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The Knicks have been connected to a lot of head coaching rumors since Leon Rose was reported to be the team’s next president. One person former NBA center and current RADIO.com contributor Kendrick Perkins believes should be named New York’s next head coach is Tom Thibodeau.
Joining Joe Benigno and John Jastremski on WFAN Wednesday afternoon, Perkins was asked if Thibodeau would actually want the job?“Absolutely,” Perkins said. “One thing I know about Thibs is he embraces challenges, he loves a challenge. Just like he came in to Chicago, what did they do? They won. They didn’t win a championship, but they won at a high level.”
Perkins might believe Thibodeau to be the best fit, but Benigno wanted to know if he thinks he’ll actually end up being the next head coach of the Knicks.“I do, I think it’s Thibs…I hope he accepts the job,” Perkins said.
Perkins played for Thibodeau while they were both in Boston over a decade ago, winning an NBA championship together in 2008. Prior to heading to Chicago in 2010, Thibodeau was an assistant with the Boston Celtics for three seasons under head coach Doc Rivers.
Jastremski asked Perkins what he liked most about playing for Thibodeau.
“He didn’t shortcut it, Thibs was the guy that was there every morning at five breaking down film. He was the last one to leave, he would leave at nine at night to the point where I would say ‘Thibs, hey man do you have a life?’”
“He’s very passionate about the NBA, he’s very passionate about winning,” Perkins continued. “When Thibs left, we hated it, we loved Thibs, I hated when Thibs left the Celtics, him and Doc were a dynamic duo together.”
While the Knicks have been connected to multiple head coaches in recent weeks, they still have Mike Miller in place as the interim right now. According to Perkins, Miller’s done a great job, but the Knicks need to bring in a high profile name and Thibodeau fits that criteria.“Thibs has a lot of respect from former players and current players that he can convince them to come [to New York>. Can he convince LeBron James? Absolutely not,” Perkins said. “But he can at least get some talent in there and guys that will compete and make the Knicks relevant again in a good way, because they’re relevant all the time, it’s just been in a bad way.”
As for the other team in New York, Jastremski asked Perkins if the Brooklyn Nets should shut Kyrie Irving down for the rest of the season as he again deals with a shoulder injury.
“They should shut him down like I’m shutting down on talking about Kyrie, I’m done for the season talking about Kyrie Irving,” Perkins said.In joining “Joe & Evan” on WFAN multiple times this NBA season, Perkins has made it clear he’s not a fan of Kyrie. Still, he believes Kyrie and Kevin Durant can win in Brooklyn.
“I think the sky’s the limit for that team when healthy,” Perkins said. “Mentally, we have to know that Kyrie Irving is all in and that’s been a question mark of late.”