It is! The JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody for listening wherever you might be in North America. This show gets started every weekday at 6pm Eastern, 3 Pacific.
I'm in Atlanta. Thank you to our producer in New York City, Ryan Botcher. You can always listen to this show on the free Odyssey app. Let me say it again, it's free. Pay a dime or a dollar to download and listen to the app. Thank you to people listening live on your local Infinity Sports Network affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 375. If you have a smart speaker, you don't have to lift a finger. Just use your voice.
Ask it to play the Infinity Sports Network. We've had a busy show already in the first hour. We got people moving, we got people staying, we got people not playing, we got people getting fired.
It's all over the place. Before we went to break, we talked about CJ Stroud and his sore shoulder. It's June. Is he doing too many lifts, too many bench press reps? What is he doing?
It's June. He's got a short shoulder. He's had a history of shoulder issues. John O'Smith, former Tennessee Titans tight end, former tight end for the New England Patriots. He might be on his way to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Had a career season for the Miami Dolphins.
He might be sent up north to maybe be on the receiving end of passes from Aaron Rodgers. And in the news that broke this afternoon, a big, big deal. The Knicks firing head coach Tom Thibodeau after five successful seasons and helping to turn the franchise around. I guess the New York Knicks felt good about it. I mean, they decided to say thank you, Tibbs, after they fired him. I'm sure that made him feel warm and fuzzy. Maybe not as warm and fuzzy as the $30 million that he will be receiving from the contract extension that they just gave him. What a wild, wild world.
You can't make some of this stuff up. Hey, how about this? Next hour, Rylan Stiles is going to join us. Covers the Oklahoma City Thunder for Sports Illustrated. Yeah, we're going to try to get all the loser talk out the way today about the New York Knicks. Let's keep in mind, well, in two days, almost 48 hours from now, we're going to have the start of the NBA Finals.
We will get there soon enough. Got to talk about these losers first. It's tough being a coach in the NBA. Money aside, dollar figures aside, coaches are hired in the NBA just to get fired. Like everybody knows, and it doesn't matter what sport it is, if you're coaching a collection of garbage cans, the results are going to be trash.
And if you have some of the best talent at your disposal in the world, you can typically have good results if that talent happens to be healthy. In the case of Tom Thibodeau, unfortunately, today he joins a list that is very recent of successful coaches in the NBA who have been fired. And no, Tom Thibodeau hasn't climbed the ultimate mountain as a head coach. He's won the championship as an assistant with the Boston Celtics, was then able to parlay that into coaching the Chicago Bulls, coach the Timberwolves, got a chance and opportunity with the New York Knicks, helped the New York Knicks have their most successful stretch this century. And this is how the Knicks thank him.
They fire him. And so, yeah, even though he didn't win a championship, he was successful, but he still got the boot. Michael Malone.
Oh, my goodness. This man was sitting around on ESPN doing commentary during the playoffs. This man helped take the Denver Nuggets to a championship. He got fired this year along with the Denver Nuggets GM because these guys didn't get along. And surprise, surprise, Michael Malone didn't want to play the young players.
He was hesitant to go out there and use his bench. Michael Malone, despite winning a title two years ago, two seasons ago. He's gone as head coach of the Denver Nuggets. Taylor Jenkins. No longer head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies. It's like, are you kidding me? We don't blame him or we don't blame John Moran. Oh, that's right. You kind of said that to John Moran.
It doesn't matter how many guns he's waving in the camera, how many strip clubs he's visiting. John Moran gets to stick around. We got to fire the head coach. Can't get rid of the play. I got to fire the coach.
Oh, yeah. By the way, it doesn't matter how many injuries. John Moran, who weighs all of, I don't know, one hundred and seventy five pounds, one hundred and seventy pounds soaking wet. It doesn't matter how much he's hurt or how much of a knucklehead he is. We got to fire the coach. Mike Bootenholzer. This man won a title with the Bucks in twenty twenty one. Fired in twenty twenty four. Nick Nurse won a championship in Toronto.
Fired four years after that. Now suffering with Joel Embiid in Philadelphia and whatever the hell is left of Paul George and his body. Frank Vogel.
I know people don't want to talk about what took place in the bubble. Frank Vogel did lead a stack defensively. Los Angeles Lakers team rested in the bubble to a title in twenty twenty two.
Oh, excuse me, in twenty twenty in October. Lakers fired him two years later. Mike Brown, this man won coach of the year with the Sacramento Kings.
Basha, they told him, get to pack it, man. It's tough. I mean, these coaches are well compensated, but we've moved into an era, man, where it's what have you done for me lately? The Kings got rid of their coach, who won coach of the year, and they put in one of their former players who's been walked around by his wife on the dog chain. Yeah.
Yeah. All I know is that the NBA now is the owners who take over these teams want to see immediate success, and they don't have patience in a coach that builds culture. And whether it just be superstars, too, like LeBron, who's ending his career and he wants to win more when now. Directing the ownership to get rid of head coaches.
You saw it in Brooklyn, too. It's just a rampant, I would call it a disease or sickness in the NBA that they don't allow coaches to develop a system like you saw with Popovich or anyone like that back in the early two thousands or nineties. Yeah. It's going to take a player who's going to say no. And apparently even in New York City, where where Tom Thibodeau and Jalen Brunson had an excellent relationship, you got Leon Rose, who runs the team, who pretty much he represented Jalen Brunson's dad, Rick, who's on the staff. And that's something that hasn't even been discussed all that in depth yet is I think it's still kind of early, like Rick Brunson, Jalen Brunson's dad was on the staff of Tom Thibodeau with the New York Knicks with with. Tom Thibodeau gone is Rick Brunson going to return? Is this all of a sudden going to turn Jalen Brunson off?
I don't think so. But it was clear as day that he wanted him to stick on and stick around as head coach. We played this last hour. Hear it again. This is Jalen Brunson. He was asked about Tom Thibodeau just if he's the right coach to lead the Knicks to a championship. He thinks yes. Apparently the owner of the New York Knicks says no.
Listen. Do you kind of feel that going forward, he's the same guy to lift you guys the rest of the way the next level? Is that a real question right now?
You just asked me if I believe that if he's the right guy? Yes. Thanks, guys. Wow. Yeah, man.
Wow. Apparently some of the top players with the Knicks, I'm assuming not Jalen Brunson. Spoke to the owner, the owner sat in on some of the exit meetings.
Apparently some of the Knicks top players said that, you know, we don't think that this is the guy. And so the owner is meddling. And we have a lot of owners who are like that. And quite frankly, James Dolan, James Jim Dolan, whatever the hell you want to call him. He's not one of the hotshot owners who just, you know, some hedge fund billionaire who just bought a team. And, you know, he's not Matt Ishbir. He's not looking at his team going, oh, my God, I can buy Kevin Durant and I can buy this. Like he's treating us like it's a video game.
It's not. James Dolan is a rich kid. Who inherited the New York Knicks, his dad basically said, here's the Knicks more than 30 years ago, just about 30 years ago. New York Knicks were owned by Viacom, Paramount, Texas Instruments. OK, I know it sounds crazy, but they were.
And they were bought by Cablevision. It's like, hey, you run a team, it's yours. Yeah, the same guy who was out there run Cleveland at the Indians at the time. His son is running the New York Knicks. This man has never been patient. He's always had rabid ears.
He's always concerned about what the media says and thinks about him. You know, and so whether you're a new owner, an old owner, you come from old money, you got new money. Nobody wants to move the hell up on out the way there.
There is no development. And Bacha, you mentioned that you think about the case of of the Brooklyn Nets, what they did a few years ago. It's like you had Kevin Durant come in. And you had Kyrie Irving come in and they were kissing the ass, at least publicly, of Kenny Atkinson, at least Durant was. Kyrie's just like, yeah, we don't even really need a coach. And and then Kenny Atkinson doesn't even get a chance to coach the team in full. They just they fire him after the great job he did developing everybody. And now he's he's out in Cleveland. So it's it's tough.
It doesn't matter where you land. I mentioned Mike Brown being fired by the Kings and them hiring Doug Christie now to take over. And then even when he was fired, Michael Malone still coached the Nuggets before they fired him.
And Michael Malone took complete issue with how that situation took place because he used to work for Vivek Ranadive, the owner of the Sacramento Kings. Listen to this. Awful.
Yeah, awful. And the reason I say that, Matt, is so we're going into a meeting this afternoon. And, you know, the good thing about me is that I honestly I'm not on social media. I'm not aware of what's going on outside these walls sometimes. I've had an office, but no windows for 10 years.
It's probably taken off six years of my life. And I go into the meeting and the coaches say, you hear about Mike Brown. I said, why? What happened?
They said he got fired. And at first I was really shocked and surprised. Then I caught myself.
Why am I shocked and surprised? For two reasons. One, because as an NBA head coach, ultimately, you're going to get the blame. When they win, it's going to go to Sabonis and Fox. When you lose, it's going to go to Mike Brown. That's the way it works.
And two, who he works for. So I'm not surprised that Mike Brown got fired because I got fired by the same person. And what really pissed me off about it was the fact that they lost last night. Fifth game in a row, I believe. Tough loss, fouling a jump shooter. They had practice this morning. He does his postgame media and he's in his car going to the airport to fly to L.A. and they call him on the phone. No class, no balls.
That's what I'll say about that. And then not too long after that, he got fired by his team. And shout outs to all the coaches out there.
And no, not NBA head coaches. Tom Thibodeau is getting paid 30 million dollars by an organization not to show up to work. Could you imagine getting that golden power shoot? Could you imagine just waking up one day and not having to work, but you're getting 30 million dollars coming your way?
It's like they're paying him 30 million dollars to just get beat to a pulp in the court of public opinion. Yeah, but Tibbs is insane enough. I feel like all NBA coaches are crazy enough that they need to do something. That them being out of the sport or out of the business will drive them to mania. Well, the point I was going to get to was that it doesn't matter if you're a coach or not. I think as an overall, I think every human being is designed to do something.
And I think everybody at some point in time has a desire to get up and to contribute positively to society, to have a purpose in life, to do something. But I wanted to shout out coaches in general. Not everybody's getting up and getting 30 million dollars. You can think about a coach at any level. Every single college coach ain't out here making millions and millions of dollars. High school coaches certainly may not even be getting a dime, a penny or a cent. Coaching is tough. I mean, whether you're coaching your own kids, you're coaching somebody else's kids, you got some knucklehead ass parent who's shouting you down in the back and cursing you out. Play my kid.
Do this. And we got referees who are getting cursed out. And it's just.
It's a bad space. Being a coach is thankless. Being a referee is thankless. Nobody loves you. Nobody likes you. Nobody appreciates you.
Everybody criticizes you. I guess that all comes with the job. Unless you're in the NBA, you get paid millions and millions of dollars to be a public punching bag. And there is no bigger public punching bag than being the head coach of the New York Knicks. This team just won and turned things around.
And the man who helped get them there. They said, no, thanks. Good luck to Tom Thibodeau as he sits in his basement staring at four walls, looking at his checks roll in. Good luck to the Knicks, I guess they don't deserve it. The New York Knicks are just like every other organization. The Nuggets, the Suns, these NBA teams have evaluations now into the billions of dollars.
They don't care. If I can change one guy, the coach gets the boot. The players, well. Players just stick around until they demand a trade.
I think I've ever seen a coach do that. It's the J.R. Sportbree show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break. We come back and we'll talk more about the NBA.
Of course we will. But let's get back into some NFL on the other side of the break. You know, we talked about John who Smith got it to C.J. Stroud and his shoulder issue. We don't know what the heck is going on with Aaron Rodgers.
I assume he's looking at four walls somewhere, maybe having a smoke or drink. Michael Parsons looking for a contract. Trey Hendrickson looking for a deal.
We got a lot to get into. It's time to have a conversation with Russell Baxter, who covers all things NFL for Sports Illustrated. We'll have that chat on the other side of the break. You're locked into the J.R. Sportbree show coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbree.
It is the J.R. Sportbree show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Man, all this news about Tom Thibodeau being fired is still plenty NFL news going around today as well. And over the past couple of weeks, guys who have showed up to work, guys who are not at work, people who don't even have contracts to talk about the latest and what's going on in the league and what might take place. Joining us right now is someone who has covered the league for many years.
An NFL writer, historian now covering the league in many facets and Ketchum, his writings on Sports Illustrated, the founder of Pro Football Guru. Joining us right now is Russell Baxter. Russell, how are you?
I'm good. But, you know, I have to tell you, that countdown back to being on the show, I'm like having a flashback to war games. Oh, my goodness. Well, you're the only person that hears that. So the public has no idea what you hear. Oh, good one. I'll keep it my secret for now on.
Yeah, you're the only person that heard that. Me, you and our producer. But it was appropriate to have you here, which is a good thing. Speaking of countdowns, Russell, when the heck is Aaron Rodgers going to show up to work with the Steelers or is he not? He's just he's doing what he wants to do.
Taking a vacation, huh? Well, if you believe, you know, and the person that seems like they're the most in touch here is Albert Breer. You know, these personal issues with him going on. There are some people who think he's going to be one mandatory OTA start or mandatory minicamp and so on.
He will be there for that. You know, there are other veterans who are not doing but, you know, Aaron's track record the last couple of years being very, very vague, being very, very Brett Favre like, for lack of a better word, is not painting him in a very good light. Here's what I ascertain from the Steelers situation. Regardless if it's Aaron Rodgers, if it's Mason Rudolph, this is a one year fix for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They drafted Will Howard in the sixth round. And no, I didn't come on there to tell you he's going to be their savior of the future. You know, this pretty popular because we talk football 20.
Well, not 24-7 me. I took I talked at 25-8. And next year's draft class in terms of quarterbacks is a little more comparable to 2024. Certainly not comparable to 2025. It's kind of a disappointing draft class for many people. And the prospects weren't high. Cam Ward was, you know, clearly the number one. Jackson Dart wound up going in in the first round.
We weren't going to get into Chador Sanders and all that other stuff. But the 2026 class is where I think the Steelers will make their move for their quarterback of the future. And I say that because and I've heard some ridiculous notions by people about Steelers tanking and so on. That ain't happening.
Let me ask you this. Would you tank if you already had 12 draft choices? This is probably no, not at all.
No, exactly. And that's what the Steelers are looking at because of the free agency losses they had this year, plus the Pickens trade. So if the compensatories pan out, like most people think they will, they're going to have 12 picks next year, which will give them maneuverability.
So regardless if Aaron Rodgers comes in, if Mason Rudolph is the starter, even if Aaron Rodgers signs, you know, we don't know if he's going to be able to start 17 games. Right. I just can't see the Steelers. Let's put it this way. And I'm being serious. When you've lost six straight playoff games and you end it last season on a five game losing streak, why would you need to tank?
You need to get better. Touche. Yeah, just not not disputing that at all. We'll be enjoyed by Russell Baxter covers all things NFL for as I haven't said that from a Steelers perspective. There's a lot that's been said about Kirk Cousins being a potential backup plan. What do you think the future holds for Kirk Cousins? Is he really going to have to just wait for that situation to pan out or some other team to be desperate with an injured quarterback or what have you?
Well, his is an interesting situation. And, you know, here's what's funny about Kirk Cousins situation. Remember, both him and Aaron Rodgers suffered Achilles injuries last year or the year before, I should say. Kirk Cousins came midway through the season in 2023.
Okay. Aaron Rodgers basically had a full year to recover and he still wasn't the same until the second half of 2024. Early in the season, Kirk Cousins was very mistake prone. Yet at the same time, that was a team that was putting a lot of points on the board. They actually swept the Buccaneers who won the division. You know, so they were very up and down, very erratic, very inconsistent. They decided to pull the plug on him and give the job to Michael Pennix. And they still had a shot into the playoffs at the end of the year.
They wanted to get knocked off by the Carolina Panthers in the final game of the season. So I don't know what Kirk Cousins health status is comfortable enough to say now. Now he's more than a year removed from the Achilles injury.
So there's talk that he's the Steelers backup plan. It's hard to believe that he's going to sit out a season because I still think he has some very good football left in him. So, but how healthy he was last year is a mystery because that's the kind of injury that takes a long time to recover from. And, you know, the nature of the injury, because it's basically a non-contact injury, there's a little trepidation when you're on the field.
Is this going to happen again? Remember when Aaron Rodgers went down against the Bills in the opening game of the 2020 season and looked like nothing. And yet he was gone for the year. So he's kind of the wild card, to be honest with you here, because again, I think he could help the team. But I find it hard to believe he's going to be on the sidelines when the season starts, if that makes sense. OK, well, we're going to find out soon enough.
Well, I got to wait a couple of months. Another quarterback that was in the news today. D'Amico Ryan's talked about how C.J. Stroud hasn't thrown a football here in OTAs because of general soreness. When you think about his history of shoulder issues dating back to college, understanding that this is June, is there a reason to be concerned, you think?
There could be. You know, if you're the Houston Texans and you watched him get beat up last year and they basically gutted their offensive line in a lottery. Remember, they traded Laramie Tunsell to the Washington commanders, you know, made some other bets, brought in a lot of veterans to plug holes and so on.
So, you know, only they know if it's an issue. But, you know, what's so interesting now about the NFL and how teams get and players get ready for the season, it's so dramatically different than when, you know, I started watching football. You know, you basically didn't do anything in the offseason. In fact, you know, because there was no free agency and no high salaries, a lot of players got jobs to help pay their bills. And then they showed up at training camp and played their way back into shape.
Okay? Back then, you had six preseason games. Imagine that, six preseason games. And if you were the defending Super Bowl champion, you played seven preseason games because you played the college all-stars in a game. Imagine that, paying 21 games. Seven don't count and 14 don't do.
Okay? That's how it used to be. And so on. But then free agency changed all that. Now we have OTAs, we have minicamps, we have maxicamps, all the other different things that go on. Players are constantly trying to get into shape. Players work out with each other on the side and so on. So it's a much different, it's more of a full-time job than it used to be. I just think it's something they probably have to keep an eye on.
It's something that they have to monitor. But the biggest problem for the Texans was that offensive line. It proved to be their undoing. Even though they won the division for the second straight year. You want to hear something very odd about the Houston Texans?
Yes. They've won eight division titles since 2011. And have a tough time advancing. That's exactly right.
Well here's the funny thing. They're like Noah's Ark. They won in 2011 and 2012. They win two at a time. They've never won three in a row and they've never been a wildcard team. And they've never gotten to the AFC Championship game.
But yet they've won eight division titles since 2011, which is one of the higher totals in the league. So this is a big breakout year for them to take that next step. To get to that AFC Championship game. Are the Chiefs a little down? Are the Chargers on their way up?
Is Denver on its way up? You know, the Chiefs have been in the playoffs ten years in a row. Okay, they could tie the NFL record this year. So we know how this league is. We often see last place teams go from last to the playoffs.
We saw it twice last year. The Chargers were the last place team and the commanders were the last place team. In 2023 Washington got all the way to the NFC title game. So Tennessee, Indianapolis.
Wow. You know Jacksonville, are they lurking to steal something away from the Texans? Remember the Texans stole the title a couple years ago. They were a last place team.
And in CJ Stroud's first year. So this league is so unpredictable. That's why what New England did and what Kansas City is doing now. And to a degree Philadelphia. They're like outliers in this league now.
In an era where they want parity. And yet there are teams like the Jets who have been in the playoffs since 2010. The Raiders haven't won a playoff game since 2002. The Dolphins haven't won a playoff game since 2000. So how do you figure this league out?
Let me ask you this question to close things out, Russell. You talk about teams that have been able to turn things around rather quickly. Is there a team that you feel confident in that they will turn things around this upcoming season?
Or is there a team that you think is going to take a big old drop? Well, New England intrigues me because of the hiring of Mike Rabel and the pieces he put together. A lot of physical defenders bolstered the offensive line, got Drake May some help. They needed help with the pass rush. They were the second fewest sacks, I'm sorry, the fewest sacks in the league last year. Imagine that, the New England Patriots for 20 years, one of the better defensive clubs and they've fallen off. So I think New England is a team. I'm not saying they're going to supplant Buffalo. I mean, Buffalo's won the division, you know, five straight years. They can't get to the Super Bowl anymore. So Seattle intrigues me, but I don't think that's a big surprise. They were 10 and 7 last year and they lost out on a very, very odd tiebreaker. A team that, to me, to keep an eye on, maybe on the downswing a bit, could be one of those teams in the NFC North. You know, the Lions lost both their coordinators and their star center just retired yesterday.
Yeah, Ragnow. The Ragnow, that's a big loss for a team that had one of the better offensive lines in the league. Kevin O'Connell was coaching here last year. Sam Darnold's gone, now it's JJ McCarthy. They lost some pieces as well. They revamped their offensive line.
You know what's funny? Remember how good the NFC North was in the Ragnow season last year? Detroit, Green Bay, and Minnesota. They all were one and done in the playoffs.
Yeah. Well, we're all looking for a little bit of parity. Maybe we get another breakthrough this upcoming season.
It's kind of crazy. Here we are in June and we got to wait for some of these roster decisions to still pan out. Who's going to get a new contract?
Who's not? We still have a lot to get into. And it's June. We're a little more than a month away from camp. Oh, yeah. Listen, I do my countdown on my Twitter account, backfootballguru. Today is 58 days to the Hall of Fame game. Wow. Wow. Hey, don't rush the summer now, Russell, okay?
Don't rush the summer. I just do the countdown. I don't control the stars. By the way, I'm watching the Phillies Blue Jays game on my TV here. I think I just saw Aaron Rodgers come up the bat. Aaron Rodgers?
Are you sure he found something else to do in the offseason? No, I'm lying. I'm Pinocchio.
My nose just broke the TV. Oh, no, I'm just saying. I don't know. Maybe he found a side job to do instead of, you know, playing football. We'll see.
Never say never in today's world. Oh, my goodness. Well, then he played baseball like as a kid kid. So maybe he got an itch that he needs to scratch.
It wouldn't surprise me. Hey, man, if he throws a baseball like he throws a football, I want him in right field. Oh, yeah.
Well, yeah, he'd be able to rifle it down without a shadow of a doubt. Hey, Russell, thank you so much for the time and the insight. Tell everybody where they can keep up with you, your writings, all the good stuff. Well, Backs Football Guru is my Twitter slash X account and so on. I put all my work on there.
I'm a filly. Just so you know, I'm affiliated with Sports Illustrated. I don't write for Sports Illustrated. I write for some of the team that's called On SI. And I do pieces on the Bills, the Chargers, the Seahawks and the Panthers. I also do fan side.
I do NFL Spin Zone, Fin Fanatic, Titan size. I keep busy. I love to write. I've been doing this for a long time and I love coming on here and talking to people like you enjoy football. Hey, listen, and certainly appreciate your expertise and willingness to share the information with us all. Hey, Russell, thank you. We'll catch you soon down the line, OK?
Definitely. You got it. Have a good night.
You as well, that Russell Baxter. It's the J.R. sport. We show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network, 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN.
That's 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN. And a lot going on in the NFL is year year long, year round business. Always something to discuss. Man, we got the NHL final starting tomorrow. Stanley Cup finals Thursday.
We got the NBA finals and it looks like the Pacers are already dealing with a little bit of an issue. I'm going to explain on the other side of the break. But right now, you know what? It's time for a news flash. Here he is. This is Rich Acker. You are listening to the J.R. sport brief. It is the J.R. sport brief show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN. That's 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN. I told you about the Indiana Pacers already having a little bit of trouble with Oklahoma City.
It has nothing to do with the basketball court. I'll get into that shortly. Right now. Let's go to the phone lines. 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN. Thank you so much to Russell Baxter, NFL writer historian, for joining us in the last break. Let's hit the phone lines and go to Westchester, New York, and talk to Marty. Marty, you are on the J.R. sport brief show. What's on your mind?
Yes. Good evening, J.R. And I just want to put my two cents in as far as Tom Thibodeau is concerned. This firing was totally unwanted. I just don't understand it. It doesn't make sense to me. Like you said about an hour ago when he started the program. The Knicks were in the wilderness for 20 years before he came aboard. And all he did was take him to the playoffs for rather the last five years.
And even with a team that didn't have as good offenses last year, he went farther in the playoffs than he did last year. So this doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe it does in a way because James Dolan runs the, you know, he runs the organization. And he's been known to fight quite a few head coaches, both in basketball and hockey.
It seems like with the Rangers, he fires the head coach every two years. So, you know, there's really no dark security at Madison Square Garden. There you said it. That's why I'm not surprised at all. I look at it and I'm not blaming anybody. I say that this is more of a, and I'm not even putting a blame on Leon Rose. Everybody knew.
I thought everybody knew. With the roster decisions that the New York Knicks made last year, they were pretty much going to be stuck, OK? I don't think, if I got to look at what the biggest issue was this past season for the New York Knicks, it wasn't so much Tom Thibodeau and who he played and who he didn't play and who he decided to experiment with. It's depth. That's it. And that's not his issue.
This guy is not the man going out there and going shopping. I think if he had a J.R. Smith to pull off the bench to knock down threes, I think he would do it. I think if he had a Jamal Crawford, I think he would certainly use it.
Those pieces weren't there. Like, when you got to look at the Knicks and the biggest, how do I say it? The biggest contributors off the bench are all expected to be smaller, smallish point guards.
What is that doing? And that was the New York Knicks bench. So I'm not going to put that on Thibodeau about who he plays and who he doesn't play.
I'm not mad. Could he have done a better job in regards to the offense? Yes. Would I have liked to see certain guys get in play? Yeah. Would I have liked to see the offense not start and stop with Brunson?
Yeah. But I think all things considered, I wasn't surprised about what we saw this season. Karl-Anthony Towns don't play no defense. Karl-Anthony Towns disappears in spots. We know Brunson is a ridiculous scorer, one of the best in the league.
And Mikel Bridges being now, I don't know, option number three or four with O.G. Ananobie was going to have to figure things out. So, of course, not winning a title after the stupid Knicks put up street signs and all of this nonsense. They want to go out there and fire the coach because the owner is just, he just flies by the seat of his pants. How he feels in the morning is what he does, man.
Yeah. And when you think about it, Tom Tippett, I guess he lasted an eternity at the Garden because five years is a long time for a head coach at Madison Square Garden. But, you know, there won't be any serious backlash because come October, the seats will be filled there. We'll still get there.
Nineteen thousand five hundred, whatever the capacity is. Well, there's a good portion of the fan base who. Well, I don't know if it's just online or whatever the case might be, but there's a big portion of the fan base who felt that that Tom Thibodeau deserved to get fired, that he was due to get gone. People wanted to bring in a new coach. And my perspective is, OK, yeah, sure, you could bring on another coach.
You expect a different result? I don't know what coach is getting anything out of this roster. I think the roster needs some some tinkering and they're a little bit tied up in that regard. So they could bring I'm not even I could care less who the Knicks bring on as their next head coach, because to me, the roster and what they do there is more important. That's right. And also, you have to take into account the fact that they they've traded a lot of draft capital over the last couple of years. So they don't have that flexibility. Yeah.
Yeah. Biggest asset is Karl-Anthony Townsend. I don't I don't know who just gonna wake up and and take him on between him, bridges and and and an OB. I don't I don't know. Maybe the Knicks have some something bigger up their sleeve. I just think it's real hard to believe that's the case.
Like three, four days after the season ends. So I don't know. Maybe maybe they got a maybe they got a magic card somewhere.
Maybe they got a silver bullet, a magic bullet that they're just going to shock the world with. But I'm not holding my breath on that one, Marty. OK. Yeah, me neither. All right. Let's see what what's next.
I'm not I'm not holding my breath, but we'll see. Thank you, Marty. Thank you. Have a good evening to you. Always a pleasure talking to you.
Thank you so much. Shout out to Marty for calling up from Westchester County, New York. You can. And this is why, you know, for all the years that we had conversations of what Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and I use that example. Of course, it's not basketball. It is, I think, a prime example.
Very easy. We heard we would hear the same thing from from Greg Popovich, who certainly did an excellent job, you know, helping to build up the San Antonio Spurs. I mean, the guy fired Bob Hill, put himself in the seat to coach the team and then ended up taking over and building it in his own image. I mean, a lot of great breaks, you know, thinking about David Robinson going down and then being able to add Tim Duncan. But, you know, adding guys like Manu Ginobili and then going ahead and getting Tony Parker, it certainly did not hurt the situation. But both Popovich and Greg Bill Belichick, excuse me, they have both talked about their success as coaches. It's been because of the players.
Flat, done, simple. There's nothing else. Like Bill Belichick just put put a kibosh on on all of that right away when it's just like you want to talk about Brady and Belichick. Like, come on, I'm not I'm not sitting here third all time and wins if I'm not coaching Tom Brady.
It's it's common sense. Coaches can help build the environment. Coaches can go out there and build the morale. They can put together the strategy. But a lot of it, the majority of it, is simply driven by the individuals that you have the opportunity to coach. Done. Where was Tom Thibodeau's bench at?
Oh, he didn't develop one or were they just not good enough? Come on, man. I can't walk outside and turn, you know, try to squeeze water out of a stone. It doesn't work that way. I can't.
I wish if I could, I turn water into wine, but I'm not that guy either. It's the J.R. sport we show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network, 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN. That's 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN. We are going to take a break. We come back on the other side.
Well, I'm going to tell you what the heck is going on with the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City, specifically their travel plans to Oklahoma City. And then let's go. Let's go a little south. Let's go to Dallas. We had a call who hit us up earlier in the show.
K.T. called us from South Carolina. Very optimistic about the Cowboys. It sounds about right. OK, I'm going to give you an update on Michael Parsons showing up to work, not showing up to work, and then we'll get into the guy ultimately who doesn't show up to work. That's Aaron Rodgers. Rylan Stiles is going to join us to talk about the Oklahoma City Thunder. We got so much more to do is the J.R. sport we show the Infinity Sports Network.
