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Knicks fire Tom Thibodeau
Knicks fire Tom Thibodeau
The New York Knicks are firing head coach Tom Thibodeau, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania first reported Tuesday.
In five seasons with the Knicks, Thibodeau is 226-174 (.565), including improving the team’s win total each of the last four seasons. In 13 seasons, he went 578-420 (.579), but is 48-55 (.466) in the postseason with only two conference finals appearances.
Thibodeau’s firing comes less than 72 hours after The Athletic reported that the head coach had backing from president Leon Rose.
“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,” the report read. “But ultimately, owner James Dolan is the final decision-maker.”
While New York’s decision to dismiss Thibodeau may be shrewd–after all, he led them further than any other coach in 25 years, making them a relevant championship contender after years as a laughing stock–it’s the correct one.
While Thibodeau, 67, established an undeniably tough culture for one of the NBA’s most renowned franchises, one of his biggest fatal flaws was adapting (or lack thereof).
There’s only so much he can do with the roster he coaches. But he failed to maximize his team’s offensive output, first off. The Knicks shot the third-fewest 3s on a per-possession basis these playoffs, with the fifth-fewest during the regular season. The failure to build an offense that spaces the floor (for Brunson), one that generates open shots (3s), puts the Knicks at a disadvantage, especially when five of their six-best players (excluding Josh Hart) are quality floor spacers.
A lot of the offense was predicated on Brunson’s creation capabilities. Ideally, you want the ball in your best players’ hands. He’s phenomenal. But they also went away from a lethal two-man game (Brunson-KAT) more often than not, which didn’t heighten the ceiling of an already good offense (on paper).
Thibodeau also waited until it was too late to experiment with different (starting) lineups when his were underperforming. You can’t run your starters into the ground like he always does.
Defensive concerns aside, a failure to adjust when it mattered most was Thibodeau’s demise. New York still has work to do because the roster is in a not-so-great long-term position. Firing Thibodeau won’t solve all your problems. But a new voice was needed at the end of the day.
Now let’s see if they can actually bring one in–which is far easier said than done.
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This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.
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