New York – The dismissal of Tom Thibodeau brought some of the confusion and chaos of the New York Knicks had apparently left behind.
After an era of stability and more success than they had enjoyed in a quarter of a century, the Knicks opened a training search that few could have predicted when They shot Tibodeau on Tuesday.
“When I first saw him, I thought it was one of those false things of AI. In any way. There is no possible way,” said Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle.
Coaching searches were not unusual in New York during much of the 2000s, but Knicks were not winning then. This time, they only had He arrived at the final conference for the first time in 25 years Before losing to Carlisle’s team, and was one of the main favorites to do it again next year. Therefore, changing the course brought a quick and strong reaction of a fan base that seemed satisfied.
Who decided that Thibodeau had to go? And why?
“That seemed an unfortunate call that the boss made, certainly for him,” said tennis member John Mcenroe, a Knicks fan, while calling the quarterfinals of the France Open for TNT.
But what boss?
Direct responses may not arrive. The leadership of Knicks, of the owner James Dolan the president of the team, Leon Rose, does not interview the journalists who cover the team. Then, the only track may have arrived in the team’s statement announcing the dismissal, in which Rose said that the organization was “uniquely focused on winning a championship for our fans.”
That means that the opinion was that Thibodeau was good enough to bring the Knicks closer, but not all the way.
Rose was a friend of Thibodeau much earlier Hiring it in 2020 and giving him a three -year contract extension last summer. The immediate speculation was that Dollan, which has sometimes been seen as intrusive and unpopular with the fans of his team, must have ordered the expulsion. But a person with knowledge of the decision, speaking with Associated Press about the condition of anonymity because the details were going to continue private, Rose said the call with the approval of Dolan.
Rose conducted an exhaustive search five years ago, although Tibodeau had been seen as a favorite due to her relationship with Rose and the organization as Jeff Van Gundy assistant in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Van Gundy has returned to train as an assistant with the clippers, if the Knicks wanted to evaluate the interest in a meeting. Michael Malone, who led Denver to the NBA title of 2023, is another former Knicks assistant who is available, like Johnnie Bryant, who was hit on Wednesday By Jordan Ott for the position of chief coach of Phoenix.
Rick Pitino, Dan Hurley and John Calipari are big names with links with the New York area if Rose wanted to go to the university route, and the retired Jay Wright trained the current Knicks players, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges in national championship teams in Villanova. Brunson’s father, Rick, was assistant to Thibodeau staff, if Rose wanted to promote the team’s captain.
The Knicks had 12 different coaches between the moment Van Gundy resigned at the beginning of the 2001-02 season and the hiring of Thibodeau, and won only one series of playoffs. Thibodeau won four in the last three seasons.
Mcenroe thought that Thibodeau earned another year, a reaction common to his shot. The Knicks decided otherwise, send Rose to a search with much higher consequences than the last time.
At that time, immediately after seven consecutive losing seasons, I just needed a coach who could win some games. Now one needs to deliver a championship.
“I mean, I’m not really in that situation, but what I can say is that Thibs did a lot for New York,” said Thunder Center Isaiah Hartenstein, who played in New York last season. “He did a lot just to build that culture there. So I think he respects him a lot.”
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The sports writer AP Cliff Brunt at Oklahoma City contributed to this report.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
