Thibodeau responds
To Obama: ‘We’re going to work on making him a fan’
NEW YORK — Tom Thibodeau wants to make Knicks fans proud and recruit a famous one.
Responding to Barack Obama mocking the franchise’s talent, the New Britain, Conn., native said he hopes to convert the 44th president to the Blue & Orange.
“Obviously he’s a great president, a big Bulls fan, and so I’ve always enjoyed him,” the Knicks coach said. “I thought he did a great job as president and we’re going to have to work on making him a Knicks fan, that’s all. All our players in the league have great respect for him. So we’re going to work on getting him to shift from being a Bulls fan to being a Knicks fan.”
During an interview on Showtime with diehard Knicks fans “Desus & Mero,” Obama teased the hosts for their horrible basketball skills and finished his burn with, “Here’s the good news: Looks like y’all could play for the Knicks.”
Obama is an immensely popular figure among NBA players and also an acquaintance of Thibodeau. In fact, Thibodeau landed his first head coaching job in Chicago with the assistance of Arne Duncan, who was Obama’s Secretary of
Education. When Thibodeau was fired from the Bulls in 2015, Obama tweeted, “Love Thibs and think he did a great job. Sorry to see him go but expect he will be snatched up soon by another team.” Thibodeau took his next team — the Timberwolves — to visit the White House in Obama’s final month as President.
Now Thibodeau is coaching a franchise with the worst record over the last 20 years and an easy punchline (Samuel L. Jackson targeted the Knicks’ struggles at the 2019 Academy Awards).
“We can’t worry about what other people think,” Thibodeau said. “The important thing for us is to focus on what we can control, what we think. So as we mentioned at the beginning of camp, how hard we play, how smart we play, how together we play, that’s important. I think we have very knowledgable fans, we have great fan support.
“I was here when it was great,” added Thibodeau, whowas an assistant under Jeff Van Gundy. “I grew up as a kid and the Knicks were great. I know what that’s like. I think when a team wins the fans enjoy it. So wehave to give the fans something to be proud of. That’s what we’re striving towards.”
Still, Thibodeau understands that resurrecting the Knicks won’t happen overnight.
“There’s no shortcuts to success,” Thibodeau said. “You have to be willing to pay the price, to put the work in. For us the important thing is to confront what the facts are. So we have a lot of ground to make up. We’ve got to work each day to close that gap. if wedothat good things will come.”
Thibodeau also talked postseason. Just based on the number of openings, the Knicks have a greater chance at competing for a playoff spot and he hopes his club takes advantage of the new format.
The league has adopted the play-in structure for 2020-21, which means the Nos. 7-10 seeds in each conference will hold a round-robin tournament after the season. One spot is guaranteed to either the No. 7 or 8 seeds, so it’s really a competition between three teams for the final playoff position.
“I think it makes it interesting,” Thibodeau said. “Obviously where we are, hopefully we’ll have a shot at that. It’s something that wehave to work towards.”
The Knicks are again expected to fall into the lottery following a quiet free agency season, but finishing in the top-10 is certainly easier than the top-8. The format, which was first used over the summer in the Orlando bubble, is geared toward keeping more teams involved in the playoff race while dissuading tanking. Of course, the Knicks have been so bad lately that they haven’t finished in the Eastern Conference’s top-10 since 2014.