BT came in heated to start Friday’s show, fed up with seeing Julius Randle let his emotions get the best of him.
“Enough. Enough with Julius Randle acting like a belligerent clown, a selfish fool, at this point,” BT said. “I appreciate his motor and he’s had a great season, this isn’t basketball related…this is about the eighth or ninth time this season alone that Julius Randle hasn’t been able to comport himself like a professional.”
But, while Randle and his outbursts clearly hurt the Knicks on the court, BT is putting the onus elsewhere, and says Randle’s continued antics shows a lack of leadership from the top.
“While I blame Julius Randle, you know who I really blame? The coach,” BT said. “I blame Tom Thibodeau for allowing this to fester and not doing anything about this at all. you’re not gonna light him up on TV or sit him down like a high school or college kid, but the fact that this happens once a week or once every two weeks…the fact that this has not been fixed tells me that Tom Thibodeau hasn’t addressed this, and that’s unacceptable.”
Tiki countered that the league has changed, and Randle is an All-Star, so he likely doesn’t get that level of accountability from the coaching staff. While BT acknowledges that the player/coach relationship isn’t what it was 20 years ago, there still needs to be some kind of leadership from Thibodeau, even if it means calling out his star for getting into it with a teammate at midcourt.
“What’s the role of a coach? When something goes awry, you just throw your hands up and say, ‘Nothing I can do about it, he’s a grown ass man?’ He’s the head coach!,” BT said.
“I know there’s a balance you gotta strike here…but clearly to me, there has been no steps taken behind the scenes to alleviate this. It’s a bad look.”
Follow WFAN's midday team on Twitter: @TikiandTierney, @TikiBarber, @BrandonTierney, and @TheHoffWFAN
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