Former Knicks coach and NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy is currently interviewing for NBA jobs reportedly, but that didn’t stop him from going on a radio rant over a recently fired brethren.
Van Gundy ripped the Bulls, saying the organization engaged in a “downright vicious’’ campaign against Tom Thibodeau.
He also called media coverage in Chicago on the issue “repulsive.’’
“I look back at the pattern,’’ Van Gundy said on Stephen A. Smith’s SiriusXM show. “It’s his first head-coaching job. He has no pattern of friction with anybody. The pattern of friction comes from the Bulls side. There’s a long history [in Chicago] of contentious management/coaching relationships and this turned out no different.
“When you coach five years in one place, you have really done a great job of getting a lot time in. Very few get to five years. It’s not the firing, it’s all the stuff that leads up to a change in direction they want. It’s unbecoming to try to uplift yourself by diminishing someone else.
“Hopefully they’ll treat their next coach better,’’ Van Gundy said, adding he expects Iowa State’s Fred Hoiberg to be hired.
Van Gundy wasn’t finished there, accusing the Bulls of being “Hollywood.”
“This is not Hollywood, this is the NBA,’’ Van Gundy railed. “Bad people have been doing bad things to good people for a long time. Unfortunately, in this situation it impacted a great person and a great coach.’’
Thibs was Van Gundy’s assistant coach with the Knicks and Rockets before landing the Bulls gig. Thibodeau posted a 255-139 record, making the playoffs each season.