Jalen Brunson has lastly spoken. Sort of.
The famous person guard reacted Sunday on Instagram to the Knicks’ firing of head coach Tom Thibodeau on Tuesday.
Brunson posted a photograph of him with Thibodeau with a coronary heart emoji, and one other emoji of fingers crossing.
Brunson had publicly endorsed Thibodeau, who had three years left on his contract, final week after the Knicks had been eradicated in six video games by the Indiana Pacers within the Japanese Convention Finals.
It was the Knicks first journey to the convention finals in 25 years, however regardless of being the betting favourite forward of Recreation 1, they did not advance.
Requested if Thibodeau is “the right guy” to take the Knicks to the following degree — presumably a championship or not less than the NBA Finals — Brunson appeared bowled over that the query had even been thought-about.
“Is that a real question right now? You just asked me if I believe he’s the right guy,” Brunson stated following the Knicks’ 125-108 Recreation 6 loss to the Pacers on Could 31.
“Yes. Come on,” he added.
Thibodeau, employed forward of the 2020-21 season, was fired regardless of serving because the Knicks’ most profitable head coach this century.
He coached 400 regular-season video games with the Knicks, the fourth most within the group’s historical past, and have become the primary head coach to guide the staff to not less than 4 playoff journeys inside a five-year interval since Jeff Van Gundy.
Thibodeau’s 4 playoff journeys are tied for the fourth most in Knicks historical past. Additionally, his 24-23 playoff document offers him the fourth-highest post-season profitable proportion for the group at 51.1 — the most effective mark of any head coach to not lead New York to the NBA Finals.
Solely Pink Holzman, Pat Riley and Van Gundy have definitively extra adorned Knicks teaching tenures because the franchise’s inception in 1947 with the introduction to the NBA, although some may additionally battle for the success of Joe Lapchick, who coached the staff from 1948-1956.
The Knicks head teaching search is predicted to select up steam within the coming days as Thibodeau’s eventual alternative is about to fill a void with immense strain on the helm, in contrast to any we’ve seen from the franchise in not less than 1 / 4 century.
