New York Knicks: 3 issues for Tom Thibodeau to address
By Chip Murphy
Tom Thibodeau has a big job ahead of him as the new head coach of the New York Knicks. These are three challenges that he must address.
After a lengthy search, Tom Thibodeau agreed to a five-year contract to be the next head coach of the New York Knicks. That was the easy part. Returning the Knicks to glory will be the hardest challenge of Thibodeau’s already impressive career.
The odds are against Thibodeau. He will have to succeed where so many great coaches before him have failed. He indeed has the benefit of knowing how difficult it is to succeed in New York — he was an assistant with the Knicks from 1996-2003 — and this is his dream job.
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Thibodeau assembled a championship-winning defense with the Boston Celtics, and he might’ve won another with the Chicago Bulls if it wasn’t for that pesky LeBron James kid. Thibodeau’s time with the Minnesota Timberwolves was a disaster, but he still managed to lead the franchise to their first playoff berth since 2003-04.
As accomplished as Thibodeau is, he’s never faced a rebuilding situation like the one the Knicks are in right now. In Boston, he had three Hall of Famers. In Chicago, Thibodeau had Derrick Rose coming off a 41-win season. The closest comparison is Minnesota, but even there, he had Karl-Anthony Towns.
The Knicks have RJ Barrett, Mitchell Robinson, and a bunch of draft picks. Leon Rose and his staff hope to use one of those picks on a player Thibodeau can develop into a star. For now, Thibodeau is the latest Knicks coach to be tasked with building a culture from the ground up. But he’s the first one in a while that fans feel confident can do the job.
Thibodeau is generally regarded as one of the hardest workers in the NBA. He’ll have a great chance to show it off that famed work ethic next season. These are three pressing issues the new coach must address.