The wait is finally over. According to multiple reports, the New York Knicks are going with Tom Thibodeau as their next head coach.
The New York Knicks have their next head coach, and to no one’s surprise, it’s Tom Thibodeau. Fresh off a suspension, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski ended months of speculation when he tweeted that the two sides were finalizing the terms of a five-year deal.
I was disappointed that it wasn’t Kenny Atkinson, but that feeling was quickly overtaken by the realization that it could’ve been Jason Kidd. Regardless of what you think of Thibodeau, you have to understand the excitement coming from Knicks fans.
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It’s been a long time since the Knicks have hired an experienced, successful head coach. It was Mike D’Antoni in 2008, to be exact.
David Fizdale was so bad that we sometimes forget how bad Jeff Hornacek and Derek Fisher were before him. Of the last three Knicks head coaching hires, only Hornacek lasted two full seasons.
The illustrious trio combined for a whopping 121 regular season wins. Thibodeau won 115 regular season games in his first two Chicago Bulls seasons combined.
Thibs has more wins in the postseason — 24 — than Fizdale had in 104 regular season games with the Knicks – 21. Hornacek was the cream out of this infected crop, and he only managed 60 wins in 164 games. Thibodeau won 60 in his first year as a head coach.
Then there was Fisher. Matt Barnes’ punching bag won just 40 out of 96 games in his failure to do Phil Jackson’s bidding. Thibs ripped off a 47-win season during his disappointing stint with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Thibodeau has won at a high level in both the regular season and the postseason. He’s one of the most successful head coaches of the last ten years, and his defenses in Boston and Chicago are revered league-wide. His former players and his peers praise him.
The appeal of being a former Jeff Van Gundy assistant and his long relationship with Leon Rose made him a lock for this job. But there’s still reason for pause when it comes to the historically stubborn Thibodeau.
Thibodeau’s defenses in Minnesota stunk. His supporters mostly blame Karl-Anthony Towns for not buying in. (Knicks fans have seen what happens first-hand when a star player doesn’t buy into a head coach with Carmelo Anthony and Mike D’Antoni. It’s not pretty.) Towns indeed has no interest in playing defense, but the head coach isn’t blameless, especially since he assembled the roster. Thibodeau served as head coach and president of basketball operations in Minnesota.
For this to work, Thibodeau needs R.J. Barrett to do what Towns didn’t feel like doing. I believe he can. Barrett went to Duke, where he was yelled at and cursed out by Coach K for a year. Thibodeau was an assistant on Coach K’s USA Basketball team.
But forgive me if I’m not buying this “new Thibs” quite yet.
After the Bulls fired Thibodeau in 2015, he took a year off from coaching to take a tour of many of the league’s teams. He spoke to different coaches, executives, and owners to better understand what his next job might entail. He wanted to understand all the changes in the league. He used fancy words like analytics, player development, and sports science.
In case this sounds familiar, it should. When the Timberwolves fired him in 2019, Thibs was forced to do it all over again. Only his stock wasn’t nearly as high then as it was following his Chicago tenure, so he even needed to do the ESPN media tour. Thibodeau defended himself against accusations that he couldn’t exist in an NBA that features load management.
There are two ways you can take this: Thibodeau is a 62-year-old man stuck in his habits, or he’s determined to prove he can succeed in this era of the NBA. The Knicks are obviously hoping it’s the latter because this isn’t going to be easy. I hope it’s the same, but the cynic in me is nervous.
Of all the jobs Thibodeau has had, New York is his most enormous task.
When he arrived in Chicago and Minnesota, he was greeted with a No. 1 pick at each stop. Derrick Rose was coming off an All-Star season in which he led the Bulls to the playoffs. In the 2010-11 season, his first with Thibodeau, Rose became the youngest player ever to win an MVP Award. But Thibodeau didn’t just get Rose. He inherited Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, and Taj Gibson too.
And the expectations in Minnesota were huge for a reason.
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When Thibodeau arrived in Minnesota, he was inheriting what was considered one of the league’s best young rosters. Between Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, and Kris Dunn, Thibodeau was supposed to have four building blocks for the future. Despite their failings, Thibodeau still had enough to swing a deal for Jimmy Butler. Fortunately, he won’t have the power to make decisions like that with the Knicks.
The abundance of young talent that Thibodeau helped develop in Chicago was already on the roster. Whether Towns wants to admit it or not, he played phenomenal basketball with Thibs. But just like in Chicago, with Rose, the guy was already there. He won’t have that luxury in New York.
Outside of Barrett and Mitchell Robinson, it’s a mixed bag, and neither one of those guys is on the level of Rose or Towns. Thibodeau won’t just need to develop a star. He’ll need to identify one first. Possibly in this year’s draft.
In New York, Thibodeau won’t just have to overcome years of ineptitude on the court. Thibodeau will be tasked with building a culture that overrides the drama, dysfunction, and mismanagement that have been a franchise signature since his old boss quit 19 games into the 2001-02 season.
But this is his dream job. It’s the one he’s always wanted. He’s always known the risks and problems that come along with being the coach of the Knicks. Despite all that, Thibodeau is embracing the challenge. That desire is one of the many reasons fans are so excited he’ll be taking over this team.