Nov 8, 2023·edited Nov 8, 2023Liked by Jonathan Macri
Ok got it. I think that we had the better team last season against Miami and we lost because he got out-coached. No one is perfect. He is a good coach with a successful record. He hasn’t won the championship because he is tooooo stubborn! Riley was equally stubborn until he lost in 1994, admitted that he stuck with the wrong guy for too long, and adjusted his approach going forward to include some more adjustments as needed when Plan A isn’t working. Thibs will never admit that he made the wrong move.
Agree Spo out-coached him. The decision to start Hart in particular backfired. And while Thibs might never admit a mistake, I do believe he learns from them. You don't survive this many years in the league if you don't, let alone thrive as much as he has.
Is a little constructive criticism not allowed? I'm not saying that he should be fired! I'm begging him to unclog his brain and let some other ideas in on occasion. Can we get an audible every now and then? Maybe a surprise? There doesn't ever seem to have a plan B. If the game plan isn't working, no plan B. Granted, sometimes the other team is better than us and no matter what, there's nothing that's going to change the outcome. But we lose so many games by inches that maybe an occasional audible would put us over the top. He does have a great record, but he's never won the whole thing and it's mainly because of his lack of imagination. He's had some bad luck with D. Rose getting hurt. He also has never walked into a situation like Phil Jackson, or Kerr, or even Spolstra, inheriting a ready made championship team. Anyway, let's agree to disagree. He's a good coach, he would be a better coach if he was less predictable.
I think if you ask any other coach or GM why Thibs has never won it all, they'd say it's because he's always gone up against teams with better talent. As an aside, what you're touching on is the yin and the yang of coaching: what's the balance between maintaining (and building) consistency with the things you've worked on since camp and theoretically have the highest ceiling on vs diverting and trying something new/different? Thibodeau teams are consistently viewed as the best prepared in the league precisely because no one hones their teams at exploiting their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses better than him. Part of that is because he resists the temptation to divert course, even when it seems like the right and occasionally obvious move. So while I understand where you're coming from and agree there are coaches who can adjust on the fly in more productive ways, the reason I always push back so hard on comments like this is because the implication is that there is no value to his stubbornness and rigidity, when the reality is that his stubbornness and rigidity is the foundation of his success (in addition to a tireless work ethic, more x's and o's creativity than he gets credit for, etc).
Great piece , manifesting positivity this week 3-0, 2-1 week . Refuse to believe “that guy” is going to tank this season and possibly get a coach fired .
It’s 5:30 AM and I’ve read just the opening part of the newsletter and belly laughing at your hilarious horror movie series comparison with “the JR story” iterations - and this is after I shared yesterday my “benevolent compassion” thoughts on JR (am I a JR “believer”?!). Thanks for the healing laughter ... and now back to reading the rest of the newsletter!
The difference between us and Miami: The coach in Miami would figure out how to get a good shooter (getting paid $18 mil to scratch his butt all day!) in the game for 10 minutes somewhere when the rest of team can hit a shot and they are a man short. The thickness of this man's skull is astounding!
Couldn't disagree more. A lesser coach might panic, but we know Fournier isn't the answer. Keep working on the thing you know works when its right, and don't waste a single minute on something that you know is a dead end. These guys will make shots; they just need to bust out of the slump. Defensively, the backup unit has been stellar. Fournier can kill that vibe. Also, who's getting docked 10 minutes? I understand after every loss, there's automatic backseat QB'ing that will occur, but we've been down the Fournier road before. It's a dead end. He'll be called upon if and when multiple guys get hurt, but it shouldn't happen before.
As an aside, Spo had DRob glued to the bench when Miami was in dire straights with their shooting. It wasn't until he had almost literally no other options that he re-entered the rotation.
Ok. And who won the series even though we had the better team regardless of who was forced into making whatever decisions? With both Quickly and Randle hurt, we should've been forced into making some kind change to take advantage of the skills on the bench, the 2nd unit couldn't hit a shot to save their lives. No, same pig headed moves and same result, almost, but no cigar! It's not Monday morning QBing after one loss, it's recognition of a repeated pattern. He's great at maximizing the talent at hand, but no imagination or ability to adjust on the fly. We'll only get so far unless we luck into a generational talent who can will us to wins. Brunson comes close sometimes, but he can only get us so far. As presently constructed, we need a little more imagination and creativity (I don't understand why he doesn't change, he keeps doing the same thing over and over and has the same ending every year for most of his career as a head coach), or we are who we are.
lotta head coaches have been in the NBA. Few have his track record of success. I understand we always want more, but keying in on these perceived misgivings strikes me as throwing the baby out with the bathwater just because you're tired of looking at it.
If you think Tom Thibodeau cares, or has ever cared, what is said about him by anyone - fans, press, players, his own mother - to the point that it would impact his coaching, you don't understand the man.
I committed to myself (and here publicly to make it stick) that I wouldn’t get swept up in the anti-Julius bitching and I’m still holding on. This is who he is. We’ve deliberately and contractually tied ourselves to this imperfect, high talent-low emotional IQ dude. If he was better rounded we probably wouldn’t have had him in the first place. His flaw(s) allowed us access. Live with it. Now, the positive element to this season is we have a group of guys that are connected that can show him how to work on D even when the O is not there. Perhaps more importantly the Villanova crew + young guys that have been around him (IQ,RJ,Grimes) know what he is too and won’t let it affect them. I’m hoping those guys can help Julius with his mind set behind closed doors, on the plane, in practice... and nudge him toward contributing. The glass is still half full. 🥃🥃
WRT Julius .... in addition to being a long time Knicks fan, I'm also a long-time Bengals fan.
Joe Burrow, who was the most accurate QB in NFL history in terms of completion % entering the season, put up historically bad numbers in the 1st 4 games of the NFL season as the Bengals got off to a 1-3 start due to his calf injury. Once Joe started being able to run around again, he looks like himself and the Bengals have won 4 in a row. Lots of Bengals fans thought the team should have sat Joe in favor of the backup QB who could at least move. But, the coach and the team decided to ride with their guy.
To be clear, Julius isn't on the same level as Burrow. But, he has been all-NBA for two of the last three seasons. I've been yelling at my TV like everyone else watching his BS. However, if Thibs says he's working himself back into game shape after ankle surgery, I think we need to be patient. Burrow was terrible through the first quarter of the NFL season. Maybe we should give Randle 15-20 games before throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
The Play of the Day video is a microcosm of the Knicks. Randle tries to do something/anything, he completely mishandles the ball and fumbles it around the court as if it is a comedy routine and then somehow barely gets it to Brunson who then makes the shot to cover up Randle’s awesome ball handling and court awareness.
The season is a marathon of marathons. With my guy Randle's struggles, RJ being out after looking like his best self, IQ/DDV/JB/Hart all having up & down performances and facing a gauntlet to start the season we're undoubtedly a solid to good team. It's been 6 games.
Ok got it. I think that we had the better team last season against Miami and we lost because he got out-coached. No one is perfect. He is a good coach with a successful record. He hasn’t won the championship because he is tooooo stubborn! Riley was equally stubborn until he lost in 1994, admitted that he stuck with the wrong guy for too long, and adjusted his approach going forward to include some more adjustments as needed when Plan A isn’t working. Thibs will never admit that he made the wrong move.
Agree Spo out-coached him. The decision to start Hart in particular backfired. And while Thibs might never admit a mistake, I do believe he learns from them. You don't survive this many years in the league if you don't, let alone thrive as much as he has.
Is a little constructive criticism not allowed? I'm not saying that he should be fired! I'm begging him to unclog his brain and let some other ideas in on occasion. Can we get an audible every now and then? Maybe a surprise? There doesn't ever seem to have a plan B. If the game plan isn't working, no plan B. Granted, sometimes the other team is better than us and no matter what, there's nothing that's going to change the outcome. But we lose so many games by inches that maybe an occasional audible would put us over the top. He does have a great record, but he's never won the whole thing and it's mainly because of his lack of imagination. He's had some bad luck with D. Rose getting hurt. He also has never walked into a situation like Phil Jackson, or Kerr, or even Spolstra, inheriting a ready made championship team. Anyway, let's agree to disagree. He's a good coach, he would be a better coach if he was less predictable.
I think if you ask any other coach or GM why Thibs has never won it all, they'd say it's because he's always gone up against teams with better talent. As an aside, what you're touching on is the yin and the yang of coaching: what's the balance between maintaining (and building) consistency with the things you've worked on since camp and theoretically have the highest ceiling on vs diverting and trying something new/different? Thibodeau teams are consistently viewed as the best prepared in the league precisely because no one hones their teams at exploiting their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses better than him. Part of that is because he resists the temptation to divert course, even when it seems like the right and occasionally obvious move. So while I understand where you're coming from and agree there are coaches who can adjust on the fly in more productive ways, the reason I always push back so hard on comments like this is because the implication is that there is no value to his stubbornness and rigidity, when the reality is that his stubbornness and rigidity is the foundation of his success (in addition to a tireless work ethic, more x's and o's creativity than he gets credit for, etc).
Great piece , manifesting positivity this week 3-0, 2-1 week . Refuse to believe “that guy” is going to tank this season and possibly get a coach fired .
It’s 5:30 AM and I’ve read just the opening part of the newsletter and belly laughing at your hilarious horror movie series comparison with “the JR story” iterations - and this is after I shared yesterday my “benevolent compassion” thoughts on JR (am I a JR “believer”?!). Thanks for the healing laughter ... and now back to reading the rest of the newsletter!
Glad you enjoyed!
The difference between us and Miami: The coach in Miami would figure out how to get a good shooter (getting paid $18 mil to scratch his butt all day!) in the game for 10 minutes somewhere when the rest of team can hit a shot and they are a man short. The thickness of this man's skull is astounding!
Couldn't disagree more. A lesser coach might panic, but we know Fournier isn't the answer. Keep working on the thing you know works when its right, and don't waste a single minute on something that you know is a dead end. These guys will make shots; they just need to bust out of the slump. Defensively, the backup unit has been stellar. Fournier can kill that vibe. Also, who's getting docked 10 minutes? I understand after every loss, there's automatic backseat QB'ing that will occur, but we've been down the Fournier road before. It's a dead end. He'll be called upon if and when multiple guys get hurt, but it shouldn't happen before.
As an aside, Spo had DRob glued to the bench when Miami was in dire straights with their shooting. It wasn't until he had almost literally no other options that he re-entered the rotation.
Ok. And who won the series even though we had the better team regardless of who was forced into making whatever decisions? With both Quickly and Randle hurt, we should've been forced into making some kind change to take advantage of the skills on the bench, the 2nd unit couldn't hit a shot to save their lives. No, same pig headed moves and same result, almost, but no cigar! It's not Monday morning QBing after one loss, it's recognition of a repeated pattern. He's great at maximizing the talent at hand, but no imagination or ability to adjust on the fly. We'll only get so far unless we luck into a generational talent who can will us to wins. Brunson comes close sometimes, but he can only get us so far. As presently constructed, we need a little more imagination and creativity (I don't understand why he doesn't change, he keeps doing the same thing over and over and has the same ending every year for most of his career as a head coach), or we are who we are.
lotta head coaches have been in the NBA. Few have his track record of success. I understand we always want more, but keying in on these perceived misgivings strikes me as throwing the baby out with the bathwater just because you're tired of looking at it.
Why doesn’t Fournier get a run at this point?
Thibs is stubborn and doesn’t like getting called out in the press, is probably where I’d start
If you think Tom Thibodeau cares, or has ever cared, what is said about him by anyone - fans, press, players, his own mother - to the point that it would impact his coaching, you don't understand the man.
I committed to myself (and here publicly to make it stick) that I wouldn’t get swept up in the anti-Julius bitching and I’m still holding on. This is who he is. We’ve deliberately and contractually tied ourselves to this imperfect, high talent-low emotional IQ dude. If he was better rounded we probably wouldn’t have had him in the first place. His flaw(s) allowed us access. Live with it. Now, the positive element to this season is we have a group of guys that are connected that can show him how to work on D even when the O is not there. Perhaps more importantly the Villanova crew + young guys that have been around him (IQ,RJ,Grimes) know what he is too and won’t let it affect them. I’m hoping those guys can help Julius with his mind set behind closed doors, on the plane, in practice... and nudge him toward contributing. The glass is still half full. 🥃🥃
WRT Julius .... in addition to being a long time Knicks fan, I'm also a long-time Bengals fan.
Joe Burrow, who was the most accurate QB in NFL history in terms of completion % entering the season, put up historically bad numbers in the 1st 4 games of the NFL season as the Bengals got off to a 1-3 start due to his calf injury. Once Joe started being able to run around again, he looks like himself and the Bengals have won 4 in a row. Lots of Bengals fans thought the team should have sat Joe in favor of the backup QB who could at least move. But, the coach and the team decided to ride with their guy.
To be clear, Julius isn't on the same level as Burrow. But, he has been all-NBA for two of the last three seasons. I've been yelling at my TV like everyone else watching his BS. However, if Thibs says he's working himself back into game shape after ankle surgery, I think we need to be patient. Burrow was terrible through the first quarter of the NFL season. Maybe we should give Randle 15-20 games before throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
The Play of the Day video is a microcosm of the Knicks. Randle tries to do something/anything, he completely mishandles the ball and fumbles it around the court as if it is a comedy routine and then somehow barely gets it to Brunson who then makes the shot to cover up Randle’s awesome ball handling and court awareness.
The season is a marathon of marathons. With my guy Randle's struggles, RJ being out after looking like his best self, IQ/DDV/JB/Hart all having up & down performances and facing a gauntlet to start the season we're undoubtedly a solid to good team. It's been 6 games.