A valued member of the NBA coaching circle believes that the resignation of Tom Thibodeau was absurd.
“Should he have been fired? Hell no,” said Ty Lue, the current clippers coach, on the “Club Shay”Podcast.” I mean, it’s the first time they have been to the conference final in 25 years. Twenty -five years old! And so the city was on fire, the fans were on fire. The players did a great job. And Thibs did a great job. And to bring a team to their first [conference finals] In 25 years and then fired, like, it’s just not logical. “
Still at three years and more than $ 35 million left to his KNicks contract, Thibodeau was surprisingly surprisingly eliminated by the Pacers in Game 6 of the East Finals.
The reasons were never explained on the record of the Knicks, except for a statement from the press release by Team President Leon Rose who started: “Our organization is particularly aimed at winning a championship.”
In the meantime, Lue rejected the idea that Thibodeau should have been punished for losing the pacers in the final of the Eastern Conference, an opponent that looked in the inferior but flew into the play -offs.
Eventually Indiana fell one victory of the championship after Tyrese Haliburton blew his Achilles out in game 7 of the final against the Thunder.
The Pacers also defeated Doc Rivers’ Bucks and Kenny Atkinson’s Cavaliers in the Play -Offs.
“So everyone who beats Indiana do you want to fire their coach?” Lue, who was accompanied by Thibodeau when they both worked on Celtics staff ten years ago, said. “It’s not logical.”
Lue, considered under the elite coaches of the NBA, indicated that the circumstances of Knicks bring unfair pressure for the replacement of Thibodeau, Mike Brown, who needs a fast NBA final -appeared to surpass its predecessor.
Lue compared it with his first head coach with the Cavaliers in 2016, when he took over a team that went to the NBA Finals the season in advance. It worked for Lue and the Cavs, who immediately won the championship.
But the bar was certainly high – and the Knicks, unlike the Cavaliers, did not have the advantage of roasting a Prime LeBron James at the time.
“That is a difficult place to be in,” said Lue.
Further defensive Thibodeau, Lue let the common criticisms about the distributions of minutes and overtime players. As a coach of the clippers, Lue treated two aging and Brosse stars – Kawhi Leonard and Paul George – while gathering winning records in each of his five seasons.
Before the last campaign, Lue hired the good buddy and old colleague from Thibodeau, Jeff van Gundy, as an assistant.
“Whatever it is needed. Do what is needed to win,” said Lue about the complaints about the minute distribution of Thibodeau. “You don’t want guys to practice, now you don’t want guys to play? They are already getting games out, but you don’t want them to play minutes?”
Whatever the reason is to fire Thibs, Lue thought the decision was crazy.
“Like I said, I thought Thibs was doing great,” said Lue. “But you never know the inside of what’s going on with the organization. But everywhere he has been, he wins. Everywhere. Chicago, Minnesota, Knicks, every team he has been, has gotten better, you know? And to do that, I thought it was crazy.”
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