All right, welcome back to the Carton Show, Chris McManagel, Craig Carton, and thrilled to have a dear friend of mine joining us in studio.

And I didn't realize to last night reading The New York Post that James Stone hasn't spoken publicly since he joined me and Evan Roberts three years ago.

And now he's back.

Happy New Year.

Thank you for joining us.

Happy New Year.

This is my biannual confession.

Is it that nobody asks you to speak?

I want to speak all the time, but nobody ever asks me.

It's like the pretty girl at the bar.

No one ever asked me outside.

I have none of any dates, that kind of thing.

Or maybe not. Or maybe not. There's a lot to talk to you since I guess you haven't spoken of a lot of your Knicks and Rangers issues in the last few years. Let me start with the Knicks. Obviously, the great run last year.

Looks like they're on their way to a special season this year. But in the process, you also made a decision you and Leon Rose to relieve Tom Tibido of his head coaching duties.

And Mike comes in, has done a really nice job this far.

Can you walk us through what the thinking was at the time you made it?

If it was just Leon coming to you saying, we need a change.

If you guys collectively thought

the team needed a different voice in the locker room and what was the genesis of moving on from

Tom well look um you know Leon and I talk about everything right even not basketball stuff

got it so the um but uh But, you know, the team is really built on the shoulders of Tom Thibodeau.

Right.

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