A run to the franchise’s first Eastern Conference Finals in 25 years was still not enough to save Tom Thibodeau’s job, as the New York Knicks have reportedly fired the head coach after five seasons.
The decision comes just three days after the Knicks’ season came to an end, as they were bounced from the conference final in six games by the Indiana Pacers.
Expectations were remarkably high surrounding New York entering this year, as the franchise looked to make a significant run toward breaking a 52-year championship drought. Team president Leon Rose traded a bevy of draft picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Mikal Bridges and, in a separate move, sent a package headlined by franchise cornerstones Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to the Minnesota Timberwolves for All-Star guard Karl-Anthony Towns.
Both new acquisitions highlighted major cracks in Thibodeau’s regime, particularly in his lack of player rotations and an over-reliance on his starting five.
Bridges’ first season with the Knicks was an inconsistent one, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. While he shot 59.4% from the floor — his highest mark since 2021-22 — his three-point rate of 35.4% was his lowest since his rookie season in 2018-19 with the Phoenix Suns. His defense also sagged.
In March, he complained of the heavy workload that came with Thibodeau’s scheme. The head coach did not relent.
Most of those issues had been forgiven, though, as he made two stellar defensive plays in the Knicks’ second-round upset of the defending-champion Boston Celtics.
Towns garnered All-Star Game starting honors for the first time in his career and became one-half of the first Knicks tandem, alongside Jalen Brunson, to start the mid-season festivities. But his defense proved to be a major Achilles heel, as Thibodeau was forced to trot him out as the starting center for the majority of the season with Mitchell Robinson rehabbing his ankle from surgery.
But his defense was a liability, especially in the conference final against Indiana. Myles Turner shot nearly 60% from the field when he was defended by Towns, while ECF MVP Pascal Siakam recorded 33 points in just 16:26.
It overshadowed his remarkable offensive contributions that should have made him and Brunson one of the more dynamic duos in all of basketball. Thibodeau, though, kept Towns at the 5 for far too long — even when the more defensively-gifted Robinson was back in the fold — despite evidence that the 29-year-old could contribute on defense as a power forward, which was the position he played last season with the Timberwolves when they had the NBA’s best defense.
Towns at the 4 also would have covered up the poor shooting of Josh Hart, who would have been flexed to the bench with OG Anunoby’s 3-and-D prowess manning the small-forward role.
Instead, his defense was so bad, that it reportedly took a toll on the team as the season progressed, according to The Athletic’s Fred Katz and James Edwards.
“Publicly, Knicks players made veiled comments all season about poor communication causing inconsistencies,” the report read. “Behind the scenes, they and coaches expressed frustration with Towns’ defensive habits — less concerned with his talent level and more with his process on that end. Too often, Towns executed incorrect coverages without communicating why he did it. After it became a theme, players worried Towns didn’t grasp the importance of the matter.”
Bridges and Hart were Nos. 1 and 2 in minutes played throughout the entire NBA, Anunoby was No. 9, and even Towns was No. 27 despite missing 10 games. Brunson, who played in 65 games this season, ranked 17th in the league with an average of 35.4 minutes played per game.
To the surprise of few, the Knicks looked sluggish entering the playoffs and had a difficult time ousting the underdog No. 6 seed Detroit Pistons in six games. They dug deep to upset the Celtics in six games, even with Hart suggesting a lineup change amid struggles, on the back of two 20-point comebacks. Thibodeau held firm with his lineups, and his side simply ran out of gas against the Pacers.
They dropped Games 1 and 2 at Madison Square Garden, though the opening affair — in hindsight — was the ultimate backbreaker. The Knicks blew a nine-point lead in the final minute, puncuated by Tyrese Haliburton’s miraculous, game-tying two which bounced high off the back iron and in to force overtime.
To add insult to injury, he hit Reggie Miller’s famous choking celebration at center court of the World’s Most Famous Arena.
It was not until he faced an 0-2 hole that Thibodeau, perhaps out of desperation, shuffled his lineup. He turned to Landry Shamet and Delon Wright for important minutes off the bench, and even gave Robinson a start at center, but it was too late.
Thibodeau ends his Knicks career as the fourth-winningest head coach in franchise history (226-174) behind Red Holzman, Joe Lapchick, and Jeff Van Gundy.
There should be no shortage of interested parties that will be looking to swipe the vacant Knicks’ job. This is a roster rife with star power, and management will be looking to make the final tweaks on a roster that will have legitimate championship hopes next season.
