Knicks · Article: "No Shortcuts: Ex-Knick Pete Mickeal owes legendary Euroleague career to Tom Thibodeau" (page 1)

Great article and a lot of other details about the inner working of Thibs on display.

https://empiresportsmedia.com/new-york-k...

Pete Mickeal was dejected. Even after a solid showing in the NBA Shaw Summer Pro League in Boston, Mickeal still couldn’t make the cut.

Jeff Van Gundy, then New York Knicks head coach, told him to wait for his turn. The Knicks, coming off an NBA Finals appearance in the previous season, were loaded at the wings with Latrell Sprewell, Allan Houston, and Glen Rice.

Mickeal, an All-American honorable mention in his senior year, already felt embarrassed when he ended up as the last pick of the 2000 NBA Draft after a productive two-year stint with the Cincinnati Bearcats, one of the best teams in the country at that time.

The Dallas Mavericks used the 58th pick on him but quickly shipped him to New York along with Erick Strickland for John Wallace and Donnell Harvey.

So the news of being relegated to the reserve list was another dampener.

It was Tom Thibodeau, a Van Gundy assistant at that time, who kept his spirits up.

“I was disappointed, and Thibs was always positive, and he said, ‘Listen, man! Just keep working.’ And I would work with Thibs that year,” Mickeal told Empire Sports Media on the phone.

Thibodeau and Mickeal forged a good relationship as they were inseparable that year. Mickeal became Thibodeau’s project. They hit the weight room early in the morning before other Knicks players showed up in their old practice facility in SUNY-Purchase.

I understand people's concerns with him but I think a lot of that get misrepresented. The riding his players into the ground thing is the downside. He loves and trusts his guys and they die on the floor because he loves as trusts them. Its not that he just leaves them out there. Its like when a pitcher is tired but tells the manager he's got the next couple guys for sure. Let me do my thing. Sometimes its the right call, sometimes it isnt, but if you leave him in the pitcher remembers and plays and works harder for that manager and there is a cycle there. They keep pushing each other and it works. We saw it work last year up close. We have also see it overused to the point of diminished returns, so Thibs has some growth room there for sure.

Sure looks like the FO has given him a group of soldiers with enough firepower to make some noise. We'll see.

Teams that finished with best record but failed to get in finals get that “ran into the ground” label. MDA with Suns and Rockets, CLippers with Rivers at the helm, Etc. If Injuries are not obvious, its seens as “falling short”. It is. But we tend to not celebrate the regular season as an accomplishment. As the great Mar-Bu-Li say:
“If your not first, your the same as everyone else”……….
Or “hope there is no sand in the vaseline”!