The New York Knicks fired manager Tom Thibodeau. The NBA analysis will help you see why.
Since taking over the franchise, Tom Thibodeau has led the New York Knicks to lead four playoff runs, including reaching the conference finals this season, the last stage he reached in 2000.
New York was in a frenzy and was uplifted by their progress, but this positivity didn’t last long.
After losing to the Indiana Pacers in the conference finals, star player Jalen Brunson continued to lead the Knicks in favor of Tom Thibodeau.
And although it seemed the team would protect him at first, Thibodeau was decided to fire Thibodeau within four days of shocking many.
Stephen A. Smith criticized Thibodeau for his decision to coach the Pacers in the series, but he called on Leon Rose’s team president to make a public appearance to explain the phone.
Although there was no name being discussed yet, Shams Charania reported that the team wanted someone to use the bench wisely and have less stiffness in their playing style.
It will always be difficult to fire a coach who has brought playoff success to a city that hasn’t been on the stage for over 20 years.
However, there were several reasons behind Thibs’ firing, which became clear once the news came out.
Thibodeau was called out by his own player Mikal Bridges, looking away from the bench early in the season.
Thibodeau helped the Knicks return to the Eastern powers, but he doesn’t use the promising benches they have.
One major example of this was Game 6 against the Pacers. There, I used Miles McBride for just 11 minutes.
McBride is one of the most talented players on the roster and has proven this many times with his performance.
However, he averaged 19 minutes in the playoffs this season, under 26 since last season.
Landry Shamet, Delon Wright, Precious Achiuwa and others also played a very small number of games from 2024-25.
These players showed their glow every time they were given a chance, but Thibodeau was always limited in rotation.
This also meant an all-in approach with his starter.
The towns of Branson, Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Karl Anthony were the five most started games in the Knicks.
All of these players have played over 35 minutes per game this season.
The player needs to be given credit, which shows how dependent Thibodeau is on his starter. This is not necessarily a good indication.
Branson suffered an injury and kept him out for nearly a month, but Anunoby was also a player with injuries issues.
There are instances where Thibodeau plays the starter even when the game wins, but this is a big risk if something goes wrong.
This helped the Knicks succeed, but fatigue often kicked towards the end of the season, which could have meant that teams ran out of steam to compete against the energetic pacer side.
The Knicks received the NBA’s fifth highest offensive rating during the 2024-25 regular season.
They fell to seventh in the playoffs of all teams. This shows that the offense may take the back seat in the postseason of the Thibs system.
Having made a great playoff run, Branson was well protected by Andrew Nenbird in all important game six, which made it extremely difficult for the Knicks.
He scored 19 points in the game, but turned the ball over five times.
In many games, Branson had to step up to the Knicks for them to win. Former Knicks star Iman Shumpert labeled them as too predictable.
If Thibodeau finds more plays to involve bridges and towns, the Knicks are far more dangerous to play against.
The New York Knicks have been “all-in” in trading in recent seasons and have given up all their assets to acquire OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Karl Anthony Towns.
Nevertheless, the truth about Cold Hard is that the New York Knicks weren’t enough to win the title.
They were a regular season team with 51 wins. Does this group have among them to become a winning team of over 60?
The Knicks’ next move was to either replace some of the starters or make changes in their coaching positions to try and bring in the superstar.
The deal could still happen, but Knicks’ ownership decided that the quickest way to improve is to change coaches.
