Hire Tom Thibodeau

Once again, we are swallowing a very expensive and very public humiliation as a franchise. We all know this.

James Dolan, Phil Jackson, ...just friggin hire Tom Thibodeau. For 2 decades, basically every franchise that had him as an assistant or head coach was a top 10 defensive team in the NBA. He has a career 255 - 139 record as a head coach. He did this despite literally every possible worst case injury scenario happening to his teams on a regular basis. He was repeatedly regarded as a top 5 head coach in the league year after year by NBA GMs.

And the best part? He loves this franchise. He loves the Knicks. He is available and by all accounts, he would love to be our head coach.

It's time to stop being cute. We are easily one of the 5 biggest train wreck franchises in all of American sports on a periennal basis. It can all start getting better in the immediate future.

JUST HIRE TOM THIBODEAU. FIX THE KNICKS IN 2016.

Thank you for your time.
 

mafra

Legend
Hire Thibs... Beg Melo to agree to a trade to CLE. Get that high pick (via BKLN) from BOS... Draft Simmons or Ingram or a guard...
Be another lottery team next year... Draft another top talent... Then, with 3 lottery picks in place... Surround them with vet and talent and round out roster with cap space.

Thibs plus our youth and 2 lottery picks is how we get out of this mess.
 
Let's stay on topic here.

While he was an assistant coach with Houston, Tom Thibodeau went to China to work with Yao Ming, who is the subject of another recent thread on this forum which refers to Porzingis developing into a similar dominant offensive player.

Joakim Noah has been quoted as saying that Thibodeau was a major factor in his development as one of the best big men in the NBA.

Tom Thibodeau was regarded as one of the best player development coaches in recent history of the league. He is the perfect workaholic coach with whom to pair our workaholic future of the franchise, Kristaps Porzingis.

JUST HIRE TOM THIBODEAU. FIX THE KNICKS IN 2016.
 

tiger0330

Legend
I'm really curious to see how this hiring process unfolds, clearly the Knicks need to become a better defensive team and you couldn't brlng in a better defensive coach than Thibs, the guy at least deserves an interview for the job. If Phil sticks to his MO of just going with his own hacks and cronies and rules out qualified coaches like Thibs, JVG in favor of his triangle disciples this franchise is doomed as long as he's here.
 
The choice to not hire Thibodeau is going to hurt this franchise the way not hiring Parcells in the 80s would have hurt the Giants. Thibodeau is the right choice.

If we don't hire Thibodeau, I almost hope he ends up in Brooklyn so that Dolan can see up close and personal how bad we blew it.

JUST HIRE TOM THIBODEAU. FIX THE KNICKS IN 2016.
 

jimkcchief88

All Star
I doubt it's going to happen. One of the big reasons why Thibbs was run outta of Chicago was his clashes with Bulls management. Even though Thibbs Bulls teams were great on defense, the offense was deficient. Bulls management wanted to bring on an "offensive" coordinator so to speak and Thibbs wouldn't have it. I don't think Thibbs can and would coach Phil's triangle and I don't think Phil is ready to admit defeat and scrap his offense. So while I would love to see Thibbs on the KNIcKs sidelines preaching "ball pressure" and hearing the good ole "defense" chant in the Garden again, don't get your hopes up.
 
I doubt it's going to happen. One of the big reasons why Thibbs was run outta of Chicago was his clashes with Bulls management. Even though Thibbs Bulls teams were great on defense, the offense was deficient. Bulls management wanted to bring on an "offensive" coordinator so to speak and Thibbs wouldn't have it. I don't think Thibbs can and would coach Phil's triangle and I don't think Phil is ready to admit defeat and scrap his offense. So while I would love to see Thibbs on the KNIcKs sidelines preaching "ball pressure" and hearing the good ole "defense" chant in the Garden again, don't get your hopes up.

I'm not the only one who thinks the idea that Thibodeau is a defensive coach only is a myth. JVG is on the record saying that part of why he hired Thibodeau to be his assistant years ago is because Thibodeau is also an expert at offensive sets. I don't think Chicago had great offensive personnel while Thibodeau was coaching outside of Rose and Chicago was constantly missing starters, primarily Rose, throughout Thibodeau's tenure.

That said, Chicago bowed to the pressure and got rid of Thibodeau, which was a mistake. Chicago has that right because they are not a periennal dumpster fire like us. We need Thibodeau because he is a realistic and immediate change that this franchise can make to get us back to being a real NBA franchise again. I firmly believe this.

If PJ's pride prevents him from hiring a willing Thibodeau and instead we are stuck for another season with Rambis or we end up with Brian Shaw, it will be time for Dolan and PJ to part ways.

JUST HIRE TOM THIBODEAU. FIX THE KNICKS IN 2016.
 

Kiyaman

Legend
I like Thib as our top assistant head-coach @ $2M per
I want Mark Jackson strategic-strategy drilled into the young players as our Head-Coach.

Thibs get a B+ grade as head-coach of the Bulls .. to bad Melo-ego n control is worst than Rose
We need Thibs input n Mark rocking the boat
We need both if we want consistent playoff
 

Paul1355

All Star
Agree...Thibs is a must sign i dont care what happens this season..we need a team that bleeds defense. I could care less about offense i just want to know these guys are not going to willingly give up 70 points in the paint every night and never cover their man. Id rather we trade Melo for some value but if he stays than we need a legit PG to pair with Melo.
 

knicksin60

Starter
As good as Tom Thibodeau is, his defensive mastery isn't going to be enough for the Knicks to stop these high offensive West Coast teams like GS, the Spurs, the Clips and OKC. Do you really see him doing any better than what Mike Woodson did for the Knicks in the season that they won 54 games? I wouldn't mind having him as a defensive coach with a guy like Scott Brooks as the main coach.
 
As good as Tom Thibodeau is, his defensive mastery isn't going to be enough for the Knicks to stop these high offensive West Coast teams like GS, the Spurs, the Clips and OKC. Do you really see him doing any better than what Mike Woodson did for the Knicks in the season that they won 54 games? I wouldn't mind having him as a defensive coach with a guy like Scott Brooks as the main coach.

I get what you're saying, but we're talking about what coach could get us back to respectability. I am campaigning for Thibodeau being hired between now and the start of next season because I believe with him in place we can be a 0.500 team that makes the playoffs as a bottom half seed next season.

I do not believe there is any coach who can make this team a 50 plus win team next season. Also, I get what people are saying with wanting Thibodeau as an assistant coach, but I don't think that is a realistic option. If we don't grab him as a head coach, I am almost certain it is only a matter of time before another team installs him as their head coach.
 

donchris

Next season, keep waiting
I've been a big supporter of Tibs since before we hired D'Antoni. I think he is the obvious choice and will show everyone that Phil Jackson has truly embraced his role as president and that he knows he can't be a coach from the front office. Tibs wont solve all of our problems. This team has two legitimate starters in Melo and Porzingis. As far as I'm concerned everyone else belongs on the bench, which really means we need three more certified starters. I'd go after Rondo (avg 11 assist per game) and maybe Mike Coloney or even Derek Rose. It would be interesting to see Rose play off the ball. Since everyone is going small his height shouldn't be much of an issue. Lots of options this summer but it starts with the coach.
 

tiger0330

Legend
I was reading on the internet that JVG and Thibs had dinner in Chicago last night, probably because JVG will be doing a rare Saturday night ABC game of the Bulls. What are the chances that a friend and disciple of JVG is ever hired by Phil?
 

tiger0330

Legend
I doubt it's going to happen. One of the big reasons why Thibbs was run outta of Chicago was his clashes with Bulls management. Even though Thibbs Bulls teams were great on defense, the offense was deficient. Bulls management wanted to bring on an "offensive" coordinator so to speak and Thibbs wouldn't have it. I don't think Thibbs can and would coach Phil's triangle and I don't think Phil is ready to admit defeat and scrap his offense. So while I would love to see Thibbs on the KNIcKs sidelines preaching "ball pressure" and hearing the good ole "defense" chant in the Garden again, don't get your hopes up.
Berman of the NY Post thinks hiring Thibs has a snow ball's chance in hell of happening. John Paxon who played for PJ is still an exec with the Bulls and PJ is still probably in contact with him, Paxson probably shot him down as hard to work with, doesn't communicate with mgt. major requirements and hot buttons for Phil.

Can he really give the job to Kurt with the record he's compiled? Brian Shaw, not enough meat on the bone to hire him either in my view. Luke Walton is his best hope, let's hope PJ can convince him to leave GS for the Knicks.
 
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