Recently, players voted for Tom Thibodeau of the New York Knicks as the coach they would rather not play under. Thibodeau prevailed by a wide margin, continuing to alienate most of the league’s players. Nevertheless, after New York’s thrilling victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 2, Kendrick Perkins stood by Thibs.
In a tweet, Perkins criticized the players who supported Tom Thibodeau in The Athletic’s poll. He had previously been a Thibs’ Boston Celtics team member when the 66-year-old coach was Doc Rivers’ assistant.
“And another thing before I move on. All those soft a** players that said they would’’t want to play for Thibs… guess what? Thibs don’t want to coach y’all cupcake a**es either. Carry on,” Perkins posted on X.
It was always known that Tom Thibodeau would push his players to the limit. However, according to a poll by The Athletic, some players are not interested in practicing hard or playing the entire game under Thibodeau.
Only four players this season are in the top 50 in terms of minutes played each game, a testament to Thibs’ effective player management. With a 2-0 lead over the Philadelphia 76ers, he has led the New York Knicks to the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference, per the NBA standings.
New York Knicks’s Players Also Came Up in Defense of Tom Thibodeau
Several New York Knicks players defended players who didn’t want to play for their coach. On Instagram, Josh Hart referred to the players who cast ballots as “soft.”
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Donte DiVincenzo launched a tirade packed with profanities before the team triumphed over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 2. In his debut season with the Knicks under Tom Thibodeau, DiVincenzo had the finest year of his career.
Bojan Bogdanovic, who the Detroit Pistons traded to the New York Knicks during the midseason, described Thibodeau as a “straight-up” player. Bogdanovic was perplexed why players would not want to play many minutes in a match.
