← The Dan Patrick Show
Loading summary
Transcript125 lines
- [00:00]
Dan Patrick
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:05]
Lester Holt
NBC Nightly News legacy isn't handed down or NBC News. I'm Tom Brokaw.
- [00:09]
Dan Patrick
We hope to see you back here.
- [00:10]
Lester Holt
I'm Lester Holt. It's carried forward. Tom Yamas is there for us. Firefighters are still working around the clock. As the world changes, we look for what endures. We are coming on the air with.
- [00:20]
Dan Patrick
Breaking news right now.
- [00:21]
Lester Holt
We look for a constant and from one era to the next, trust is the anchor for NBC Nightly News. I'm Tom Yamas. A new chapter begins. NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas.
- [00:33]
Dan Patrick
Evenings on NBC. You are listening to the Dan Patrick show on Fox Sports Radio. Well, well, well, that was a surprise yesterday afternoon. We'll dive into the firing of Tom Thibodeau and the replacements for him. 8773-DP-SHoM email address dpdanpatrick.com Twitter handle @dpshow Robert or a big shot Bob a little bit later on. And your phone calls are always welcome. Operator Tyler sitting by. He'll take your phone calls. Play of the day poll questions Stat of the day. Good morning, those watching on Peacock, our streaming partner, or listening on our great radio affiliates around the country, including Fox Sports Radio, iheartradio as well. NBA Finals start tomorrow. Pacers at the Thunder. Pacers getting nine. The Stanley cup final starts tonight with the Oilers a slight favorite in this series. A against the Panthers in a rematch. And it's time to celebrate. It's time to break up the Colorado Rockies. They won their first series of the year. How about a round of applause for your Colorado Rockies against the Marlins. Our Colorado Rockies. Plenty of seeds still available with that game against Miami, the Marlins. Wow. It was like a rumor that there was a baseball game. And that's where you could probably be talking to somebody and a player could say, hey, shh, because it said paid attendance around 5,000. There's no way that looked like there was about maybe six or seven hundred people there. That's, that's where your conversation would echo in the ballpark. All right. 877-3-DP show email address dp@danpatrick.com Twitter handle @DP show the New York Knicks. And we wondered if you were going to label what kind of season they had. Did they have a successful season? Can you have a successful season and fire your coach? That would be my question because I would think a lot of Knicks fans would say we had a successful season. I mean, you had a chance to go to the NBA finals, but you fired your coach. Successful. Now we might look at this and say, Tom Thibodeau took them as far as he could take them, and they need to bring in somebody, somebody who has experience, somebody who's won a title before, perhaps. Now, if you go back to when Michael Malone was fired by Denver, and I said on the show, after he was fired, Tom Thibodeau has to get to the Eastern Conference finals. It feels like, if not, then Michael Malone will be the next head coach of the Knicks. He's. He's got a title in Denver. He got fired at the end of the season. His father was a Knicks assistant coach. He knows, he knows the, the. The landscape there. And, you know, Thibodeau was doing a great job. Now, did I think he was going to get fired? I didn't. And he did get to the Eastern Conference finals, but all of a sudden, out of nowhere, you're going to fire him. Now, we might look at this in three years and say, you know what? That's a tough decision, but they made the right decision. There's still. There's a surprise, or maybe it's there. There's the element of shock, but I'm not surprised because nothing surprises me anymore. It feels like in sports, it's like, okay, and this was one of those where I went, wow, okay. And I don't know if Michael Malone is going to be the number one candidate. I'm looking at the odds right now, and it's got. Michael Malone is your favorite, a big favorite. And then it's Johnny Bryant, I believe he's an assistant coach with Cleveland. Jay Wright, who retired from college basketball, and he's been in broadcasting. Mike Budenholzer, who's always available. Rick Brunson, okay, have father, son combination there. Monty Williams, Taylor Jenkins, John Calipari, Danny Hurley, Jeff Van Gundy. Those are just some of the names. Now, the odds are long with a lot of those, it feels like Michael Malone is your. He's. He's the number one candidate by far. I don't think you fire somebody without knowing who you're going to hire. I've always felt that do I think the Knicks would make this kind of decision? And I thought maybe that Tom Thibodeau, you know, he. Everybody was pointing their fingers at Carl Anthony Towns. He was getting the blame. They weren't going to, you know, I guess focus in on Tom Thibodeau. Seemed like, okay, survive this. You're not firing Carl Anthony Towns. And then all of a sudden, it's like, boom. Now people get caught up in who pulled the trigger. Does that matter? Leon Rose is basically, he's running the team. He's your president of basketball operations or whatever. I'd call it a gm, but he's a former agent and Tom Thibodeau was his, you know, one of his clients. They just signed Tom Thibodeau to a, an extension. I got $30 million extension last July. Okay, are you going to make these moves? You trade away Randall and D. Vincenzo, you get Carl Anthony Towns, okay, You got Mikhail Bridges, like, okay, here's our lineup. And then you get to the Eastern Conference finals, and you'd say, all right, you know, that's pretty good. Now, Carl Anthony Towns didn't play defense. People are surprised you got a head coach who's a defensive minded guy. Jalen Brun's not a good defensive player. It feels like they might have overachieved a little bit here, but I don't know if ownership said, you know, the Celtics weren't there, Cavaliers weren't there, we should have beaten the Pacers. We had home court advantage. We should be playing in the NBA Finals. You know, we, we, we don't have depth here. We use our starters too much. And then all of a sudden, Thibodeau started using his bench a little bit more in the series. And I don't know what the tipping point was. I don't know if that's one of those irrational moments where the owner goes, fire him. Wait, we just gave him a $30 million extension. I don't care. Fire. And then your agent, who's now your boss, is the one who's firing you. But then he helped sign you to a $30 million, and you're on the hook to pay Tom Thibodeau all of that money. I mean, you feel like you've graduated from the old way of doing business with the New York Knicks. Like, okay, now they're respectable. You know, they're, it's a good, good team. You got a respected coach, front office owner seems to be out of the way. You know, former Knicks are now allowed back in the building. You know, okay, we're, we're moving forward here. And then all of a sudden it's like, put on the brakes. I'll take you back to. After the loss, Game 6. Jalen Brunson was asked this question. Jalen, when you, you talk about the confidence, obviously I feel like nobody takes more criticism than Tom, and this team obviously has turned around during his tenure. Do you kind of feel that going forward he's the same guy to lift you guys the Rest of the way, that next level.
- [08:04]
Lester Holt
Is that a real question right now? You just asked me if I believe that, if he's the right guy. Yes.
- [08:12]
Dan Patrick
Thanks, guys. And, you know, I agreed with what Brunson was saying. Whether you feel otherwise, what are you going to say in that moment now? I would have said, why do you think he is still the right guy? I want Brunson to tick off things that Thibodeau does. If I'm a reporter, I would say, well, why do you think he is still the guy to lead the Knicks? And then you could get Brunson to tell us what he sees with his head coach. But once again, we might look back on two years, three years, and go, that was smart decision. I mean, I'll go back to when Doug Collins got fired in Chicago. Extremely popular. They brought in an unknown as far as coaching, Phil Jackson, who had coached in the cba. And then people were like, phil Jackson. And then Phil Jackson came in, and the rest is history. We've seen where, you know, teams make a drastic move. Go back to Alex Smith when he was the quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, and all of a sudden, you're going to go up in the draft to get Patrick Mahomes. And we went, why do you need Patrick Mahomes? Alex Smith, they realized they could only get to a certain level. And now you look at that move as one of the great draft picks in the history of the NFL, a draft pick that changed the NFL. But you had to make, you know, a gut move. And they've had bad coaching, coaching hires in New York. They've had bad rosters. I mean, the one constant has been the ownership there. But it feels like they move past that finally. And then this. This one feels like a. Oh, boy, is this the same old Knicks here? Yeah. Marvin.
- [10:03]
Lester Holt
Another one from a coaching standpoint. When the Buccaneers got rid of Tony Dungey and got Jon Gruden, they were on the cusp so many times, going to conference championship games, and they needed somebody to take them over the hump.
- [10:16]
Dan Patrick
Yeah. I mean, sometimes you make these moves and they work out, and then we applaud you. And then other times, you make a move. I mean, look at the 49ers with Trey Lance. Like, hey, this is our quarterback. We're all in on this guy. We're going up to get him. This. This guy's going to be the difference. We're going to win a Super Bowl. We're going back to the Super Bowl. And then all of a sudden, it's like, Trey Lance can't play. And then you get Brock Purdy, and that saved jobs there. But you made a decision, and it could have cost you your job. And then you end up drafting Brock Purdy with the last pick. Like, strange how these things work out. This guy was replaced. This guy, you know, took us to a championship. This guy can only get us so far, whether it's a player or a coach. But with Tom Thibodeau, I mean, we've seen him in Chicago, we've seen him in Minnesota, we saw him in New York. He's a respected coach. And maybe this is, you know, giving. Given his system, given the players he has, this is as far as he's going to go. I would say, though, whoever coaches the Knicks, I'd get a little more depth and I would get somebody who might be able to make up for Carl Anthony Town's lack of defense. I can't blame Tom Thibodeau for Carl Anthony Towns not being able to play defense. When teams are singling you out, they're just running pick and rolls. I mean, there's nothing you can do. Carl Anthony Towns had one block shot in an entire series. He's seven feet tall. He had one block shot. Yeah. Se.
- [11:51]
Lester Holt
Yeah. Is that block shot thing more just about effort?
- [11:55]
Dan Patrick
Could be position, but I would say, can't you accident? I mean, I got Brunson, who has more block shots. I would say effort, positioning, maybe wanting to be in a situation where you want to block a shot, but that is kind of surprising. Yeah. Paulie.
- [12:15]
Lester Holt
Do you guys find yourselves torn with this one because the Knicks history suggests most of their moves don't work out while also respecting the ownership for trying something and eating $30 million to try to get that one title? It's very hard. Where to go on this one?
- [12:35]
Dan Patrick
Okay. I like Tom Thibodeau. I don't think he is an elite coach. I think he's a very good coach. But, I mean, I've seen what's happened in Boston. I don't think they have an elite coach, but they end up winning or they've won a championship. Like, it's weird. Michael Malone is a very good coach. He got fired by Denver. There are times when you go, george, Carl, I think, got fired after being. He was coach of the Year. He got fired after winning coach of the year. Yes. Eden. Yeah. I feel like the one thing you can't criticize the Knicks for is not trying. Over the last 25 years, they've tried. They've thrown everything against the wall. To see if it would stick. Everything this is to me that's actually the problem is that they don't stick to anything. Well, whoever comes in, how high is that bar? How long do you get in that job if you don't win a championship or at least get to the NBA championship? Right. Because Thibodeau got you to the Eastern Conference finals. That next coach who comes in, we expect this. And it can't be. There's this grace period where you go, you know, we got a two year plan. No, I would expect you to get to the NBA final, at least to the Eastern Conference finals. And we don't know, if I look at the east right now, Indiana is still going to be Indiana next year. I don't know what you're going to have with the Bucks with Giannis or Philadelphia with the 76ers. Jason Tatum in Boston. I still think Orlando is a quality team. Cleveland is going to have their core four unless they make a move. I mean, the east is open ish to. Okay, we got two teams we got to worry about. We got to worry about the Pacers and we have to worry about the Cavs because I, I think the Celtics are going to look a little different and you're probably not going to have Jason Tatum for most of the year. This is the window of opportunity if you're going to try to get back and, and at least compete for a title. Okay, but you, you got two years, it feels like before the vultures start to circle here. Yes.
- [14:54]
Lester Holt
Marvin and I think Tibbs got fired because of two things. One, the game one loss when they were up by 14 with less than three minutes left. And you let that game slip from your fingers at home during the game one. And this was their year. Everyone was out. All you had to do was beat the Pacers, and it's a team that you thought you could beat. You already beat the Celtics. Cleveland was out. Milwaukee's not in. All you got to do is beat the Pacers, who you guys match up well with, and you guys were confident against and you guys lose that. So I'm sure that had to be the breaking point for the ownership.
- [15:25]
Dan Patrick
Yeah, but part of the problem is people didn't watch the Pacers. And we looked at the Pacers and we go, the Pacers. And then you watch the Pacers and you go, oh, wow, they're pretty good. And you know, and I, I blame that on networks not really covering the other teams. I mean, even Scott Van Pelt said on his podcast, and, you know, I'M paraphrasing kind of like I'm embarrassed. I didn't realize how good the Pacers are because we get fed the same teams over and over and over, and nobody cared. People are going to come away from this with OKC and go, boy, they're really good. They've been really good all year long. And I think the perception was, you got to get past the Pacers. They're not any good. They play in Indiana. Like, wait a minute. Watch them play and tell me what your opinion is. Yes.
- [16:11]
Lester Holt
I think that's crazy.
- [16:13]
Dan Patrick
You weren't supposed to get past the Celtics. You weren't supposed to get that far at all. And now that you did, it's still not good enough. You're supposed to get past the team you met there.
- [16:20]
Lester Holt
You weren't supposed to be there anyway.
- [16:22]
Dan Patrick
And it's not like this season, you load it up and it's like, we're all in this one year. This is the year we gotta do it. Nobody thought that heading into the season, like, you know, I could see the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals. That nobody saw that. Well, the Cavs were injured, the Celtics were injured, and the door was wide open. Right. But. But you're right. I think getting this far made it harder to fire Thibodeau. Because if things would have played out like we thought, he. He wouldn't have gotten this far. And it's almost like, damn, he got to the Eastern Conference finals. Yeah. He's still not the right guy for us. So I think it might have made it tougher. I think that they thought about this for a while. I don't think this is one of those where ownership or management went firing. Wait, let's think about this. No. Firing. Yes. And that's when they were like, no, you know what we'll do? This is how we get rid of them. Let's trade for Carl Anthony Towns. He's already gotten him fired once. That'll be how we get Tibs out again. We'll get Carl Anthony Towns, will have him fired twice. Yeah. And then we're free. Do you think that Tibbs wanted Carl Anthony Towns? Yes.
- [17:30]
Lester Holt
Yes.
- [17:31]
Dan Patrick
Okay. Stat of the Day, brought to you by Panini America. The official trading cards of the Dan Patrick Show. First hour, brought to you by Express employment professionals. Express helps people in all industries find work. And the sweet spot is logistics roles. Express never charges you a fee to find a job. Go to expresspros.com take a break. We'll come up with our poll question phone calls as well Back after this. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows@foxsportsradio.com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live. Hey, Steve Covino. And I'm Rich Davis. And together we're Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You can catch us weekdays from 5 to 6, 7pm Eastern, 2 to 4.
- [18:17]
Lester Holt
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course, the iHeartRadio app.
- [18:21]
Dan Patrick
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich? We talk about everything. Life, sports, relationships, what's going on in the world. We have a lot of fun talking about the stories behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture. Stories that, well, other shows don't seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact that we've been friends for the last 20 years and still work together, I mean, that says something, right? So check us out. We're. We like to get you involved, too. Take your phone calls, chop it up, as they say. I'd say the most interactive show on.
- [18:48]
Lester Holt
Fox Sports Radio, maybe the most interactive.
- [18:50]
Dan Patrick
Show on planet Earth. Be sure to check out Covino and Rich live on Fox Sports radio and the iHeartradio app from 5 to 7pm Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific. And if you miss any of the live show, just search Covino and Rich wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, on social media, that's Covino and Rich.
- [19:05]
Lester Holt
Hi, Zoe Saldana. Welcome to T Mobile. Here's your new iPhone 16 Pro on us. Thanks. And here's my old phone to trade in. You don't need to trade in. When you switch to T mobile. We'll give you a new iPhone 16 Pro. Plus we'll help you pay off your old Phone up to 800 bucks and.
- [19:19]
Dan Patrick
You still get to keep it.
- [19:21]
Lester Holt
There's always a trade in.
- [19:22]
Dan Patrick
Not right now.
- [19:23]
Lester Holt
@ T Mobile. I feel like I have to give you something in return for karma.
- [19:26]
Dan Patrick
That's okay.
- [19:27]
Lester Holt
I don't really have much in my purse. Oh, let's see. Hand sanitizer. It's lavender. I'm good. Seriously. Hmm. Let me check this pocket. Oh, mints. Really, I'm fine. Oh, I have raisins. I'm a mom. Wait, wait one sec. I've got cupcakes in the car. It's our best iPhone offer ever. Switch to T Mobile.
- [19:44]
Dan Patrick
Get a new iPhone 16 Pro with Apple intelligence on us, no trade in needed.
- [19:48]
Lester Holt
We'll even pay off your phone up to 800 bucks with 24 monthly bill credits. New line, 100 plus a month on experience beyond Finance Agreement 999.99 and qualifying ported for well qualified plus tax and $10 connection charge payout via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days credits and amounts due if you pay off early or cancel.
- [20:04]
Dan Patrick
CT mobile.com I want to give a shout out to a former teammate at the mothership, John Bu, who covers NHL. And John brought up something that is very important. I've been a big proponent of Barry Melrose being put into the Hockey hall of Fame. And John went a step further on Monday, said, why do hall of Fames wait until people die? Why do they adhere to arbitrary categorical rules that really mean nothing and can be changed with fewer than 12 words? And he said, hall of Fame's museums simply tell a story and you have ceremonies giving somebody a chance to feel the love. And I agree. Now he said Don Cherry. Now I didn't realize Don Cherry was not in the Hockey hall of Fame, but Barry Melrose. Absolutely. And I agree with John that. I mean, look at Pete Rose. Pete Rose might get into the hall of Fame, but it's going to be posthumously. But I hope that Barry Melrose will get that opportunity to be in the hall of Fame and Don Cherry for that. You know, when you talk about contributions to the game, Don Cherry, absolutely. He was the face of hockey for a long time, certainly in Canada. Hockey night. Yeah. Paulie.
- [21:23]
Lester Holt
Yeah. While you brought that up, just the other day, the College Football hall of Fame changed their criteria of coaches winning percentage. They used to have a winning percentage to be eligible for the hall of Fame. They dropped it a little bit. And now a guy like Mike Leach from Texas Tech and other places is eligible. And a lot of people think they did this because of Mike Leach, because he's such an innovator of the game.
- [21:44]
Dan Patrick
Yeah. John Butcher Grass goes on to say that time is limited for both Don Cherry and Barry Melrose. Don Cherry is 91 and Barry has Parkinson's. Then he goes on to say, how easy is this? What are we doing? And I agree, I agree. If we agree they're hall of Famers, then let's speed up the process to put them in the hall of fame. All right. 8773-DP-SHoVE email address dp@danpatrick.com Twitter handle @DP-SHoVE Seaton Poll Question for the first hour is going to be what got Paulie.
- [22:18]
Lester Holt
Sent this one over.
- [22:18]
Dan Patrick
The Knicks are gutsy or nuts? Gutsy or nuts? It gutsy or nuts or nutsy?
- [22:26]
Lester Holt
That's right.
- [22:26]
Dan Patrick
Nutsy. You can only pick one. Todd, are they gutsy or nutsy? Gutsy. All right. Seaton, is there gutsy to a point of insanity. Okay, I'll say. I'll say nuts, then. Okay, Nutsy. Yeah. Marvin.
- [22:42]
Lester Holt
Nuts.
- [22:43]
Dan Patrick
Paul.
- [22:44]
Lester Holt
Gutsy. No doubt.
- [22:45]
Dan Patrick
I'm going to say gutsy. I'm gonna say gunsing. Leon Rose has done a good job. He changed this. I think the whole perception, the face of this franchise. And he's made some really good moves here. I'm gonna have to trust him that you're part of a decision to fire your former client. Although he did take care of him. He gave him that golden parachute of, hey, let's. Let's extend tibs. And then just in case he gets fired, got a golden parachute of $30 million. Paulie has a game that. It's a. It's a player comp game for Tom Thibodeau.
- [23:30]
Lester Holt
Yes. It's the situation the Knicks and Thibodeau found themselves in. And there's a player who was in this situation just a few months ago.
- [23:37]
Dan Patrick
Okay, so the Alex Smith player comp.
- [23:40]
Lester Holt
Yes.
- [23:41]
Dan Patrick
That he got replaced by Patrick Mahomes.
- [23:43]
Lester Holt
Exactly.
- [23:43]
Dan Patrick
But you'd have to bring in Phil Jackson.
- [23:46]
Lester Holt
Right.
- [23:46]
Dan Patrick
If that was the case.
- [23:47]
Lester Holt
Okay, this is a newer one.
- [23:49]
Dan Patrick
Okay.
- [23:49]
Lester Holt
This is an NFL player who kind of out of nowhere raised a team's expectations and solved a lot of problems. The Knicks, their problems were solved by Thibodeau. They were competitive again. This player last year came out of nowhere to solve a team's problems and establish himself as the answer to a situation.
- [24:09]
Dan Patrick
Saquon Barkley.
- [24:10]
Lester Holt
No. And then at the end of the season, this player limped to the finish, and they decided to move on from him also unexpectedly.
- [24:18]
Dan Patrick
Yes. Marvin.
- [24:20]
Lester Holt
Sam Darnold. Sam Darnold is correct.
- [24:23]
Dan Patrick
I think this is a way for you to bring back your love for Sam Darnold to the show. I think that's what's going on.
- [24:30]
Lester Holt
But my love for this Darnold situation actually turned out not wrong. But not to go to the Vikings.
- [24:36]
Dan Patrick
But they had already drafted J.J. mcCarthy.
- [24:40]
Lester Holt
I will tell you, though, when he was throwing five touchdown passes in late November or early September, everyone thought, you got to keep him. You got to keep him.
- [24:48]
Dan Patrick
You got to keep them. But if he was doing that and then in this year's draft, they took J.J. mcCarthy, then you would have, you know, a situation where you go, wait, Sam Darnold was a Pro bowl quarterback and you just drafted this guy?
- [25:02]
Lester Holt
It's apples and orangey, but it is. It's Interesting that a guy who seemed to be locked they moved on from after a late stumble.
- [25:10]
Dan Patrick
Chris in Syracuse. Hi Chris, good to have you back.
- [25:13]
Lester Holt
Hey, thanks as always, Dan. Hey, I loved Don Cherry, had that show with his dog Blue. That was always pretty good too. And on the poll I'm gonna go gutsy. And a couple comments on my favorite teams. First, Tibbs getting fired, I think it was. I feel bad and I wish he hadn't. I think it was a complete knee jerk reaction probably by Rose. And I think there's one basic reason he played campaign right. Landru Shama during the season those guys came in for 30, 45 seconds at the end of quarters to give people blows. I mean they're not defensive stoppers and he played them significant minutes. He left Brunson on the bench a lot of times where he didn't have any foul trouble. And Dan, during the season they never were defensive stoppers. They played and I'm certainly not Talking about Robinson, McBride, we need a Robinson out there. But during the season they never were out there for any significant amount of time. Detroit series had a couple pretty good offensive players. They didn't play them. Boston Heads. We beat Boston healthy for a lot of that series. He didn't play him. Brunson and Cat were fine out there. I think to what Marvin said, I think he could taste it. Rose could taste the team I put together, we're ready. And Boston's out of the way, Cleveland's out of the way. And I bet you during their series he's talking to Tibbs, what are you doing? And Tibbs just kept going. And it probably didn't help him that Detroit, which is a tough call, he had Hart and Brunson, he was trying to get in at the scorers table and they sat there forever and he didn't want to use the last timeouts, didn't have a foul to give, so. And to your point, Dan, Michael Malone being out there made the made the choice a little easier too. And him, Jay Wright or Monte Williams would be great. And I just wanted to mention the great Jim Marshall passed away and he was, boy, he was the quintessential Viking and arguably the greatest Viking of all time. And I, I know Bud Grant would co sign on that.
- [27:13]
Dan Patrick
All right, thank you, Chris. Chris in Syracuse becoming a regular once again. Jim Marshall is not in the hall of Fame. I think he started 270 consecutive games as a defensive lineman. He had I think 130 sacks, but he's known for one thing. He picked up a fumble and ran the wrong way. The game against the 49ers and I think they won that game. But he's known for that. He ran the wrong way and that's a shame because he was part of the Purple People Eaters. One of the great nicknames of all time. That's back when your front four had a nickname or your defense. Doomsday defense, the Steel Curtain. You know that that was fun. But Jim Marshall not in the hall of Fame. Alan Page is a hall of famer from that front four. But I, I'm. I was surprised that Jim wasn't in. I think he was. He was one of the finalists at one year but didn't make it. And he did so many great community things, charitable things and I know that doesn't matter, it did to me. But you know, he just known. Imagine playing that long. You played 270 games and you're known. He retired at age 42 and you're known for one thing. He ran the wrong way. I think he is still the all time leader in fumble recoveries. I think 29 or 30. But it was that one fumble that he's known for over everything else. All right. Buddha in San Francisco. Hi, Buddha. What's on your mind?
- [28:57]
Lester Holt
What up, DP?
- [28:58]
Dan Patrick
Happy hump day, boys.
- [29:00]
Lester Holt
Let's go, Fritzi. Let's go. NYU's finest, baby. I was going about my day yesterday and then the tapes firing came down and I was, it was just shocking. And that's what spawned this phone call. I mean listening to all the reaction to the next last couple days and just that happening. Yesterday I had a call in with a five minute poll question.
- [29:22]
Dan Patrick
Are the Knicks, the Dallas Cowboys of the NBA? I mean, hear me out. Both the polarizing, always in the news, you know, they both have.
- [29:32]
Lester Holt
They've been absent of a championship for quarter century. They do silly things regarding their team's decisions. I mean the Cowboys have Skip Bayless, the Knicks have screaming ace me. There's a lot of similarities there in my opinion. And you think about tier one pressure. Whoever replaces Tibbs is going to be in the pressure cooker and his hands.
- [29:51]
Dan Patrick
Are going to be full.
- [29:52]
Lester Holt
This whole situation is just not good.
- [29:57]
Dan Patrick
Thank you, Buddha. I don't think this owner in New York does things to get clicks to have his team talked about. I think Jerry Jones does that in Dallas. Absolutely. I mean he, he's going to drag out the Micah Parsons contract situation. He dragged out the Dak Prescott contract situation. I think this owner in New York has just been inept at times. In who he was hiring or who he's listening to. And they haven't had those marquee players. I mean, Dallas still has some guys you tune in to watch. I mean, and I think you got to be fair to Tibs that Jalen Brunson wasn't a star. They tried to get Donovan Mitchell, they missed on him, and they brought in Jalen Brunson. The reaction wasn't overwhelming that, oh my gosh, we have a left handed version of Clyde Frazier. I mean, Josh Hart was a good player in college, became a real Good contributor. Dante DiVincenzo, when he played, became a contributor. I think that Tibbs deserves some credit for helping to develop these players. And they were building a roster to compete against Boston. OG Anunoby, Mikhail Bridges. I wouldn't have brought in Carl Anthony Towns. I, I would rather have had Julius Randall and Dante DiVincenzo, because then I have some depth. I have somebody coming off the bench. You know, Julius Randall, you know, will score, King can move the ball a little bit, good passer. You know, losing Hartenstein to OKC I thought was a big deal because he's one of those energy guys, rim protectors. I don't know. But Tibbs should get some credit here and maybe he won't, but, you know, maybe they just felt this was the golden opportunity. We had home court advantage against the Pacers. We blew a big lead, fourth quarter, and Halliburton hits that shot and that changed the whole complexion of this series. Would they have fired him if he got to the NBA Finals and they lost? If, if they got gentleman sweep, they lose in five. Does he get like. I don't, I don't know. Was this a, a foregone conclusion decision that was made maybe weeks ago? I, I just don't know if it was so spur of the moment because Michael Malone has been available. He's in the on deck circle for somebody this off season and all it takes is one phone call. That's it. Hey, don't do anything. Let's see what happens. You and me, let's just keep it between us. And if it doesn't go the way the owner wants this to go, I want, I want you to know I'm going to call you. I, I mean, is that my interpretation? Yes. Yes. Martin.
- [32:56]
Lester Holt
Yeah, I, I keep going back to if the Knicks lost to the Cavaliers or to the Celtic, a fully loaded Celtics team that was healthy. All right, man, great season, but I think it's still the Pacers, man. We just beat the Celtics and the Cavaliers are out. The two teams that we thought, you know what, they're probably better than us. I just keep going.
- [33:16]
Dan Patrick
They are better than you. Yes, yes. We inflate the Knicks because, oh, my God, they're the Knicks. They're. They're good. And I mean, Cleveland was good all year long, and then they had injuries. Boston was a better team. They had the injury to Jason Tatum.
- [33:29]
Lester Holt
Oh, that's what I'm saying.
- [33:30]
Dan Patrick
Yeah.
- [33:30]
Lester Holt
If you lose to a team that everyone thinks and even, you know, that's better than you. All right, let's play them hard. Valiant effort, but if you lose to the Pacers, this isn't any good.
- [33:42]
Dan Patrick
I just think that's perception. In reality, with the Pacers, the perception is they're the Pacers.
- [33:48]
Lester Holt
Correct.
- [33:48]
Dan Patrick
The reality is they're the Pacers. There's a big difference. They're a good team. They got depth. They got guys who aren't afraid. Now, do I think OKC is going to win? Yes, I do. I think they're a better team, but I think that if I'm ownership, I'm going, wait a minute. We didn't have to worry about Cleveland. Didn't have to worry about Boston, Milwaukee. We should be in the. We should be playing for the championship here. Yes.
- [34:16]
Lester Holt
Mark, you and I, we knew the Pacers were good, but if we said, hey, in February, the paces are going to make the NBA Finals, or somebody said, pie to the face, the Pacers have a real chance to make the NBA Finals, I would have taken that against them.
- [34:30]
Dan Patrick
Well, they went to the Eastern Conference finals last year, but so did the.
- [34:33]
Lester Holt
Hawks with Trey Young.
- [34:34]
Dan Patrick
Well, no, that was years ago.
- [34:35]
Lester Holt
But I'm saying.
- [34:36]
Dan Patrick
And I didn't buy into a 60 win Hawks team.
- [34:39]
Lester Holt
Oh, I didn't either. With last year's Pacers team, I was like, you know what? Great year.
- [34:43]
Dan Patrick
No. Okay.
- [34:44]
Lester Holt
Yeah.
- [34:44]
Dan Patrick
Yes. But even by saying, you know, cavaliers are hurt, Celtics are hurt.
- [34:52]
Lester Holt
This is our window to sneak through.
- [34:54]
Dan Patrick
Really? What you're saying is we're not supposed to go this far, but we got a shot right now because we just got lucky? Yes. That's saying your team's not very good. Yes.
- [35:02]
Lester Holt
Why in the world did you fire.
- [35:03]
Dan Patrick
Your coach when you know your team's not very good and he's somehow still getting you this far? Like, it doesn't make sense to me. It's like conflicting logic. We know the team's not very good, but, man, did we get lucky right here.
- [35:12]
Lester Holt
Well, didn't take advantage of it.
- [35:14]
Dan Patrick
Better fire him. I don't I don't get that. I agree. I agree. Perception, Reality. We should be in the NBA finals. Only because these other teams were banged up. Like you shouldn't be in the NBA Finals. But we almost could have been. Dang. That would have been sweet. Yeah. All right, more phone calls coming up. We'll take a break. Back after this. Be sure to catch the live edition of the Dan Patrick show, weekdays at 9am Eastern, 6am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
- [35:41]
Lester Holt
Hi, Zoe Saldana. Welcome to T Mobile. Here's your new iPhone 16 Pro on us. Thanks. And here's my old phone to trade in. You don't need to trade in. When you switch to T Mobile, we'll give you a new iPhone 16 Pro. Plus we'll help you pay off your old Phone up to 800 bucks and.
- [35:55]
Dan Patrick
You still get to keep it.
- [35:56]
Lester Holt
There's always a trade in. Not right now. @ T Mobile. I feel like I have to give you something in return for karma.
- [36:01]
Dan Patrick
That's okay.
- [36:02]
Lester Holt
I don't really have much in my purse. Oh, let's see. Hand sanitizer. It's lavender. I'm good. Seriously. Let me check this pocket. Oh, mints. Really, I'm fine. Oh, I have raisins. I'm a mom. Wait, wait one sec. I've got cupcakes in the car. It's our best iPhone offer ever. Switch to T Mobile.
- [36:19]
Dan Patrick
Get a new iPhone 16 Pro with Apple intelligence on us. No trade in needed.
- [36:24]
Lester Holt
We'll even pay off your phone up to 800 bucks with 24 monthly bill credits. New line 100 plus a month on experience beyond Finance Agreement 999.99 and imported for well qualified. Plus tax and $10 connection charge pay off via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days credits and imbalance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel ct.com.
- [36:41]
Dan Patrick
Oh, my God. The play of the day. This is the play of the day. Check this out. Swing. And it is cranked center field. Well hit. Back goes Fredle on the track at the wall. Leaps.
- [36:57]
Lester Holt
And he caught it. Oh, I don't believe it.
- [37:01]
Dan Patrick
A game drop saving catch by TJ Frel four to two over the brewers. That's courtesy of WLW Reds radio network. That is your play of the day brought to you by Rapid Radios, the official walkie talkie of the DP show. Push to talk nationwide LTE network service. No subscriptions ever. Business owners, stay connected with your employees anywhere up to 200 on one feed there and 100 private. Visit rapidradios.com up to 60% off and get free shipping. Tom Thibodeau, he had consecutive 50 win seasons, so that's the first time that's happened since 1995 with the Knicks. And his wins are fourth among Knicks coaches, trailing Jeff Van Gundy. He is one ahead or a couple ahead of Pat Riley as well. But on the outside looking in as they. How long do you wait? How long is the grace period before you name your head coach? Do you do it right away to make it seem like, hey, we know what we're doing, or do you drag it out a little bit, get a little more attention here? Who are they going to. Who are they going to pick? Is Danny Hurley going to leave Connecticut? Would Jay Wright want to coach in the NBA? What about Rick Pitino? He'll take a new challenge every year. Yes, Todd, I think you don't want.
- [38:26]
Lester Holt
To make it too obvious that you had your guy for the past number of days or weeks. Even if you did, we got to just out of respect to the coach, wait a few days. So it looks like you were painstakingly, you know, doing some interviewing and trying to figure out what direction you're going to go in as opposed to, we had our guy first round of the playoffs lined up.
- [38:42]
Dan Patrick
Okay. But I remember during the NBA Finals back in the 90s that Commissioner Stern would always tell teams, do not be announcing, you know, coaching changes. Don't take away from the NBA Finals. I don't know if the Knicks are under that advisement, but I, I'd be curious about that. You don't want to. You don't want to take away attention from the NBA Finals? Yes. Yeah.
- [39:08]
Lester Holt
See, I think that's B.S.
- [39:09]
Dan Patrick
If you had your guy already, why don't you fire him before the Pacer series? So we could have advanced. Yes, Todd.
- [39:18]
Lester Holt
So if Kerr or Carlisle or Spoelstra or pick one of the top. We consider the top end current NBA coaches, if they were coaching the Knicks, they make it to the Finals, they win the Finals. What are we saying about that? There's someone better currently coaching another team if they can get one.
- [39:31]
Dan Patrick
Well, clearly that's what the Knicks are saying, that if we had a better coach, we would have a better result. Or you wouldn't have made this decision. But do I think Steve Kerr would have guided them to the NBA Finals or championship or Eric Spolra? I mean, we'll never know you play the hypothetical game, but I would say no, I don't think they're better no matter who's coaching them. Than okc. And I didn't think they were better than the Pacers, though. And Seaton brings up a great point. If you're looking at this, saying, we missed our opportunity. Yes, that's breaking news. Seaton had a great point about like a, like my dog. When you say peanut butter, like, huh? But if you're looking at this and you're kind of handicapping your season, saying, well, but Boston lost. Tatum and the Cavs were banged up. This was our opportunity. Knowing full well you're not better than Boston, you're not better than Cleveland, you weren't better than Indiana, and I think that's fool's gold to go. You know what? If we get a new coach in here, if we have the same roster, you're not getting to the NBA Finals, in my opinion. If it's Michael Malone, if it's Phil Jackson, you're not getting. I don't think you're. You're ready. I think you need depth. What did I say about Denver when they won the title? They won the title because they had depth. Yes, you do have stars. Yes. You have the best player in the game. You have to have players who contribute. It's a half court game. When you get to the postseason, you must play offense and defense. You know, you watch a regular season game, it's up and down, willy nilly. So what, you know, we got Cleveland today and then we got, you know, Sacramento and you're just playing and then all of a sudden every possession matters, every game matters. And, and it's, it just, it like it heightens the awareness of defense in the NBA. It does. And OKC has the best defense in the NBA Now. Indiana has great offense. I love that you have contrasting styles here. That'll be fun to watch. Let me see, what else do we have? Brian in South Carolina. Hi, Brian.
- [41:46]
Lester Holt
Hey, Dan. How you doing?
- [41:47]
Dan Patrick
Good, good, good. What's on your mind?
- [41:50]
Lester Holt
Two points about the firing for Tibs. One, we don't know if they have a bench. We don't know how good their bench is because he doesn't play them. He. He lived by the sword, died by the sort. He went with a six to seven man rotation when Chuck, Shaq. Everybody else of the mothership are saying we have to go to an eight or nine man rotation. He didn't make that adjustment until he was forced to make that adjustment in game three. Yeah, so. So, I mean, that's the first big piece and the second biggest piece is teams in the Knicks position in game one were994 and oh, before that game, there has to be some type of consequence or you know, a thought that hey, maybe another coach will put us in a better position when we just had an historic loss that has shifted the series and then we respond by drop a game to at home. There has to be some consequences. And I think that a Mike Malone or even a Jay Wright may bring a better look and then even Mike Malone, I'm thinking will play more guys off the bench than Tibbs did this season. And that combined with the losses in game, Game one and game two just did him in.
- [42:53]
Dan Patrick
Yeah, but I got to make sure the guys I'm playing and thanks for the phone call, Brian, bring up some really valid points. I, I'm not going to just play guys. I got to play guys who are good. You have to have good guys who are coming off the bench who fit what you're trying to do. And you know, they might need kind of an enforcer there, you know, somebody, a tough guy. Jalen Brunson isn't getting taller and he's not getting better on defense and Carl Anthony Towns isn't getting any better on defense. Now what do you do? Well, can you bring in players or a player who can help fill in the gray area there? I mean that's the challenge here. Or Carl Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson better be really, really, really good at their job to make up for the lack of defense. Like Steph Curry doesn't, you know, he can't play defense and Luca can't. But boy, they make you pay because at the end of the day they may get 40 and then the guy who's guarding them gets, you know, 18. You know, that's advantage Steph and Luca. But you know, if you're going to live by that and you might die by that.
- [44:01]
Lester Holt
Yes, polling and not having a bench that's on the GM and ownership because Jalen Brunson took that team friendly contract. Yeah, it's team friendly now and next year it won't be in a couple years.
- [44:12]
Dan Patrick
Coming up we'll have more on this. Vincent Goodwill, our good buddy from Yahoo Sports. I think he sat down with Shaquille o' Neal talking about the NBA Finals. Also big shot Bob Robert, Ori Oreo, he will join us as well. More of your phone calls. One hour in the books on this Wednesday. Two to go back after this on the Dan Patrick Show. This is an iHeart podcast.