The Knicks’ head coaching search is at its close.
Former Kings coach Mike Brown is expected to succeed Tom Thobdeau in New York, and while no one in the organization has officially confirmed the move, X users offered their fair share of thoughts and jokes on Wednesday.
“Let’s go,” actor and Knicks superfan Ben Stiller posted, adding a few prideful fist emojis to his message.
When one Knicks fan wrote that teammates Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart will be unable to release new episodes of their “Roommates Show” podcast because they will have too many offensive sets to learn in practice under Brown, Hart replied, “Na yall still going to be getting these pods.”
Although the fan Hart addressed expects more offensive nuance from Brown compared to his predecessor, Tom Thibodeau, some X users aren’t particularly moved by the hiring and see it as a lateral move.
“So they fired [Thibodeau] just to hire the same exact coach,” one user posted.
Verified accounts such as Caesars Sportsbook and Underdog Sports posted memes under ESPN’s Shams Charania’s report, implying that New York made no upgrade with Brown over Thibodeau.
Others weren’t able to laugh about the move, though.
“Mike Brown is not an upgrade over Thibs,” Fox Sports Radio’s Jared Smith said. “Argue with me all you want, call me a dumbo, but he has been a head coach four times before and has been fired four times without winning a title.
“But sure, the fifth time is the charm.”
The Knicks parted ways with Thibodeau following the team’s first run to the Eastern Conference Finals since 2000. He had been at the helm for five seasons.
Brown began his head coaching career with the Cavaliers in the 2005-06 season with a young LeBron James leading the team on the court.
Brown led the team to the NBA Finals in 2007 and to a franchise-record 66 wins in the following season.
He was fired after a 61-win, second-round playoff exit before taking the head coaching position with the Lakers, where he coached 71 games and was fired five games into his second season.
He returned to the Cavaliers for a season and was fired again in 2013-14.
Brown’s next head coaching position didn’t come until 2022 with the Kings — he was fired this past season after a 13-18 start in his third season. He took the Kings to the playoffs in the 2022-23 campaign.
Brown won the NBA Coach of the Year award in 2008-09 and 2022-23.