“I'm gonna give him a lot of credit for adjusting to today's players,” Oakley said in a phone interview to promote his new show, “Chopping It Up With Oakley”, which debuts on the FOX Soul streaming service Oct. 7 and is produced in partnership with The For Us By Us Network. “It's different league for players. And that’s the most important thing for any coach these days; you’ve got to adjust to the guys but you got to hold them accountable. You just can't let them have everything. You got to have a game plan.”

Thibodeau’s game plan worked well last season; the Knicks surprised the NBA by finishing fourth in the Eastern Conference and winning 44 games.

Before he was hired, Thibodeau was criticized by others in coaching circles for an inability to coach today’s players. Those criticisms, it seems, were off. Knicks players last season credited Thibodeau for communicating well with them.

Thibodeau acknowledged earlier this week that the dynamic between NBA players and coaches has shifted significantly since his days as a Knicks assistant.

“I think how you connect (with players) is different than it was back then,” Thibodeau said last week. “So you have to adapt. But I think (you also understand that) the same things go into winning. It’s discipline. It’s hard work. It’s unselfishness, it’s the commitment to each other.

“How you deliver the message is important. I think you always have to be aware of that,” Thibodeau added. “There’s probably a little more sensitivity now than there was then. So you have a lot more individual meetings. I think with individual meetings, being honest and truthful is the most important thing. It’s the only way to build trust.

“That’s a big part of it. The challenge is to get the best out of everyone, for all of us. We talk about it all the time, we don’t want the leadership to fall on one or two people. We want it to be a team of leaders and that’s what we strive to build within the team.”

Oakley, one of the leaders of the great 1990s Knicks teams, remembers Thibodeau as a diligent worker who was valued by the players.

“I think Thibodeau worked hard, guys listened to him,” says Oakley, who will cook for some of his celebrity friends on Chopping It Up With Oakley. “Players judge you as they see you go. You don’t have to be friendly with all the guys. Just show them that you know what you’re doing, know your craft.

“I think this day and age, it's just a different environment. Players are just different. They’re coming from college one year, can’t really play (in the NBA). (They) don’t want you to say nothing to them. The agent’s calling (and saying) ‘Why are you talking to my player like that?’ There’s a lot of that stuff within the game now. Coaching is harder than ever.”

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