‘Mad Dog’ Russo Torches NY Knicks Front Office for Firing Coach Tom Thibodeau: ‘He’s a Lousy Owner!’

Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on Wednesday placed the blame squarely on the ownership of the New York Knicks for the firing of coach Tom Thibodeau.

The day before, the organization made the decision to move on from Thibodeau after five seasons. His firing came days after the Knicks were eliminated from their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in more than two decades. The team also made the playoffs in four of those seasons — winning a total of five playoff series.

Because of that success, the decision caught many by surprise. That included Russo, who went off on Knicks owner James Dolan on Wednesday’s episode of First Take:

Number one: what they did here to Thibodeau is a complete disgrace. This guy took a team to the conference final; and because [OG Anunoby] and [Karl-Anthony Towns] can’t make a free throw, they lose that series to Indiana. They beat the world champs. He gets to a conference final. They go back-to-back 50 wins for the first time since ’95. They get to a conference final for the first time in 25 years — 25 years — and you gave him a three-year contract extension eight months ago; and this is how you repay him? By firing him? Why, because Mikal Bridges didn’t like him? Who cares about Mikal Bridges or [Towns]? You know [Jalen Brunson] loved him and you know [Josh Hart] loved him, so the idea that the Knicks players had something to do with this is nonsense.

And I’ll tell you right now, let’s give the owner grief here. He’s a lousy owner. He’s been a lousy owner for a long time. He’s got an awful reputation. You want to sit there — that’s James Dolan — you want to sit there and blame everything on [Knicks president Leon Rose]? I think Leon Rose is too smart to have done this by himself. He has deserved the benefit of the doubt. Dolan is not. So Dolan’s hands, to me — he was in the exit meetings — to me, is all over this.

Think about it: the Knicks have had 12 head coaches in his tenure as the owner of the team. Before Thibs, they won one playoff series — one! With Thibs, they won five. So this is how we could reward Thibs? By throwing him out the door?

Watch above via ESPN