Mikal Bridges, at least publicly, didn’t mind his former coach sharing the Knicks’ secrets.
Tom Thibodeau, whom the Knicks fired after last season, was at Celtics practice Tuesday.
He’s bounced around practices for a number of teams since being fired.
Celtics star Jaylen Brown said that Thibodeau explained “some of the things that he saw that helped [the Knicks] beat us” in the conference semifinals last season.
The Knicks play the Celtics at home on Friday.
“No issue at all,” Bridges said after practice on Tuesday.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla clarified on Tuesday that bringing Thibodeau in wasn’t specifically about the Knicks.
“I think it’s more about, he’s been a friend for me for a long time,” Mazzulla said. “He coached here, he won a championship here. His presence is more about coming to learn the game and paying respect to a coach that has been here for a long time and has been in this organization and hung a banner here. Anything we can learn from him.“It just so happened that he happened to be the coach that knocked us out of the playoffs the year before. There wasn’t that much there, from that standpoint.”
Darius Garland (toe) and Max Strus (foot) underwent surgery in the offseason and will be out when the Cavaliers face the Knicks in the season opener Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
De’Andre Hunter (knee) is questionable.
Josh Hart (lumbar spasms) will be absent from Wednesday’s opener, immediately putting a dent into a bench unit the Knicks worked to make deeper this offseason.
But coach Mike Brown has high praise for the group.
“I like our team,” Brown said Tuesday. “I like everybody that is on the roster from 1-17. And I say 17 because I really like our two-ways. They could bring something to the table for us. They have to keep themselves ready. I talked to them about this today — just because you may not be in the game, if you have a uniform on, you have to keep your mind present because I can call on you at any time. That’s how much faith and trust I have, even with the younger guys or guys at the end of the bench.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
