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Is Tom Thibodeau’s job safe with Knicks?
Is Tom Thibodeau’s job safe with Knicks?
The New York Knicks’ season came to a close over the weekend, getting bounced in six games to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
While they have improved each of the last three seasons under head coach Tom Thibodeau, they have still yet to climb the mountain top, even after they were the healthiest they have been under the longtime head coach, who isn’t afraid to push his starters into big minutes.
While the 67-year-old agreed to a three-year extension last summer, his shortcomings when the calendar turns April can’t be ignored. Is his job safe?
According to The Athletic‘s James Edwards III and Fred Katz, it is.
“Thibodeau absorbed criticisms about heavy minutes for the starters, hardly a new critique, but New York’s roster was one of the NBA’s healthiest all season and concluded the playoffs with no one injured,” the report read. “The coach has the backing of team president Leon Rose, league sources said, as well as full buy-in from Brunson, who signed with the Knicks in 2022 in part because he wanted to play for Thibodeau. But ultimately, owner James Dolan is the final decision-maker.”
After Saturday’s season-ending defeat, Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson appeared quite confused by a reporter’s question regarding Thibodeau’s future.
“Is that a real question right now?” Brunson said. “You just asked me if I believe that he’s the right guy? Yes. Come on.”
In five seasons with the Knicks, Thibodeau is 226-174 (.565), including improving the team’s win total each of the last four seasons (37, 47, 50, 51). Over his 13-year career with New York, Chicago and Minnesota, Thibodeau is 578-420 (.579), but is just 48-55 (.466) in the postseason with only two conference finals appearances.
The veteran head coach deserves some criticism for coming up short this year as well, even though the Knicks were not expected to make the conference finals. Two big ones were failing to maximize the team’s offense throughout the series (and postseason) and being too stubborn to play his team’s best lineups (instead of his starters, which weren’t good together) until it was too late.
It’s not only his fault, but he’s not absolved. We will see what Dolan’s decision ultimately is, but I think it’s more likely than not that Thibodeau is patrolling the sidelines for a sixth season, even though he doesn’t have a proven track record of success when it matters most.
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