TOM THIBODEAU fully understood the demands of the job he had accepted. He grew up listening to Knicks games on the radio, often driving from his family`s Connecticut home to attend home games with his father. In the 1990s, he served as a young assistant coach on Jeff Van Gundy`s staff, known for being the first to arrive early each morning and ensuring he was the last person to leave the building at night.
“I loved being here in the `90s,” Thibodeau recalled to ESPN in 2021, during his first season leading the franchise. “There was nothing better than the atmosphere at the Garden. We had fantastic players and a great coaching team. We played in so many significant games, whether against Chicago, Miami, or Indiana. But life moves quickly. You blink, and suddenly the `90s feel like yesterday.”
“But I always recognized my good fortune in being with the Knicks.”
In his initial season as head coach, the Knicks couldn`t build upon a promising regular season, which saw Thibodeau named NBA Coach of the Year and Julius Randle emerge as an MVP candidate. They ultimately lost their first-round playoff series to the Atlanta Hawks.
“I embrace the challenge of it all,” Thibodeau stated. “When I went to Chicago, it was a .500 team, and everyone advised against it. But I enjoyed my time there. When I arrived here, the consensus was the same: `The Knicks job is tough.` But that has never intimidated me.”
He had dedicated decades to cultivating a reputation as a tireless worker, a trait that propelled him to head coaching positions in Chicago and Minnesota, but which also contributed to his departures from both organizations.
Knicks president Leon Rose and executive vice president William Wesley understood Thibodeau`s strengths and weaknesses better than anyone. Both had built a relationship with him through shared connections at the CAA agency. Knicks owner Jim Dolan convinced them to leave their roles at the agency in 2020, and Thibodeau was one of their first hires.
“We connect after nearly every game,” Thibodeau said of Rose and Wesley back in 2021. “They will always be truthful with me, and I will be truthful with them. And I feel like I have input. Having a voice is all I require.”
Like Thibodeau, Rose was a lifelong Knicks fan. It was the only franchise that would have enticed him to leave the roster of high-profile clients he had assembled at CAA. His strong, long-standing relationship with Dolan also made him exceptionally qualified for the role.
The primary key to success in this position was talent acquisition, a skill Rose had mastered as an agent. While different from how teams scout and acquire talent, Dolan gambled that Rose`s relationship-building abilities would translate effectively to the front office. Equally vital, however, was the capacity to manage the notoriously difficult Dolan and the famously direct and intense Thibodeau.
Rose was ideally positioned to handle this, having worked closely with Dolan when his client Carmelo Anthony starred for the Knicks and having maintained a two-decade relationship with Thibodeau.
For five years, Rose did precisely that. Those close to them marveled at how Rose prevented Thibodeau from getting bogged down in minor issues, keeping his focus on the larger objectives. Thibodeau`s tendency to exhaust himself was acceptable, as one source noted. But Rose largely succeeded in preventing him from exhausting others.
Managing Dolan presented a completely different challenge. Rose accomplished this by earning Dolan`s trust through his methodical approach to team construction and by making accurate judgments on when to push aggressively and when to exercise patience.
Dolan articulated this view during an appearance on Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson`s podcast in March.
“There were times when we were inclined to reach for that bright, appealing option. `Perhaps this is what we require,` especially when things weren`t going well,” he remarked. “`Let`s bring in this individual, and maybe they will completely change our fortunes.` This sometimes applied to players, sometimes to coaches.”
“What I`ve realized over time is that approach doesn`t work. It genuinely doesn`t. You absolutely must stick to the fundamentals, the basics. You have to build a team, you have to build an organization. There`s no magical fix that will suddenly transform a team into a great one. It simply doesn`t occur.”
Only Rose and Dolan know exactly what changed between that statement in March and the decision to dismiss Thibodeau on Tuesday. True, Thibodeau had brought the team within two wins of their first NBA Finals appearance in a quarter-century. He was indeed the most successful Knicks coach in a generation, achieving consecutive 50-win seasons for the first time since the 1994-95 season.
However, they had also lost a playoff series to the Indiana Pacers, a series many within the organization felt they should have won.
And ultimately, Rose, the person Thibodeau met with after every game, delivered the kind of candid assessment Thibodeau had once claimed to value greatly.
“Our organization is solely dedicated to winning a championship for our fans,” Rose declared in a statement announcing the firing.
The message was clear: He and the organization did not believe Thibodeau could deliver that championship.
“This objective led us to the difficult decision to inform Tom Thibodeau that we have decided to pursue a different path. We cannot express enough gratitude to Tom for his complete dedication and effort every single day as the New York Knicks head coach. For the past five seasons, he led us not only with integrity and professionalism but also to considerable on-court success, securing four playoff appearances and four playoff series victories. Ultimately, we made the determination we believe is most beneficial for the organization moving forward.”
IN THE DAYS leading up to Thibodeau`s dismissal, Rose held meetings with several key players and members of the coaching staff, sources reported.
While seemingly similar to the exit interviews teams hold with players after each season, in this specific instance, only a select group of key rotation players were asked to meet with Rose and Dolan to share their perspectives on the state of the franchise and the team`s future direction.
However, the decision to replace Thibodeau had been trending that way for months, according to one source. The team simply wasn`t maximizing its talent, even with two All-NBA players like Brunson and Towns. Following discussions with the chosen players and coaches this week, sources indicated that it became clear to Rose that the organization required a fresh voice.
Players hadn`t stopped responding to Thibodeau, one source mentioned, but doubts arose about his capability to guide them to the Finals after the Knicks` performance in the loss to the Pacers.
“He was strategically outmaneuvered,” a league source familiar with the situation commented. “The Game 1 breakdown was unbelievable. Without that collapse, the outcome might have been different.”
Throughout the series, Thibodeau`s strategic choices were questioned by the persistent New York media.
There was the extended absence of Karl-Anthony Towns in the fourth quarter of Game 2 as the Knicks struggled to score. Then came the delayed lineup adjustment in Game 3, moving Mitchell Robinson into the starting five and Hart to the bench, after the Knicks` initial lineup was significantly outscored in the first two games.
After New York`s comeback win in Game 3 in Indiana with the modified starting unit, Hart confirmed he had suggested the lineup change to the coaching staff late in the previous series.
“We need to find ways for him to play more,” Hart stated regarding Robinson. “We perform effectively with him on the court. We all must be willing to make sacrifices for the team`s benefit.”
While Thibodeau did make some crucial adjustments that helped the Knicks extend the series to six games, these came too late to significantly alter the series` outcome – or quiet the public scrutiny of Thibodeau and his decisions.
This wasn`t the first public criticism voiced by one of his players this season.
Earlier in the year, forward Mikal Bridges, known for his durability, publicly expressed concern about the excessive minutes played by starters, suggesting bench players should receive more playing time.
“We have many capable players on this roster who can absorb minutes, which helps our defense, offense, and prevents fatigued players from being exposed and giving up points,” Bridges told reporters before a mid-March game in Portland. “It helps us keep fresh players on the court.”
Bridges mentioned he had discussed the matter with Thibodeau and that the veteran coach was receptive.
“He`s not really disputing it,” Bridges commented. “Sometimes I think he just gets set in his methods and focused, wanting to keep specific players on the floor. Sometimes you need to tell him, for instance, regarding Landry or another player, to keep them in because they are performing effectively.”
This criticism has followed Thibodeau for decades, a point he has never fully addressed or resolved.
According to sources, the fact that two of the team`s prominent players openly criticized their coach was concerning.
Additionally, there were broader worries about Thibodeau`s heavy reliance on Brunson. The initial partnership between Brunson and Towns proved highly effective. Before February, their pick-and-roll ranked second in NBA efficiency. However, this figure declined significantly after February, as opposing teams began assigning wings to guard Brunson and switching centers onto the less consistent shooting of Hart.
Thibodeau failed to devise an adequate counter-strategy, frequently compelling Brunson to rescue the team as possessions concluded.
He earned the NBA`s Clutch Player of the Year award largely due to his excellence in high-pressure situations. However, Brunson`s workload, which reached a career-high under Thibodeau, sparked concerns.
One league source proposed that past events could serve as a cautionary tale – suggesting that Brunson, who missed games this season due to injuries, might face long-term durability problems without a more complex or balanced offensive system, similar to Derrick Rose`s struggles while playing for Thibodeau in Chicago.
All these issues might have been overlooked had the Knicks defeated the Pacers, a team possessing less star power but greater depth and shooting prowess. This disparity became glaringly apparent in the dramatic fourth-quarter collapse in Game 1, where Aaron Nesmith and Tyrese Haliburton mirrored infamous past performances against the Knicks, as New York squandered a significant lead late in the game.
Fittingly, Reggie Miller himself was broadcasting the game, adding to the pain.
The Knicks transitioned from having city streets symbolically renamed in their honor and the mayor publicizing economic impact reports on the revenue their playoff run was generating for the city, to experiencing complete despair in a single evening.
All the optimism and positive sentiment cultivated by Thibodeau and the Knicks following their upset victory in the second round had vanished. What remained was a harsh reality: The Knicks had heavily invested in this season only to be eliminated before reaching the ultimate stage.
New York relinquished five first-round draft picks to obtain Bridges, known for his tenacious defense and sufficient offensive capability; in a separate transaction, the Knicks sent Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and a first-round pick for Towns, considered one of the most offensively skilled big men in basketball.
Thibodeau`s responsibility was to optimize the distinct abilities of the new players while mitigating their weaknesses. Ultimately, he neither elevated their performance nor guided this talented roster to the Finals. This failure was particularly painful given that the Eastern Conference was perceived as wide open this season – and is anticipated to remain so next season following severe injuries to key players on other teams.
The Knicks` subsequent challenge involves identifying a coach they believe represents an improvement and restructuring a roster whose deficiencies were starkly revealed.
It remains uncertain whether Thibodeau`s successor will enable the Knicks to achieve a breakthrough. The coaching role in New York is prestigious but also considered the most demanding in the NBA. No one understood this better than Thibodeau himself, who experienced it firsthand as a young assistant with those 1990s teams that came agonizingly close.
The Knicks have represented a significant, alluring challenge in the NBA for decades. Since their last championship in 1973, numerous superstars and coaches have attempted and failed to accomplish that ultimate goal. Thibodeau is merely the most recent figure to stumble.
He understood the stakes involved from the outset: the pressure, the atmosphere, the intense excitement in the city whenever the Knicks appear to be nearing success.
“Those games at the Garden are unmatched,” Thibodeau remarked during that first season. “It`s unparalleled. The significance of the Knicks to New York City is truly unique… Then, as time passes, I sometimes reflect and think, `Wow, how fortunate have I been?`”
