tibbs, and I know that it was his team, but this is Dolan who really is foul.everything with media and does and goes out of his way to make it a point that the media doesn't see practically anything behind the scenes about the New York Knicks.And somehow he allows this to get out about Tom Thibodeau.He didn't lie.Tom Thibodeau, the worst thing that could have happened to his career is the New York Knicks winning the championship.

And here's why, because we know what a great coach Tom Thibodeau is.Defensive mastery, player development.The man is special.Big Perk would know that better than most because you play for this man and he's a defensive wizard and a genius.And Mike D 'Antoni had listened to Steve Kerr, who was an executive in Phoenix at the time Mike D 'Antoni was there.And he had brought Tibbs on as his defensive coordinator.

The fact of the defensive coordinator, Phoenix might have won a championship one year with Nash, Amari Stoudemire, Joe Johnson and the crew.So we all know the greatness of Tom Thibodeau as a coach.What has been his Achilles heel in Chicago, in Minnesota, and then ultimately in New York?His stubbornness.Kenny DeJette Smith had the line of the 2024 -2025 season when he said Tom Thibodeau wouldn't want to play nine dudes in a baseball game.It's exactly what he said, and he's absolutely right.

Tibbs wants to ride you and ride you and ride you till the wheels come off.Top six, top seven, no more than that.Guys go down, they're hobbled, they're strained.What does he do last year in the playoffs?He bringing dudes off the bench.that Leon Rose and World Wide West had brought to the team and were begging him to play all year long.

He didn't want to listen.You hear Mike Brown.They're winning.What is he doing?He's giving credit to the assistant coaches because he's listening to them taking guidance from them.His staff, whereas Tibbs wanted to do everything himself.

It got so bad.I don't know Big Perk.could confirm this or not but I heard these brothers actually tried to get Tibbs to go out on a date because the man is so is so fixated on on basketball all day every day they want to get him out the damn office I mean it was just that bad and so when you're that rigid and you have a history of doing it where Gar Foreman and John Paxson are standing at mid -court to ensure that you don't run Derrick Rose into the ground after an injury.When you're in Minnesota and you're the executive and the head coach, and you're that rigid, and you don't want to show any kind of versatility or just willing to lay off a little bit.In New York, he was doing television here, guys, before he got the next job.He swore that he had learned the error of his ways.

First couple of years, it appeared so.Took him to the playoffs in four to five years, but those last three years when the New York Knicks was making a run, he returned to his old rigid tendencies.Alienating folks along the way who knew he was a brilliant basketball mind and a good man, but in the same breath were like, damn, he don't know how to let up.And then last but not least, remember, Stan Van Gundy is somebody whose expertise on basketball, we deeply, deeply, deeply appreciate.We always have, we always will.But Stan Van Gundy, even though he would coach elsewhere after Miami, remember it was part

after he had taken them to the Eastern Conference Finals the year earlier, removing him in the middle of the season and taking over so the Miami Heat could make their championship run with D Wade's Ascension early in his career because of the rigidity.And so when you see examples like this around the NBA, you'd like to believe people would learn the lessons from that and make sure they don't emulate those tendencies.Tom Thibodeau did not do that.He was out because of it.Mike Brown comes in, and with his players that Tom Thibodeau helped groom, Mike Brown took him to a championship.

Let me ask you this before Perk goes real quick.I just want to ask you a question.Do you think that this, and I hear you talking about running players on the ground.Do you think this is the same situation similar to Steve Kerr and Mark Jackson?

No, because I think that with Mark Jackson, Mark Jackson had relationships with the players better relationships with the players.They had love for him.Clay Thompson, Draymond Green, they really, really appreciate it.Mark Jackson didn't really go out of his way to ingratiate himself with ownership.And so, you know, you can't be one of those dudes.I mean, Joe Lacob is Joe Lacob.

You know, he on the team.He will actually, he will get you up out of here in a heartbeat.You alienate him and you don't vibe with him the way that he believes you should be vibing with him.That was more of that.More so, of course, the great Bob Myers, one of the best executives in the sport, who's now running the Sixers, Bob Myers was there as well.So you had that dynamic going on.

But this was more about the players being worn down in New York with Tom Thibodeau, whereas it was management that was looking at Mark Jackson and Golden State.

Perk, but do you think Dolan kind of calling this out, I guess, so to speak,is fair or foul?

It's fair.And I never thought that I would be agreeing with James Dolan so much, but he gets it.And it's two rules, right?When you talk about just the Mark Jackson and Steve Kerr situation, even going to Monte Williams with the Detroit Pistons, it's two things that you should never as a coach, or you can't do, is bringing religion and politics into the locker room.I think that's what happened with Mark Jackson and Golden State and also with Monty Williams when he signed the master contract.And when I come on here and I'm always talking about a coach having the ears of the locker room, It's not all about X's and O's.

It's not all about strategy or substitution patterns.It's about can you relate?Ms. Johnson is 39 years old.He relate and know how to approach his team and have a certain type of personality to get the ears in the attention of their locker room.So we watch a young group buy into being stars in their role.Mike, uh, Mark Dagnon for the Oklahoma city thunder is 41 years of age now, Mike Brown.

And he, we saw what happened with him in Oklahoma city.Mike Brown is a bit older.I think he's about 55, 56.But if you watched him on Jimmy Fallon last night, you saw a personality when he came and did that.Who let the dogs out?And you saw the reaction of Jalen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns.

That showed me that he has the personality.Rick Carlisle in Indiana.I heard nothing but bad things from former players.played for Rick Carlisle in Dallas, even guys that won championship with him, the championship with him.But when he got to Indiana, he had to adjust within a different Rick Carlisle at an early age because he had to adjust to this generation of players.He started to see his personality come out.

It's just a different type, it's a different era.This is why I was so mad I'm just kinda pissed off.at Joe Dumas and Troy Weaver.And I got nothing but love for the both of them.Those two are my guys.But it's a reason that I thought that Rayjean Rondo should have been the hire for the New Orleans Pelicans because you have to go with the youth and the personality to get the attention of the young players in that locker room.

And James Dolan message to those guys and hiring Mike Brown was the correct message.And it was fair.

First time we gonna agree today, Perk.There you go, there you go.Congratulations, we're on the same page right now.There you go.Listen, in no particular order, right, my heart really goes out to Deevin Chinzo, Julius Randall, Tom Thibodeau, and Matt Lloyd.He made the trade for Carl Anthony Towns.

And you gotta think about this now, like, Dang, we had a great Sunday here when you're talking about Minnesota.But yeah, and Stephen, you brought up a point, right?You said that James Dolan doesn't really usually get the stuff he says behind the scenes out, because they don't usually win.To me, this stuff is not done by—you know what I'm saying?Of course he's going to let it out now.Yeah, this is what I've been doing, you know?

Yeah, gotcha.You know, this is what I've been doing.Of course, I put in this motivation.This is me.To me, this is where a little bit of narcissism comes in.Yeah, I gave him the motivation speech.

I got Tom Thibodeau out of here.Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. I hired Mike Brown.So at the end of the day, absolutely, I think there's a lot more stuff that James Dolan says he does is going to come out.Makes total sense.

The only reason I use the word foul is because it gets out about Tom Thibodeau.No, I agree.And now that's the kind of thing that's going to be held against him to prevent him from getting another job.And that's all I'm saying.

Yeah, I hear you on that.Love, Tibbs.Where I pull a car brake Jimmy