Phx-Suns.Net

Bryant coached in NYK from 2020-2024

Wonder if New York actually wants Mike Malone

We are gonna pick Ott then trade KD for late lottery pick just to draft Jase Richardson lol Ish is so shameless

Firing Thibs seems short sighted by the Knicks. Very Phoenix Suns like.

I could see the Knicks getting Vogel.

Superbone wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 03, 2025 12:07 pm

Firing Thibs seems short sighted by the Knicks. Very Phoenix Suns like.

Unbelievable they fire a coach that just took them to their first ECF in 25 years. I didn't realize they were championship or bust.

That's crazy by the Knicks. But it does make me think they would be open to a KD trade. Too bad they don't have much in the way of draft picks.

Malone makes the most sense. He's a NYer, he and father were both assistants with the Knicks, has that tough, defensive rep like Thibs and has a championship on his resume. Fans want Bryant because he's the cool, young assistant but Malone makes too much sense for a team looking for a title.

It's kind of BS to fire Thibs after an ECF run. I don't think Thibs was why the Knicks lost the Pacers series; Indy just has the better team. The Knicks have some major roster flaws, especially with their bigs, such as KAT's awful defense and Robinson's inability to stay on the floor. And they gave up a gargantuan pile of picks and assets to get Mikal Bridges, who has been good-but-not-great for them so far. Thibs isn't to blame for any of that. I thought Thibs got about as much out of their group of guys as anybody could possibly get. IMO they regress next season unless they make some roster improvements.

They need KAT to lose 30lbs, he's got a wnba body now, too busy shooting 3s.

This chart is really striking. NBA teams just can't help themselves; the only thing they feel they can do when they have a "bad" season is fire their coach. Look at this chart! Only a handful of teams have even had the same coach since 2020. IMO this indicates widespread mismanagement.

Mori Chu wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 03, 2025 12:28 pm

This chart is really striking. NBA teams just can't help themselves; the only thing they feel they can do when they have a "bad" season is fire their coach. Look at this chart! Only a handful of teams have even had the same coach since 2020. IMO this indicates widespread mismanagement.

Apparently, some teams think firing the coach is the only thing to do after a "good" season, too.

NBA Coach of the Year:

2023 Mike Brown
2022 Monty Williams
2021 Tom Thibodeau
2020 Nick Nurse
2019 Mike Budenholzer
2018 Dwane Casey

They’ve all been fired. Two of them after winning championships. And two of them have been fired twice already (Monty and Bud).

ShelC wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 03, 2025 12:19 pm

Malone makes the most sense. He's a NYer, he and father were both assistants with the Knicks, has that tough, defensive rep like Thibs and has a championship on his resume. Fans want Bryant because he's the cool, young assistant but Malone makes too much sense for a team looking for a title.

The Knicks have always been swayed by "name" coaches - Pat Riley, John McLeod, Hubie Brown, Lenny Wilkens, Mike D'Antoni, Isiah Thomas - so I would assume the allure of Malone might be pretty strong for them.

SunsRIt wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 03, 2025 12:17 pm

Superbone wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 03, 2025 12:07 pm

Firing Thibs seems short sighted by the Knicks. Very Phoenix Suns like.

Unbelievable they fire a coach that just took them to their first ECF in 25 years. I didn't realize they were championship or bust.

There was a lot of grumbling about the number of minutes the starters played. All 5 played 35+ minutes a game and Bridges and Hart were the top 2 players in the league in total minutes (Anunoby was 9th).

Plus, Thibodeau has a certain intensity level that really has a shelf life. You can get away with it if you're Pat Riley and bulletproof because you have a track record of championships, but it's the one thing about Malone that might make them think twice.

Mori Chu wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 03, 2025 12:28 pm

This chart is really striking. NBA teams just can't help themselves; the only thing they feel they can do when they have a "bad" season is fire their coach. Look at this chart! Only a handful of teams have even had the same coach since 2020. IMO this indicates widespread mismanagement.

Spoiler: show/hide

This is something I've always disagreed with: Changing coaches often. If you want to create a Franchise defining culture, the best way to do that is to keep the same coach. There is a reason why the Heat, Spurs, and Warriors are known for their culture. They don't change coaches.

If a team finds a good coach, stick with him.

I think Dolan maybe had more to do with this than the FO. I think Rose might've given Thibs another year but Dolan was involved in end-of-year meetings with some players and that might've pushed him to fire Thibs. The general sense was that Brunson and Hart loved Thibs while OG, KAT and Mikal were less than thrilled with him. More and more is coming out about certain guys' roles on the team not being defined.

I think last year's team was much more compatible with Thibs in terms of skills and mentality. This year's not so much.

I bet certain types of players get along much better with Thibs than others. KAT to me seems like exactly the kind of player who would find Thibs grating and overbearing. And vice versa, I bet Thibs hates a guy like KAT who kind of coasts and doesn't give 100% effort consistently.

Stephen A. Smith rips Knicks president Leon Rose for ‘weak-a** statement’ after firing coach Tom Thibodeau
The Knicks fired Thibodeau on Tuesday after five seasons and an Eastern Conference finals run
https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/st ... 00795.html

Stephen A is such a blowhard. I don't expect the Knicks or any other team to say any more than what they said after firing Thubs.