Tom Thibodeau was officially hired as the Knicks’ head coach on Thursday and calls it his “dream job,” according to Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press. Thibodeau was an assistant coach with New York under Jeff Van Gundy from 1996-2003.
“I think I experienced it during the ’90s that there’s no better place to be than Madison Square Garden,” he said. “And so I love challenges, I love that city, I love the arena, I love the fans and I’m excited about the team.”
We have more on the Knicks:
- Thibodeau gained a reputation of riding his star players but he’s more open now to keeping them fresh, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. It’s easier to do that with so many teams employing load management strategies for their top players. “Those numbers (minutes) have gone down now. So you won’t be at that disadvantage where they have the best player out there and you don’t,” Thibodeau said. “Talking with sports scientists and athletic trainers, you’re always are monitoring that.”
- Ed Pinckney, an assistant coach under Thibodeau with the Bulls and Timberwolves, is getting strong consideration to join the Knicks’ staff, Marc Berman of the New York Post reports. He would be the team’s “big man” coach if hired. Pat Zipfel could be hired as an advance scout or bench coach, Berman adds. Zipfel also worked for Thibodeau in his previous head coaching stints.
- University of Kentucky assistant Kenny Payne is under consideration as a potential addition to the coaching staff, Ian Begley of SNY reports. There are also discussions within the organization to hire a significant number of player-development coaches, according to Begley.
If coaching the Knicks is your dream job, you must not have very high aspirations.
You kidding?
You get the Knicks a winning record you’re a HOF coach
You get them to the playoffs you’re a HOF coach, get your own statue outside the arena, and get a street named after you.
You by some miracle get them to the finals they’ll rename the team after you.
You actually win a championships which means hell froze over you’ll get the keys to the city and a school holiday named after you to celebrate the day the Knicks won it all.
so no woodson or Miller or both?
Next article soon to follow will try to explain.
Still think they’re both likely to end up on Thibs’ staff. It sounds like he’ll have no shortage of assistants.
@ Wyoming. LoL so very true all the reason KD should of stayed and won in OKC. One championship in OKC means more than any in GS. Some goes for LBJ if he came to NY years ago
It’s a good sign that Thibodeau at least recognizes his tendency to overplay core players. Hopefully this will lead to him opening the bench a bit and allowing some unproven players to gain an opportunity to flash their potential. His use of the G-league as a sort of farm system seems pretty sensible as well. If the Knicks can retain Miller and hire Woodson as capable assistants, they could be in for some promising seasons in the near future
Amazingly you have plenty of company in the NY media for giving advice to Thibs for the sake of “flashes”. Does NY deserve Thibs?
As a Cavs fan I hope NYK drafts flashes and mentors and Thibs gets replaced by Woodson or Fizdale and they go soft again.
Knicks will be 8th seed next yr. Remember who told you that. Thibs is a solid choice. He knows this is a rebuild. This is player development city. Don’t mean you don’t try to win. To build a real contender will take 4-5 yrs. Right now it’s all about the draft. Get that right and we FA next yr. And picks and trades we can do. There’s no rush. All of you who talk smack about Knicks. Obviously don’t know. We have never rebuilt a team here. Never thru the draft. Which is the real way to do it. Know this after draft Knicks will be youngest team in NBA.
You spend a lot of time hyping up a team that will continue to finish well below .500