Why firing Tom Thibodeau was a MISTAKE for New York Knicks | THE HERD NBA

Why firing Tom Thibodeau was a MISTAKE for New York Knicks | THE HERD NBA

Back here on the Herd, uh we have a great guest in a moment, but holy cow, huge NBA news. A couple days after the Knicks had their best season this century, they just fired their head coach Tom Thibido. He has been relieved of his duties. According to a report, uh team president Leon Rose is sitting on this grenade clearly for owner James Dolan who got intoxicated. This is my guess. Obviously, intoxicated by their best season in decades. Celebrity row filled up. Great TV ratings. Knicks are a huge story around the league. They’re back, baby. Let’s fire the coach. I mean, that’s just the height of insanity. Listen, I I know. I was This was like a month ago when things were sputtering before the Celtics. I was like, “Hey, listen. Maybe we got to go get Michael Malone. Tibs isn’t working.” And then Tibs found his groove. how Tom got his groove back, you know, takes down Detroit, takes down the defending champion Celtics and then I know they lost to the Pacers and they were favored, but still really firing Tibido. So, I’m going to be honest, guys. This puts a lot of stuff in jeopardy because Tibido was just defended by Jaylen Brunson in the exit interview. He’s like, is that a real question firing Tibido? So, that’s Brunson’s guy. What does it future hold for Carl Anthony Towns? Uh, male Bridges. We just talked with Alex. Is he going to get an extension? Oh my gosh. He Let Let’s play the Brunson sound real quick. When asked about Tibido’s future with the Knicks, I feel like nobody takes more criticism than Tom and this team obviously has turned around during his tenure. Do you kind of feel that going forward he’s the same guy to lift you guys the rest of the way and next level? Is that is that a real question right now? I mean, by at the end of the summer, you just asked me if I believe that if he’s the right guy. Yes. Thanks, guys. Come on. I mean, we have multiple guests on the show since then. One like 30 minutes ago, Christian uh from the New York Daily News. It’s like, wait, you know what? They just had an amazing season. They keep accelerating around here, conference finals, and you fire the coach. I I don’t know, guys. I I mean, again, this just happened literally three minutes ago, so I’m a little shook and embarrassed that yesterday I said, “Hey, let’s do nothing.” Kind of a whiff there by J-Mack, but holy hell, the New York Knicks fire their coaching. Um, you know, I guess Michael Malone’s going to be on deck. Maybe they go out of pocket. You know, I’m just going to put this out there. LeBron got did a podcast with JJ Reic and next thing you know, JJ Reic is the head coach of the Lakers. So, you know who LeBron’s doing a uh podcast with now, right? Steve Nash. And I know Nash sometimes lives in my area, but his family really likes it in New York because he was the Brooklyn Nets coach. And Steve Nash was run out by Kyrie Irving, who was an absolute jerk to him. Steve Nash, next coach of the Knicks. I don’t know. We’ll see. Um Oh my gosh. That would take you out of the running for Kevin Durant. I don’t I mean, this is exciting. Hey, Coward’s on vacation. Uh, we’ll do a lot of Knicks for the rest of the week. Tom Tibido out as the Knicks coach, but listen, you know, OKC Indiana. I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but I’m not that excited for these NBA finals. You know, I joke that Colin is the elitist here on the show, but maybe it’s me, cuz, you know, if I were the NBA, I would have changed its motto to give me super teams or give me death because that’s what I like. I like superstars in the NBA Finals. And we don’t really have that. We don’t have dynasties. We got debuts. And that just isn’t as sexy as what we’ve had here in the last, I don’t know, quarter century. Folks, let’s be real. When the NBA had super teams this century, it was at the height of its popularity. I mean, come on. You put LeBron, Kevin Love, and Kyrie in the finals. That’s a lot of pop. That’s juice. And Kyrie Irving, he had a movie. Okay, Kevin Love was ascending in Minnesota. LeBron changed teams and became the villain in Miami. But you look at those super teams in Cleveland, Miami, hell, the greatest team ever assembled in NBA history. Yes, that’s true. Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. Do you know how much excitement that was leading up to the finals when you had all those stars gathered together? Hell, you could even go back to the Boston Celtics with our guy here, Paul Pierce, when he got Kevin Garnett gifted to him and Ray Allen going up against Kobe and Gasol in the finals. Folks, that was star wattage. Those finals were incredible. And I don’t know about you, but I I know the NBA loves, hey, we’re about to have our seventh champion in seven years. Hooray! Hooray for socialism in the NBA. Folks, I I’m sorry, but think back to that Denver Miami Heat series. You remember anything from that one? I had to ask the staff this morning. Hey, uh how many games did that go? I I don’t remember it. Five game series. It was not great. Even Phoenix Milwaukee. You know, you had ascending Giannis, ascending Devin Booker. That series didn’t have any pop. I I think Giannis dropping 50 in the decisive game was about it. But like those weren’t great memorable series. Again, the Super Teams, they provided that. And I like Tyrese Hallebertton as much as the next guy. You guys know I’ve been a big Indiana Pacers fan in the finals. I ju I don’t I just don’t really see it. And you know, I kind of am going to bash Adam Silver here a little bit because you’re the reason we’ve got this. You wanted it. I know you’re doing the bidding of the owners, but going away from super teams and pushing toward, hey, everybody’s got a chance. I don’t know that that’s the answer. And you guys can push back and say no. The NBA didn’t want Indiana OKC. Uh yes, they did because the small markets were upset that all the stars were going and joining forces. They don’t want that. So what you’ve got is Adam Silver saying, “Hey, we’re going to reward teams that draft a superstar number one or two or whatever it is.” And hey, you know what? If you stay with the team that drafted you, you can get the supermax. Who the hell’s turning down $300 million? You know, and now if you’re drafted by a small market team, you’re incentivized to stay there because guess what? Everybody saw LeBron bolt from Cleveland and KD bolt from OKC. And they said, “That’s not fair. We need to keep our stars at home.” Well, Adam Silver, I’m sorry, but you know, fairness isn’t really sexy or exciting. Exciting is player movement. That’s what gives the league the pop. and and super teams being created is awesome. And so besides just the supermax and incentivizing everybody to stay, all of a sudden it’s like, hey, there we’re gonna institute this thing called an apron and a second apron and oh by the way, if you want to get all these stars together, you’re going to have to dip into the double apron and pay, I don’t know, $70 million. You have to write a check for that as a penalty. And wouldn’t you know it, but all of a sudden we’re hearing chatter, hey, this summer, Giannis could be on the move cuz the super team they tried to build in Milwaukee didn’t quite work out. And the super team Kevin Durant and Phoenix had didn’t quite pan out. So now all of a sudden, Giannis and KD are going to hit the market. And to me, that’s exciting. Player movement exciting. Stars joining forces. Yes. Give me more of that. I I like this Pacer story. It’s fun. OKC was built. I mean, hey, Sam Prey, tremendous job putting this team together. And all I hear is they’re not going anywhere. But is anybody fired up about watching OKC Indiana? Like, there’s a world where, and we’ll talk about it tomorrow, probably. I think Indiana can maybe be competitive, but there’s also a world where OKC smokes them in four and we’re we’re snoozing our way through the NBA finals. So, I don’t know, guys. It seems like we’re it’s time to pour some out for the Super Team era. My problem is I’m not going to smile because I it happened. I’m going to cry because it’s over. I already miss it.

Jason McIntyre reacts to the New York Knicks firing Tom Thibodeau after one of their best seasons in franchise history as Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart, and co. made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they lost to the Indiana Pacers. He also discusses Oklahoma City Thunder and NBA superteams.

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