New York Knicks: Ranking the head coaching candidates

Ranking Knicks coaching candidates: 4) Tom Thibodeau

Well, this isn’t promising. The heavy favorite to take over as Knicks head coach is ranked fourth among reported candidates.

While Tom Thibodeau has had great success in the league, coaching for the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves, he also comes with a lot of baggage. Perhaps if the Knicks were looking for someone to coach the team he was an assistant for in the nineties, he would be a great fit. But these aren’t your 1990s Knicks anymore.

For a young team looking to develop several lottery picks, including another one from the upcoming 2020 draft, it is hard to say Thibs is the right match for this roster. Perhaps his hiring would signal a shift under Leon Rose toward building a more veteran team that uses young players and draft capital to add star players.

After cycling through seven coaches in seven seasons, it would be nice to see the Knicks find someone who can hang around for the majority of their contract. In my view, Thibodeau is a hired gun for a veteran team looking to win now, and not someone who is best suited for a long-term rebuild.

And we still haven’t talked about whether his style of coaching – turned up to 100 all of the time – is able to work in today’s NBA where star players are treated with extra care. I think the Knicks could do better than hiring Thibs, but ask me in a week after they inevitably hire him and I need to convince myself why it could work.