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THIBODEAU ONCE AGAIN THE SCAPEGOAT OF A BAD BASKETBALL FRANCHISE

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The New York Knicks have been one of the worst franchises in the NBA for over two full decades. They have not been relevant since the 1990’s. All those Knicks teams in the 90’s were not as good as the Michael Jordan Bulls teams back in the day where Airness ruled the courts including Madison Square Garden. The last 5 seasons the Knicks have suddenly been resurrected from the basketball grave yard by the savvy hire of Tom Thibodeau. The Knicks made it all the way to the Eastern Conference finals this season. On the way to the conference finals they knocked off the defending champs, the Boston Celtics. The Knicks would not get by the Indiana Pacers as they lose the conference finals in six games. Most experts would say a little more tinkering on the roster while keeping this team together to play with each other building up that chemistry should be enough to get further next season and beyond. The Knicks instead think this is as far as Thibodeau is going to get us. They fire him as they look for the sexy new replacement to get them to the promised land of that NBA championship. Flying off the handle has still not gotten this franchise a NBA championship in 52 years. That’s more than a drought this franchise has going on with this team as bad decisions have followed them like dark clouds.

Tom Thibodeau has been screwed by every franchise he has been head coach of. It started with the Chicago Bulls where the front office blamed him for wearing out their MVP Derrick Rose with heavy minutes even in games that were lopsided. Then in Minnesota a season after finally getting the Timberwolves back to the post-season, Thibs could not control Jimmy Butler who wanted out of town in a trade. He was head coach who did not get along with both front offices in his first two head coaching jobs. The Bulls General Manager during Thibodeau’s 5 years in Chicago, John Paxson, wanted to physically punch the coach because they did not see eye to eye. In Minnesota Thibodeau did not get along with the business side of the game with their front office. The 3rd season in Minnesota the Timberwolves started off the season with a losing record which gave the front office a better excuse to terminate Thibodeau. The Bulls fired Thibodeau and hired Fred Hoilberg where things turned even uglier in Chicago. At least Minnesota rebounded. Since Michael Jordan retired from the Bulls, the Tom Thibodeau era has been by far the best basketball the fan base has seen. When Knicks President Leon Rose says,”Our organization is singularly focused on winning championships for our fans.”

Leon Rose excuses for the firing of Tom Thibodeau for what could be multiple reasons. The Thibs defense did not do well versus the Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals. Thibodeau teams are usually solid on the defensive side of the ball. Another reason is the creativity of offense especially in the playoffs. The Knicks relied too much on Jalen Brunson on the offense. Obviously they think Thibs is just a bridge guy when it comes to coaching. A guy that will get you to the playoffs consistently and perhaps some years like this season, get your team deep into the post-season. In 13 regular seasons as head coach, Tom Thibodeau has a winning record all-time of 578-420 which is .579 winning %. His post-season record all-time is a losing record at 48-55 which is a .466 winning percentage. However in 13 seasons he has only 4 losing seasons. For the Knicks he had back to back years of this team winning 50 or more games which has not happened since the 1990’s. The Knicks have seen the post-season 4-5 years he has been in New York. Thibodeau’s 24 playoff wins as a Knicks head coach is 17 more victories then the team’s last 13 coaches combined. He had a winning record as the Knicks head coach which was 24-23. Before Thibs took the Knicks job, New York missed the playoffs 7 straight seasons.

Who will the Knicks turn to now? Michael Malone or Rick Pitino? Could they pry Dan Hurley from his University of Connecticut job? Can they bring back an old face like Jeff Van Gundy? I’m sure the list will include some more of the hottest college coaches. Tom Thibodeau will get another head coaching job in the NBA. I think Thibs is not just a bridge gap style of head coach. He took the Bulls to the Eastern Conference Finals that featured the dream team Lebron James built with the Heat joining forces with Dwyane Wade and luring Chris Bosch to South Beach. I think Derrick Rose would have hurt his knee eventually. It was not Thibs’ fault for keeping him in a game they had wrapped up. That knee was most likely a ticking time bomb waiting for any moment to blow up on Rose. I think front offices don’t give Thibs the chances he deserves to really get the guys he wants and use them the way he wants to. Tom got one of his old guys from the Timberwolves by getting Karl-Anthony Towns in a trade. You can see the Knicks were building this up every year and getting better every season. I just don’t understand how you would not give him at least one more year to try to get over the hump. It’s the mentality of New York sports to get drastic and make a move when you do not have to. I think Leon Rose, the blowhard the Knicks have, is wanting more credit. Front offices will always doom guys like Thibs who only wants to do things his way. Yes, stubborn, but his recipe has worked. The Knicks right now may be a piece away. Maybe more. Now I hope the Knicks find themselves in basketball purgatory next season. You’d rather be worst than stuck in the middle of the NBA with clowns to the right and jokers to the left. Then Leon will feel how the Big Apple takes a bite out of him.

JIMMY BUCKETS HAS TORCHED EVERY PLACE HE HAS PLAYED

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I don’t think any teams that Jimmy Butler has played for in his entire career will retire his jersey in the future. Any reunions or future team functions from all these teams Jimmy has played for, his invite is lost in the mail. He has burned the bridges of every organization he has ever played for. His latest torch job is South Beach as he put the heat on the Miami Heat for his latest exit out the door kicking and screaming. Pat Riley plays the newest Batman style villain in the mind set of Jimmy Buckets, a nickname he earned torching the net on the basketball hardwood. Riley orchestrates a deal sending Butler to the west coast where he will team up with Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors. Good riddance thoughts have to be playing in the mind of the GM Riley of the Heat. Now they can move on from this South Beach saga that has gave this franchise the publicity they did not want. In weeks and weeks dealing with Jimmy Buckets’ exit strategy. Now the Heat, like the other teams in Butler’s past, close this chapter for good.

Jimmy Butler is 35 years old and has played in the NBA for 14 seasons. He was originally drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the 1st round of the 2011 NBA draft 30th overall from Marquette University. He played six seasons in Chicago and Miami. In between Chicago and Miami, he had stops in Minnesota along with Philadelphia. This year Butler has only played in 25 games as he was suspended multiple times by the Heat unhappy with the organization. Jimmy Buckets this season has averaged 17 point per game with 5.2 rebounds while dishing out 4.8 assists per game. Over his entire career, Butler averages 18.3 PPG, 5.3 TRB, and 4.3 Assists. Butler is a 6 x All-Star, 5 x All-NBA and he is one of those rare guys that plays solid defense as he has been selected 5 x All Defense as well. In 2022-23 he earned himself Eastern Conference Finals MVP. Right now the Miami Heat are the number 7th seed in the Eastern Conference. The Golden State Warriors need the Butler spark as they the 11th seed right now and obviously wanting to move up past the play in post-season to get a better seed.

In Chicago Jimmy Butler once called his head coach Fred Hoiberg soft, and he was a hired puppet at the time. He butted heads with Derrick Rose as he moved up the food chain on the roster depth charts. He questioned the younger players and exchanged unpleasant words with other Bulls veteran players on the way out of Chicago such as Dwayne Wade and Rajon Rondo. The Bulls traded him to Minnesota to reunite with his former head coach Tom Thibodeau who helped Butler develop into all around player. The Bulls would only make the playoffs once since trading Butler and were dispatched quickly in 2022 by the Bucks in the very first round. In Minnesota things started well as it always does when Butler first arrives into town. The Timberwolves had assembled a nice young group of talented players. Minnesota would make the playoffs in Butler’s first season, but they were quickly dispatched by the Houston Rockets. Butler was fed up with the surrounding cast and he made his thoughts clear to the media and the GM of the Timberwolves. Butler would turned down a extension by Minnesota and request a trade. The one famous practice where Butler teams up with all the bench players in a scrimmage to play the starters. Jimmy Buckets’ team of scrubs won the scrimmage as he would yell to the GM at the time, Scott Layden, “You fucking need me.”

Jimmy Butler then was traded to Philadelphia. The 76ers relationship would last only one season. Butler aggressively challenged the Head Coach, Brett Brown, of the 76ers. Butler created a rift with his Head Coach speaking out in negative ways in a film session about how the offense was run. The 76ers has Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons with Butler which gave them a solid three in the starting line up. Despite Coach Brown’s offensive strategies, Butler took it upon himself to take over the 4th quarter with plenty of highlights that turned into game winners. That 2018-19 season, the 76ers made it to the second round of the playoffs versus the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference. Butler played outstanding as the series went the full length. The Raptors would eventually win the series and went on to win their first title ever. In the end Jimmy proved the offense ran better with the ball going through him. In the off-season, the 76ers were excited about the younger talent of Tobias Harris and moved on from Butler who could have had gotten a extension. Butler would get revenge on the 76ers being in a Heat uniform and knocking out Philadelphia years later. Butler would then say, “Tobias Harris over me?!”

Then with the Miami Heat, Jimmy Butler continued his epic post-season moments. The Miami Heat were the first ever play in seed to get the the NBA finals. It was Jimmy Buckets who made that happen in 2023 where the Heat stormed through the Eastern conference. The Heat took down the number one seed Milwaukee Bucks as Jimmy averaged a sick 37.6 point per game in that series. The Heat finished off the Knicks and then the Celtics to move on to play the Nuggets in the finals. The Heat would win game two of the series versus the Nuggets, but Denver would prevail the rest of the way and win their first NBA title. It’s pretty much the same story that keeps happening in Jimmy life in his professional career. The coach and the surrounding cast around Butler. Then the front office not being able to get him the players he needs to get the job done. Butler would miss the team’s flights. Skip out on mandatory team functions. He would walk out of practices fed up. Eventually the match was lit and the Heat franchise would go up in flames. Now as things are smoldering and both parties have moved on without each other.

New life for Jimmy Butler with the Golden State Warriors. The big three will feature Stephon Curry, Draymond Green and now Jimmy Buckets. How will this work for a Warriors team that are about at the end of their ropes with this dynasty that has been over for the last few seasons? Is Butler there to save the day & this dynasty from the plug being pulled? Curry is the number 1 guy on this team. Can Butler coexist with Curry being the number one guy? This may be the best team that Butler has played for. He has played with aging washed up NBA veterans at the end of their playing careers. Mostly Butler has been surrounded by a younger cast. Curry and Green are on a different playing level then any of the guys Butler has played with before as they can still get the job done every night on the hardwood. Let’s face the facts this is Butler’s last chance. If he gets out of control, he may just as well hang up the shoes for good. The Golden State Warriors head coach is Steve Kerr who played with Michael Jordan and won titles with him as a player. He has coached all these Warriors championships with Curry and Green. Kerr is no Fred Hoiberg. He by far is the most decorated head coach Butler has ever played for. Playing with Jordan who did everything including throwing the kitchen sink at winning the game. Butler has that winning is everything mentality. Kerr may know how to utilize Butler’s talents to mesh with Curry’s like the splash brothers where they both get the ball enough. Kerr could pound that team concept into Butler’s noggin. NO I in TEAM. You could say Butler has that Jordan mentality in him. Even Jordan needed a cast surrounding him to win the titles. Before that he was a one man show. Jordan changed his game when he finally got guys like Scottie Pippen and others to play with. Butler does not have to be just Butler and could use this opportunity into a possible championship he has been seeking since day one. The Warriors need some kind of spark. Now they once again have that three-headed monster that every NBA team needs. This will be interesting how this goes down. We know these guys can score points. The NBA does not play defense like they did decades ago. Defensively adding Butler with Curry and Green, that’s something to watch. All three guys can can play both sides of the court and do it well. The Butler move here by the Warriors will either launch this dynasty back into some kind of relevance or the time bomb is slowly ticking away to blow it all up. We will wait and see if drama occurs and if Butler once again burns this time the Golden Gate Bridge, leaving elsewhere.

BLOSSOMING YOUNG ROSE WILTED BUT SURVIVED 15 YEARS IN THE NBA

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After the Michael Jordan era in the 1990′,s Chicago hoops turned very sour. The Bulls were the ultimate disgrace and a bottom feeder in the NBA for several years. To this day after the Jordan retired, the Bulls had a few moments of glory, but mostly black clouds have lingered up above the United Center. Before the 2008-09 season, the Bulls found some luck in the basketball world getting the lottery number one pick as the ball bounced their way. The Bulls’ chances to get the number one pick were very slim. The Bulls used that number one pick on local Chicago kid Derrick Rose, who played hoops at Simeon High School and was one best basketball players in the city and the state. Rose played his college ball out of Memphis University and he was looking to be the savior of Bulls basketball. It started out with a bang but ended up as what if, as that is the Chicago way in this city’s sports landscape. The smell of roses led to a wilted flower in need of water as he had to go elsewhere for that. Many thought his career was done but he survived although he was never the same player. Had moments of the old Derrick Rose. Some say he is a future Hall of Famer. Did he do enough on the court to get selected to that prestigious honor?

Derrick Rose, obviously drafted by his home team the Bulls, ended his career in the town he played his college ball in – the Memphis Grizzlies. Rose would play 15 seasons in the NBA with six different teams and some of those years he played for more than one team. Rose played seven seasons in Chicago. He would suit up for the Knicks for 4 seasons, Pistons 2 seasons, Timber wolves 2 seasons, 1 season with Cavaliers, and the Grizzlies. Rose came into the league like gang busters as he was quick and could beat you to the lane. He had a sniper shot that could hit from anywhere. He could dazzle you with a nice feed to any one of his teammates on the floor for an easy bucket. His first season in a Bulls uniform he was Rookie of the Year and awarded a spot on the All Rookie NBA team in 2008-09 season. In his third season, the 2010-11 season was magical as the Bulls had the best record in the league at 62-20 and almost made you forget about Michael Jordan. Just for a second. This Rose-led Bulls team stormed themselves all the way to the Eastern Conference finals and fell victim to that dream team of the Miami Heat. If you hate Lebron James with his decision to take his talents to South Beach where he assembled the big three which included Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosch. The Heat dispatched the Bulls in 5 games. What if Lebron stayed in Cleveland? Could the Bulls have gotten by him and that Cavaliers team he abandoned or perhaps another team? That was the year when Rose was the youngest ever player to win an MVP award in the NBA at 22 years of age. He made the All-NBA team as well in that 2010-2011 season.

Then the Bulls the following season would once again be playoff bound in the 2011-2012 season. They opened up against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round. They blame head coach Tom Thibodeau for having Derrick Rose in the game as the Bulls were up by double digit points. Rose would injure his left knee as he tore his ACL. You could add another “What If” to this situation. Rose would miss the entire 2012-2013 season to recover. Many fans and the Bulls front office blamed Thibodeau, whose philosophy as a coach is when you have a lead keep your foot on the gas pedal. If Rose blamed his coach for the injury, why then did he play for him years later in New York and Minnesota. Rose had that explosiveness to the net which is a blessing but a curse for some players as the grind on the knees can easily snap that ACL. It could happen any given day at any given time. Rose would recover but was not the same player as he once was. Unfortunately that ACL in his left knee was only the beginning for his issues on his basketball legs. In 2013, Rose had a pair of tears to his meniscus in his right knee. In 2015 another tear to the meniscus, this time back to his left knee. Rose definitely lost more than a few steps from being that MVP at the age of 22.

You have to respect Derrick Rose to continue to overcome these injuries and still play a significant role for an NBA team. Rose had to change his game no doubt. He would become a weapon with his below the rim style over making the splashy dunk as he did not have that explosiveness due to the knee issues. He played a different role coming off the bench mostly, Teams would look from him as a quick spark. On October 31st of 2018 in Minnesota, wearing a Timber Wolves uniform Rose scored 50 points against the Utah Jazz. In 2020-2021 he was important to the Knicks team playing solid basketball off the bench as the 6th man which he almost won that award. Who was Rose playing for in 2020-2021? His old coach from the Bulls, good ole Tom Thibodeau who the Bulls front office marched out of town back in the days.

At the end, Derrick Rose averaged 17.4 points per game in the NBA. Rose averaged 3.2 rebounds per game while dishing out at least 5.2 assists per game. Those are not bad numbers. Rose is only 36 years old. In basketball years are like dog years so his frame is much older as the work to get into shape to play in the NBA have to be excruciating at that age. Rose would end up being 3 x all-star. His numbers don’t jump off the page at you but the Basketball Hall of Fame have guys with less credentials than Rose had. I was not a fan of Rose when on one media day right before one of those NBA seasons was about to start, he was talking about his contract instead of giving insight to the reporters on how the Bulls were going to do that particular season. When athletes cry they need more money to feed the family or give to their entourage, it just makes people like Johnny Lunch Pail spit out venomous words against these primadonnas making millions. Of course you can defend Rose and others mouthing off like that at a young age. Young and stupid… we have all been there. Overall my opinion is that Rose is worthy of the Basketball Hall of Fame. I like his work ethic to overcome those injuries. I don’t think he did enough in his entire career to get that honor. I think if he had two more seasons healthier under his belt before the first major knee surgery, then you can put him in. If I was the Bulls, I would not retire his number. Not sure if the Bulls have their own Hall of Fame of sorts like many franchises do. Definitely they should have a spot for a Chicago kid playing for the home crowd winning an MVP award. Derrick Rose still brings the Chicago Bulls fans the best memories of any other small amount of them we have after the Michael Jordan era. What if the Rose did not wilt in that playoff game versus the 76ers? Maybe the Bulls could have had another title. Let’s not forget about the people behind the scenes. Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest – the owner and the front office at the time. The Chicago’s sports landscape has never had the sharpest tools in the shed when it comes to the owners and their henchmen.

RIP: MUNTUMBO THE BASKETBALL FLY SWATTER

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The NBA was the shit back in the 1980’s and 1990’s. It was a different game on the hardwood than in today’s game. Many players pride their selves on the defensive side of the ball. It was game where if you dared make a drive up the middle of the basket, you were going to get hit hard on defense. Nowadays if a player sneezes on the other side of the court, they get called for a foul. Stats like rebounds and blocked shot meant something doing the dirty work. The man in the middle from the Democratic Republic of the Congo located in Africa specialized in the block shot for18 seasons in the NBA. Played his college ball at Georgetown and was selected in the first round of the 1991 NBA draft 4th overall by the Denver Nuggets. Dikembe Mutumbo made a living clearing the middle and swatting down weak ass shots that people tried to get away with. He even had a finger wag warning you after he blocked the shot – don’t let him see you do it again or their will be consequences. Mutumbo was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. After basketball, he became a Global Ambassador for the game. He created his own foundation to give back to the community in Africa where he grew up. A gentle giant off the court but a guy who patrolled the middle of the floor like a moat with swimming gators. He played hard, he gave back, and unfortunately he passed away far too young this week at the age of 58 dealing with brain cancer.

Dikembe Mutumbo played for six teams in his NBA career. He played five seasons with three teams that started with the Nuggets who drafted him. He also played 5 seasons with the Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets. Mutumbo played one season with the 3 other teams that include stops in Philadelphia, New York, and New Jersey. He will remember mostly for the two teams that retired his jersey in Denver and Atlanta. Mutumbo made his mark in the game as he stood 7’2″ tall – a skyscraper on the courts with giants. From the start of his NBA career, he was selected all rookie in 1991-92 season. He was an 8x all-star. He won the top defensive player of the year 4 times. He was selected All NBA 3 times. He had the most blocked shots in the NBA three times. He was a 3x total rebound champion. He was selected to six all-defensive teams. Mutumbo is ranked number 20 all-time in NBA history with 12,359 total rebounds. Mutumbo loved to block shots as he ranks number two all-time in NBA history with 3,289 swats. Number one in blocks is another NBA Hall of Famer, another former Rockets center, Hakeem Olajuwon who had 3,830 blocked shots.

Many athletes will not give back to the community they came from. Dikembe Mutumbo gave back when he played basketball and after he retired from the hardwood courts for good. Mutumbo retired from the NBA in the 2008-09 season. In 1997 he formed his own charity organization called the Dikembe Mutumbo foundation. The money would help his community in the Congo with health, education, and quality of living. His foundation helped build a 170 bed hospital in the capital city called Kinshasa. That hospital has treated a half a million people and counting. When he retired from the NBA, he worked charitable and humanitarian causes. He became the first NBA Global Ambassador. Mutumbo worked hard on a development of the African Basketball League. Which could be another pipeline of players to the NBA. It also keeps players’ dreams alive playing the game in an organized league back at home.

I loved Dikembe Mutumbo’s Geico commercial where he swats a box of sugared cereal a kid tries to put in the parent’s shopping cart. Then he says…

That’s how he played defense like an enforcer at the front door of that sophisticated night club keeping the riff raff out and away from the net. I remember watching all those great Bulls teams with Michael Jordan and those 1990’s six titles.

I remember Mutumbo facing off against Dennis Rodman the time he played for the Bulls. Two of the best defensive players of all-time locked in an epic battle below the rim. Mutumbo played solid against the Bulls in the 1990’s like every team in the league. Mutumbo only averaged 9.8 points per contest. But he averaged 10.3 rebounds a game. He would give his team extra shots on offense and stops on defense. I remember In 1994 he was still playing for the Nuggets and they were the 8th seed in the Western Conference. They were facing the number one seed at the time; it was the Seattle Supersonics. The Nuggets were the first ever 8th seed to knock off a number one seed in NBA post-season history as Mutumbo contributed in that post-season series. I learned recently reading that King Lebron James when he first entered the NBA with the Cavaliers he drove through the middle and took a elbow to the face by Mutumbo. The King had a fractured face. Now that is priceless.

Dikeembe Mutumbo was in Atlanta undergoing a treatment on a brain tumor. They lost him. Another case of how cancer can spread and just eat a human’s body like rust to a car. Way too young at the age of 58. He had that humbling smile. That deep throated laugh. The accent with the right index finger wagging is imprinted in many NBA fans for life. He was never kicked out of a game wagging his finger at another player. Mutumbo would find some referees give him a technical for the wagging as the opposing team got some free throws out of the deal. This guy was a giant and that’s most of the battle to play basketball. He still came to America and competed with some of the world’s best basketball players in college and at the pro level. To move to a foreign country for college and standing out with an accent and being so tall is not easy to get use to. He was smart as he spoke 9 different languages. He defined his skills to play college ball and beyond like the NBA. He put the work in day and night to perfect his craft so he could play 18 seasons at a high level. Off the court he helped people throughout the world. Plus he was a family man with a son, Ryan. Ryan followed his father’s footsteps to Georgetown and played basketball there. Now he’s transferring to Georgia Tech to play hoops as Ryan was born in Atlanta. Mutumbo has touched many people in only 58 years. His life should be celebrated and I bet it will be. I’m sure God will draft him in the first round as one of his angels.