Jeff Van Gundy on Tom Thibodeau and his possible future for the Knicks: “I hope he has another opportunity”

During an appearance on Sirius XM NBA Radio, former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy was questioned about the possibility of coaching Tom Thibodeau in New York.

Several coaches and agents with an acquired interest in coaching research Knicks believe that team president Leon Rose will likely hire Thibodeau if he decides not to detain Mike Miller.

Here’s what Van Gundy said to SiriusXM NBA Radio hosts Eddie Johnson and Justin Termine about Thibodeau, who was an assistant to Van Gundy in New York:

“Well, I feel a little uncomfortable talking about a situation that is fluid and they have an onsite coach with whom I worked in the United States basketball with Mike Miller, who is an absolutely fantastic basketball coach. But regardless of the Knicks , Tom Thibodeau is a great, great basketball coach. Fantastic. And I think unfortunately for him the perception of him on the sidelines because this ugly and bad guy isn’t even close to who he is personally. Like, he’s an exceptional guy. He’s funny. being is fun to be around and loves basketball. He loves NBA basketball and works there and is an elite in his profession.

“I hope he has another opportunity to become a coach because if you look at his body of work he definitely deserves it and any team that can interview him or hire him would be very lucky to have him as head coach. He is thought of as a defensive coach, but if you look at his best teams in Chicago and Minnesota, they were high-level teams, statistically speaking, offensive and I think he was overlooked when people try to evaluate Tom from the outside. balanced, good player development – he got a lot of young people players much, much better. So not talking about the work on the Knicks, but generally speaking, Tom Thibodeau is one of the best coaches in the world and I hope to see him get another main job”.