Much has been said — both in a positive and a negative light — about Tom Thibodeau since he was announced by the New York Knicks front office as their new man at the helm.

For former colleague Jeff Van Gundy though, he firmly believes that Thibodeau does not deserve the heavy criticisms that have been thrown towards his direction.

Some folks find Thibodeau to be at fault for overplaying his stars, and at times, demanding too much from them. This criticism is absolutely flawed in the eyes of Van Gundy, and he explained exactly why he believes so:

“I don’t think players have changed nearly as much as organizations and coaches have changed,’’ Van Gundy said of the new Knicks coach, via Marc Berman of the New York Post. “You can’t demand less of players and then complain that they’re willing to do less at times. I find it does a disservice to players. I think good players in any era want to be challenged and pushed to be their best and they want to play on teams of significance. This idea that Tom doesn’t know how to pace his team is one of the great slanders that has been perpetuated by the media on a coach.”

Tom Thibodeau served as an assistant coach to Jeff Van Gundy during their stints with the Knicks and the Houston Rockets. Van Gundy has had a first-hand experience working with Thib, and he has also seen the latter develop into a top head coach in the league from an outsider's point-of-view.

Clearly, Van Gundy does not agree with the notion of Thibodeau being overly demanding. In Van Gundy's mind, Thibs is just doing exactly what he's being paid to do.