Knicks Notes: Bridges, Towns, Robinson, Layoff
Knicks head coach Mike Brown decided to keep Mikal Bridges in the starting lineup after he struggled in the first three games of the first-round matchup vs. Atlanta. The veteran wing rewarded Brown’s faith in him by playing well at the end of that series and throughout the second-round sweep of Philadelphia, writes Jared Schwartz of The New York Post.
“It’s always great when your coach has got trust in you,” Bridges said after practice on Saturday. “Yeah, that’s great. And teammates staying with it, keeping me confident, as well. I think we all know the end goal is just trying to win games and do whatever it takes to win. Even in my mistakes, just try to do whatever it takes and know that I just gotta bounce back and learn from them.”
Bridges, who went scoreless with four turnovers in 21 minutes in the Game 3 loss vs. the Hawks, has averaged 15.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 steals on .667/.444/1.000 shooting over the last seven games, all victories. He played a critical role in slowing down Sixers star Tyrese Maxey, Schwartz notes.
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- Brown hasn’t used the double-big lineup of Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson very much during the playoffs, but the results have been spectacular when they’ve been on the court together, notes Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News (subscription required). In their 20 shared minutes, the Knicks are outscoring opponents by an average of 27.9 points per 100 possessions. “I came to a little bit of a revelation with those guys,” Brown said. “We feel it’s a little easier to play with them — not just defensively, but offensively, too.”
- The Knicks have won seven straight games since Brown gave Towns a greater role in running the offense, and Towns’ college coach, John Calipari, has been delighted by the results, per Mike Lupica of The New York Daily News (subscription required).“What everybody is seeing is that playing through him the way they are doesn’t take away from anybody else’s game,” Calipari said. “On the contrary, it adds to everybody else’s game. And is exactly right for this team. The style of game he’s been playing, especially since they got behind the Hawks, I call that (Nikola) Jokic style, and that’s without him getting a ton of shots.”
- The Knicks closed out their second-round series last Sunday and will have a nine-day break by the time the conference finals begin Tuesday night. Brown isn’t sure whether that will be an advantage for his team or not, relays Zach Braziller of The New York Post. “I’ve been in both situations, playing while a team’s waiting and I’ve been waiting while a team’s playing,” Brown said. “You can say a lot theoretically. You can say they’re going to be tired, but you can also say they have a competitive edge because they’ve been going at it for seven games and we’ve been off. You keep trying to do different things during the course of the downtime to keep them sharp, keep them focused and try to keep their competitive edge up as much as you can.”
Latest On Thibodeau Firing, Knicks’ Coaching Search
The obvious question for the Knicks now is ‘Who is Tom Thibodeau‘s replacement?”
In the aftermath of Thibodeau’s shocking firing on Tuesday, speculation is already running rampant about who the Knicks will choose in the hopes of finally getting to the Finals in future seasons.
The Athletic staff compiled a list of names, in alphabetic order, that included Dave Bliss, James Borrego, Johnnie Bryant, Mike Brown, Taylor Jenkins, Darvin Ham, Michael Malone, Micah Nori, Chris Quinn, Sean Sweeney and even former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy.
Brown (Kings), Jenkins (Grizzlies) and Malone (Nuggets) were all dismissed from their head coaching jobs this season. Bryant, a former Knicks assistant to Thibodeau, is reportedly a finalist for the Suns’ head coaching position.
Stefan Bondy of the New York Post tossed in some names from the college ranks, including two-time national champion Dan Hurley, who declined the Lakers offer last summer to stay at UConn. Bondy also mentioned Alabama’s Nate Oats and Arkansas’ John Calipari into the mix.
Former Villanova coach Jay Wright, along with NBA head coaching veterans Mike Budenholzer and Frank Vogel, were among the candidates that ESPN’s Zach Kram offered.
Here’s more on the Thibodeau firing and its implications:
- In the statement released by the team after Thibodeau’s dismissal, the stated goal was “our organization is singularly focused on winning a championship for our fans.” According to ESPN Tim Bontemps’ sources, that is indeed why the move was made. The Knicks decided a new voice was needed to lift this franchise to the next level. Bontemps pointed out that the team’s high-priced starting five was outscored from Jan. 1 through the end of the regular season and also struggled in the postseason until Mitchell Robinson was inserted into the lineup.
- The way the front office handled exit interviews after the season was different, Ian Begley of SNY TV reports (Twitter video link). The team’s top players were called in to meetings that included owner James Dolan, though the team’s president was the one who made the ultimate decision. Leon Rose had previously been a staunch supporter of Thibodeau but his feelings waned through this season. “Leon Rose obviously saw something different over the past year-plus that led him to believe that this is the right move for the franchise with James Dolan backing Leon Rose there,” Begley said.
- A source told NJ Advance Media contributor Adam Zagoria that New York would be a “good landing spot” for Malone, who has ties to the area. Malone was born in Queens, N.Y. and played point guard at Seton Hall Prep. His late father, Brendan Malone, was a Knicks assistant under Hubie Brown. However, Bondy tweets that Malone replacing Thibodeau is “not going to happen.”
- Thibodeau deserved another season, James Edwards of The Athletic opined, considering he was pivotal in bringing the franchise back to prominence. Edwards noted that the core group had just been pieced together this season. Now, there’s pressure to make sure the next head coach is the perfect hire or else the franchise could suffer major setbacks, Edwards concludes.
Kings Rumors: Sabonis, Fox, Ownership, Ranadives, Christie
After trading De’Aaron Fox to San Antonio last month, the Kings no longer have to worry about whether or not the star guard is confident in the direction of the franchise, but Fox wasn’t the only player in Sacramento with those concerns, according to Sam Amick and Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
[RELATED: De’Aaron Fox Talks Kings Exit, Loyalty To Mike Brown, More]
League sources tell The Athletic that Kings center Domantas Sabonis is expected to “seek clarity” this offseason about the team’s plans going forward.
Sabonis still has three years and $140MM left on his current contract after this season and won’t become extension-eligible until the 2026 offseason, so the Kings likely won’t have to make a decision about his future this year, like they did with Fox. However, like Fox, Sabonis and other members of the team’s core have questions about whose voices are loudest when it comes to key personnel decisions and whose counsel matters most to team owner Vivek Ranadive.
As Amick and Slater explain, Ranadive has frequently leaned on advisors outside of the standard front office hierarchy for advice on major team decisions. Former head coach Alvin Gentry is one such advisor, while John Calipari has also served as a sounding board. Veteran executives like chief operating officer Matina Kolokotronis and president of business operations John Rhinehart have had significant influence as well.
“What is the vision here?” a league source close to one core Kings player said. “It feels like it could be headed toward chaos.”
Here’s more on the Kings from Amick and Slater:
- While Ranadive’s son Aneel Ranadive was heavily involved earlier in the earlier days of Vivek’s ownership, his daughter Anjali Ranadive is believed to have had more say in recent years, leading to speculation about whether she may be the “heir apparent” as the team’s governor. Anjali’s input was one reason why the Kings hesitated to sign head coach Mike Brown to a contract extension last offseason, team and league sources tell The Athletic.
- Anjali Ranadive no longer has a formal basketball operations role in the organization after stepping down as the Stockton Kings’ general manager in January 2024, but she’s still believed to have influence throughout the organization, per Amick and Slater. She and former NBA player Jeremy Lamb “became a more visible part of the Kings’ decision-making tree early this season” after their relationship went public, though Lamb no longer seems as involved in organizational decisions as he was a few months ago, according to The Athletic’s duo.
- It’s not yet clear whether Doug Christie, who was 19-11 in his first 30 games as Sacramento’s coach entering Friday, will have his interim tag removed and become the club’s permanent head coach. Team sources tell The Athletic that if the Kings continue to win at this rate, Christie would have a strong chance to land the permanent job. If the Kings go in a different direction, they’d be hiring their 14th head coach since Rick Adelman‘s exit in 2006.
- Amick and Slater also dig in a little to the circumstances surrounding Fox’s departure from Sacramento, suggesting that the longtime Kings guard was worried about spending his prime years with a franchise that would be mired in “mediocrity and instability.”
Knicks Notes: Brunson, Sims, Barrett, Towns
Jalen Brunson‘s scoring average is down from his career high of 28.7 points per game in 2023/24 to 25.2 PPG through his first 24 games this season, but the Knicks star is otherwise playing even better than he did a year ago, when he finished fifth in MVP voting, contends James L. Edwards III of The Athletic.
Brunson’s shooting percentages are up to 49.6% from the floor and a career-best 43.2% on three-pointers. And perhaps most notably, he’s averaging a career-high 7.8 assists per game. That can be attributed in part to playing with another elite scorer and shooter like Karl-Anthony Towns and in part to Brunson’s improving ability to deal with defenses that have employed blitzes, hedges, and double-teams in an effort to slow him down.
“It’s been happening a lot more recently,” Brunson said of that defensive pressure. “I’ve always worked on stuff like that. I just like to trust my reads and my instincts.”
If Brunson continues to play like he has so far, he figures to show up on plenty of MVP ballots again in the spring, but he and head coach Tom Thibodeau are more focused on making sure the Knicks continue to generate efficient shots and win games. New York’s offensive rating is an NBA-best 121.0 and the team continues to move up the standings in the Eastern Conference, sitting at 15-9 after a win over Toronto last night.
“(Brunson)’s 10, 11 (assists) every night now,” Thibodeau said on Monday, per Edwards. “He’s creating a lot of good offense for us. Everyone shares in that responsibility. Read the game and don’t hold on to the ball too long. If you’re open, I want you to shoot. If you’re not open, I don’t want you to overdribble, either. Just read what they’re doing. When you have players who play for each other and play unselfishly, you’re going to get high-percentage shots from that.”
We have more on the Knicks:
- After playing just three minutes on Thursday and six on Saturday, Jericho Sims was a DNP-CD on Monday in Toronto for the first time this season, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. As Bondy notes, Sims has played strong defense for the Knicks this fall, but looked lost on offense in his previous two outings. As long as Precious Achiuwa is available, Sims may not be a regular part of Thibodeau’s rotation.
- Raptors forward RJ Barrett, who faced his former team on Monday nearly a year after being traded from New York to Toronto, told reporters that he wasn’t shocked when he was moved: “You can tell when you’re treated a certain way.” As Bondy observes, Barrett’s shot attempts and scoring average declined during his final year with the Knicks as he became a third option on offense behind Brunson and Julius Randle. “Lots of stuff (gave me that vibe that I was going to be traded). Lots of stuff,” Barrett said. “I think I just got a vibe, kind of figured. I wasn’t really too surprised when it happened.”
- John Calipari, who coached Towns at Kentucky, helped the former Wildcat get over the initial shock of being traded from Minnesota to New York earlier this fall, as Bondy details in a separate New York Post story. “First of all, you’re surprised when you’re an All-Star and you’re traded. And then the second thing is, you’re going to be hurt,” Calipari said. “Why did they do it? Why would they do it? And in the end, that’s why I told him, ‘Please, (the Knicks) are perfect for you. Don’t worry about all the other stuff. Move on. … No looking back. You’re not bitter. You’re on to the next thing.'”
And-Ones: Australia, McLemore, York, Jerebko, Calipari, Klutch
The Australian national team has revealed its preliminary roster for the 2024 Olympics, announcing a list of 22 players that are in the mix to play in Paris. That group will have to be cut down to 12 players ahead of this summer’s tournament.
Australia’s preliminary roster includes several NBAers, including Thunder guard Josh Giddey, Mavericks guard Dante Exum, Trail Blazers forward Matisse Thybulle and big man Duop Reath, Mavericks wing Josh Green, Pelicans guard Dyson Daniels, Magic forward Joe Ingles, Heat guard Patty Mills, Rockets center Jock Landale, and Grizzlies forward Jack White.
As Olgun Uluc of ESPN notes, the newest addition to the Boomers’ roster is 19-year-old Johnny Furphy, who played for the Kansas Jayhawks in 2023/24 and is projected by ESPN to be a potential first-round pick in this year’s draft.
The most notable absence is Ben Simmons, as the Nets guard underwent back surgery last month that will sideline him for the Olympics. Simmons doesn’t have much history with the Australian national team, so it’s unclear if he would’ve been part of the Boomers’ roster in Paris even if he’d been healthy.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Former NBA guard Ben McLemore was arrested and jailed this week in Oregon and faces multiple felony sexual assault charges, reports Baxter Holmes of ESPN. The charges, which include first-degree rape, stem from an alleged incident in 2021, when McLemore was a member of the Trail Blazers.
- Former NBA guard Gabe York, who appeared in five games for the Pacers across two seasons from 2021-23, has signed with Basquet Girona, the Spanish team announced this week in a press release. York played for the G League Ignite earlier this season.
- Following a two-year hiatus from basketball, Swedish forward Jonas Jerebko is making a comeback, having signed with Puerto Rican team Santeros de Aguada, according to Eurohoops. Jerebko, who turned 37 last month, appeared in 635 NBA regular season games for four teams from 2009-19. He last played professionally for CSKA Moscow in 2022.
- Shams Charania and Kyle Tucker of The Athletic take an in-depth look at John Calipari‘s decision to leave Kentucky for Arkansas after 15 years with the Wildcats, detailing how Calipari’s deal with the Razorbacks came about.
- One Legacy Sports Management, led by veteran agent Mike George, is becoming part of Klutch Sports, CEO Rich Paul tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Jamal Murray, Dillon Brooks, and Shaedon Sharpe are among George’s clients, per RealGM.
And-Ones: Bosh, Mike James, Sharpe, Tough Contracts
Former Raptors and Heat All-Star big man Chris Bosh had to retire earlier than anticipated at age 33, having not played since he was 31 due to a scary blood clot issue. The 6’11” center/power forward may have interest in eventually pursuing a coaching or NBA front office career, writes Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
“I don’t want to put any closure on it,” the 37-year-old Bosh said about a possible coaching gig. “Some sort of front-office or coaching position, I don’t want to throw dirt on it and say, ‘that’s it (and I won’t pursue it).'”
Bosh will be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend as a player, after 11 All-Star appearances, one All-NBA Second Team honor, four Finals appearances and two titles. He holds career averages of 19.2 PPG, 8.5 RPG, and 2.0 APG.
There’s more from around the basketball world:
- Recent Nets reserve point guard Mike James has left Russian basketball club CSKA Moscow, per Dario Skerletic of Sportando. James now re-enters the NBA free agency pool. The 6’1″ guard previously began the 2020/21 season with CSKA Moscow, averaging 19.3 PPG and 5.7 across 27 games of Euroleague play. The 31-year-old vet eventually latched on with the Nets, averaging 7.7 PPG and 4.1 APG across 13 regular season contests, before seeing his role diminished in the playoffs. James had been under contract with CSKA Moscow through 2023, but had managed to carve out time to join the Nets at the end of the 2020/21 season with the club’s blessing. Now, he is a wholly unrestricted free agent.
- Top high school prospect Shaedon Sharpe, the No. 1-ranked overall prospect in the class of 2022, has committed to suiting up for coach John Calipari in Kentucky, per Jonathan Givony of ESPN. “Coach Cal took the time to understand who I was as a person and how to get the best out of me,” Sharpe said. “I can see that he does a great job of working with athletes of my position and playing style and getting them to be the best versions of themselves. His experience is a large part of why I chose UK, but he believed in the vision and goals that I had for myself as well.” The addition of Sharpe marks Calipari’s first top-five recruit since he added now-Heat star big man Bam Adebayo in 2016. During Calipari’s 12 seasons at Kentucky, he has seen 43 of his players selected in the NBA draft, including 21 in the lottery. Sharpe also reportedly considered joining the G League Ignite, Arizona, Kansas and Oklahoma State before making his decision.
- Several players throughout the NBA remain inked to unwieldy contracts relative to their output or health. Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype assesses the toughest deals to flip in the league ahead of the 2021/22 season. Rockets point guard John Wall, owed $91.7MM over the next two years, tops Gozlan’s list for the second straight season. Gozlan speculates that the 31-year-old former All-Star could be headed for a buyout with Houston soon. 33-year-old Cavaliers forward/center Kevin Love, owed $60.2MM over the next two seasons as Cleveland’s fourth-best big man, and 31-year-old maximum-salaried Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson, who has missed the last two seasons with an ACL tear (in 2019/20) and an Achilles tear (in 2020/21), are two of the more predictable names on the list. A few 2021 free agency signings and extensions make the cut, including the contracts of Bulls small forward DeMar DeRozan and Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen.
Knicks Notes: Thibodeau, Van Gundy, Miller, Woodson
Former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy believes the organization is making the right choice in Tom Thibodeau, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Thibodeau, who is close to finalizing a five-year agreement with the team, was brought to New York as an assistant by Van Gundy in 1996.
“I’m extremely happy for Tom and equally happy for the Knicks as they hired an elite coach who will give everything he has to turn the Knicks around,” the ABC/ESPN broadcaster said.
New York began its search June 4 and talked to 11 candidates. However, many were considered to be courtesy interviews as Thibodeau was reportedly a strong favorite all along. Berman points out that five of the candidates — Ime Udoka, Wes Hardy, Chris Fleming, Pat Delaney and Jamahl Mosley — have no experience as NBA head coaches.
“Tom has always been their guy,” a source told Berman.
There’s more news on the Knicks:
- The Knicks first offered the job to Thibodeau on Thursday morning, Berman tweets. He responded with a counter offer later in the day, but they didn’t make significant progress toward an agreement until Saturday.
- Thibodeau should have plenty of time to prepare for a proposed group workout next month involving the eight teams not in Orlando, Berman writes in a separate story. Knicks president Leon Rose supports the idea of the gathering so the young roster can learn the new coach’s system, but isn’t in favor of scrimmages with other teams.
- Interim coach Mike Miller and former Knicks head coach Mike Woodson both have “strong internal support” to be part of Thibodeau’s staff, sources tell Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Among those conducting the interviews along with Rose were executive vice president and senior advisor William “World Wide Wes” Wesley, general manager Scott Perry, and vice president of basketball and strategic planning Brock Aller.
- The Knicks’ new management team has long supported Thibodeau, and the only real alternative would have been John Calipari if he had been willing to leave Kentucky, a source tells Steve Popper of Newsday.
- Ed Pinckney, Andy Greer and Rick Brunson served as assistants to Thibodeau in both Chicago and Minnesota and should be considered candidates to join his staff in New York, notes Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, who also hears that Miller may be retained to provide some continuity. Vorkunov speculates that the hiring of Thibodeau means the Knicks aren’t interested in a long rebuilding process.
Knicks Notes: Offseason Activities, Calipari, More
As one of the eight teams not invited to Orlando to complete the 2019/20 season, the Knicks are anxious to have some form of offseason activities for their players this summer and/or fall, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post.
With the NBA prioritizing the restart of the season for now, the Knicks are waiting on the league to review a handful of the options on the table for its bottom eight teams. If the league moves forward with a specific plan, it will need to be approved by the NBPA.
According to Berman, the Knicks are hoping to at least get approval to hold a mandatory two-week camp between the October 15 draft and the proposed November 10 start of training camp. That would give the team a head-start on the 2020 preseason after seven-plus months of inaction.
As Berman details, the Knicks are also in favor of the proposed target date of December 1 for opening night of the 2020/21 campaign. There’s an expectation that the players’ union will want to push back that date a little, but New York and the other seven teams whose seasons are over will be eager to get next season started as soon as possible.
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- Within the New York Post article linked above, Berman suggests that John Calipari would challenge Tom Thibodeau‘s frontrunner status if he were to “throw his hat into the ring” for the Knicks’ head coaching job. However, Ian Begley of SNY.tv says interviews are expected to begin this week and notes that Calipari continues to reiterate he has no interest in leaving Kentucky. In other words, it seems pretty safe to cross Calipari off New York’s list of potential candidates.
- The Knicks’ decision-makers were still finishing up their exit interviews with players as of Monday, a source tells Berman (Twitter link). Those conversations took place via video conference calls.
- After some internal back-and-forth last week about the Knicks’ silence following the death of George Floyd, the team put out a statement today saying it stands with “all who act for a positive change.” Team owner James Dolan had initially told MSG employees in a pair of memos that he didn’t believe a public statement was necessary, even as the rest of the NBA’s teams issued statements of their own. ESPN’s Malika Andrews has more details.
Knicks’ Coaching Job Considered Thibodeau’s To Lose?
After a report last week suggested that Tom Thibodeau topped the Knicks‘ wish list in their head coaching search, multiple updates since then have reiterated that Thibodeau looks like the frontrunner for the job.
Sources tell Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News that Thibodeau is the “heavy favorite” to become the Knicks’ next head coach. Bondy cautions that other candidates – including Mike Miller, Kenny Atkinson, and perhaps even John Calipari – are in play, but says there’s a belief that the position is Thibodeau’s to lose. A source tells The Daily News that Thibodeau is confident enough about his chances that he has already made calls about assembling a staff.
Citing Thibodeau’s longstanding relationship with new Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose, Marc Berman of The New York Post also says there’s an “excellent chance” that the team will zero in on Thibodeau when its head coaching search officially gets underway.
Additionally, Berman hears from sources that members of Thibodeau’s past Bulls and Timberwolves staffs will likely be interested in joining him in New York if he’s hired by the Knicks. Berman specifically cites Andy Greer, Larry Greer, and Dice Yoshimoto as coaches Thibodeau might look to bring with him if given the opportunity.
The Knicks’ search hasn’t begun in earnest yet, but as Berman points out, there’s a good chance that the club won’t part of a resumed NBA season — reports last week indicated that the league favors a 20-team or 22-team restart. If the NBA officially moves forward with a plan that excludes the Knicks, there would be little reason for the franchise to delay its head coaching search until after the resumption of the season.
Knicks Notes: Perry, Rose, Smith Jr., Coaching Search
The Knicks are bringing back general manager Scott Perry for another season, but the fate of his staff won’t be determined until this summer, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Perry and the team had a May 1 deadline on their mutual option, so new president of basketball operations Leon Rose had to make a decision this week. However, Perry’s staff all have contracts that run through August, so Rose will take more time to evaluate each of them.
Those staff members include personnel director Harold Ellis, assistant GM Gerald Madkins, scout Fred Cofield and capologist Michael Arcieri, and Berman notes that none of them are guaranteed to remain with the team. He adds that Perry will have input into Rose’s future hires for the scouting department.
Perry has a long relationship with NBA mogul William Wesley, who Berman believes is providing behind-the-scenes advice to Rose. Perry’s new contract runs for one season, and he will likely get the chance to earn a longer deal based on his decisions going forward.
There’s more from New York:
- Keeping Perry around will provide continuity for the Knicks heading into the draft and the offseason, writes Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. Perry has spent the past three years with the organization and worked closely with former team president Steve Mills before he was fired in early February.
- The decision to dismiss Mills right before the trade deadline probably postponed plans to trade Dennis Smith Jr., Ian Begley of SNY.tv states in a mailbag column. A source tells Begley that some people in the organization thought it was a “near certainty” Smith was going to be moved. Begley believes injuries and the death of a family member led to Smith’s regression this year and suggests he might be better off with another team, possibly the Magic, who reportedly expressed interest before the deadline.
- Begley expects Spurs assistant Becky Hammon and former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy to get consideration in the upcoming coaching search. Several agents and coaches told Begley they believe Rose will hire Tom Thibodeau if he doesn’t keep interim coach Mike Miller in place. Begley adds that Kentucky’s John Calipari shouldn’t be dismissed as a candidate, even though he has stated that he’s not interested in the job.