Leon Rose fulfills his Roommates Show promise and explains Knicks Tom Thibodeau firing

It’s old news, but it’s the first time Knicks president Leon Rose is explaining it.There is little left to debate about the decision to fire Tom Thibodeau last year and hire Mike Brown — it resulted in a championship.Since Rose never talks to the media, though, he never spoke publicly about the move.But he fulfilled a promise to Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart — that he’d go on their “Roommates Show” podcast if the Knicks won the championship.

Rose was asked about the coaching change.“It was tough,” Rose said on the show.“Thibs is a great coach.

Did so much for the organization.We were right on the doorstep.

Just felt that, just needed a change in voice, a change in philosophy.It was a tough move.

Mike is a guy that really fit what we were looking for.He’s somebody that I’ve known for a long time.

I represented LeBron [James] when he coached him in Cleveland.Knew him and kind of followed him through his career.

Didn’t know him that well, but he always was a guy that was a good guy, that you could talk to, that you really felt good about.That was just your gut.“Then you go through the process, and you’re looking for certain things.

We had built out a criteria of certain things that were very important, we do research, and we brought in, I think it was five candidates, and really graded them in the different areas and things like that and made the decision that we made.”One of the most important criteria was a coach who was collaborative — more so than Thibodeau.That is something that stood out to Rose and the front office about Brown.“First of all, just his openness and his willingness to share ideas,” Rose said.“And share ideas with the front office, his staff and the inclusion of everyone.

I think you guys probably saw that.He really was open to things, open to people’s suggestions, open to ideas.

I believe that’s what led to some of the changes that were made throughout the season.We started out a certain way, he m...