Tom Thibodeau wants New York to be ‘aggressive’ and ‘opportunistic’ to get stars back

First little pressure from Tom Thibodeau in the direction of his management? The Knicks have repeatedly failed over the past two seasons in their attempts to recruit an All-Star, with the Irving-Durant duo finally turning to Brooklyn as recent overtime from players like Paul George, Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum or Giannis Antetokounmpo are all tracks now abandoned that reduce the window of fire for the New York franchise.

Like last summer, New York has therefore multiplied short contracts in order to hope to play the underdog, praying that Tom Thibodeau manages to get the best of his group. But the latter is not a magician, and remains aware of the difficulty of the situation after the first two preseason games of his training.

“I think it’s essential. When you look at all the teams in the league, especially those that go to the playoffs ”, he told the New York Post.

Daily work to prepare for the future

Tom Thibodeau has already worked with a lot of All-Stars, as a coach (Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns …) or assistant (David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Yao Ming, Kevin Garnett …) and he knows that the “front office ”of President Leon Rose will have to be more persuasive to bring some to New York.

“There are a lot of different ways to get stars. Sometimes it’s the development phase. I think when you look at Jimmy Butler, when he came in, he hardly ever played as a rookie. He played a little more each year and then became a Top 10 player in the league. It’s proof of his work ethic and his way of approaching things. Some guys keep getting better from year to year. Sometimes you have to go through trades, sometimes it’s free agency. But I think you have to be very aggressive in finding these opportunities. They don’t happen by chance. You must provoke them ”.

Recently drafted, can RJ Barrett or Obi Toppin become the leaders sought by the Knicks? Even if New York will still benefit from a comfortable financial leeway at the end of the season, Tom Thibodeau expects in any case that his leaders study all the options, and do not sit idly by for too long.

“Each player, each situation is different. So you have to plan everything. It is important to be opportunistic. There are sometimes situations that arise, whether through free agency or trades. But I think every day it has to be a priority for the organization to seek out these opportunities. When you look at what’s going on in the league, things can change very quickly. You work every day on the development of your players, you try to improve yourself via Draft, free agency or exchanges. You have to be very aggressive in every area. Sitting and waiting is sometimes not a good thing ”.

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