Thibodeau has signed a five-year contract, Marc Berman of The Post reported, and spoke in his introductory press conference about the need to “go through every stage” of team change. Butler predicted it would be a four- or five-year trial – time most previous managers have not conceded as the Knicks have gone 643-965 over the past 20 seasons.
“There are people who are losing and there are people who are building,” Smith said. “The Knicks have lost. They never built. You can build and still lose games, which attracted Kevin Durant, attracted Kyrie Irving. The Nets were building, even if they were losing, and they had the opportunity to prove it. You could talk about the Utah Jazz, you could talk about the Denver Nuggets, you could talk about Milwaukee. They were building and losing, but they were able to build. The Knicks don’t build until they lose. They only lose [while] trying to win”.