Why NY Knicks’ Tom Thibodeau should win Coach of The Year

Tom Thibodeau has the NY Knicks 5th in the Eastern Conference

The last and perhaps most important reason Thibodeau should win the Coach of The Year award is that he’s turned the NY Knicks into a playoff team. As this article is being written the Knicks have a record of 19-18, which not only gives them a winning record but puts them at the 5th seed in the East.

There are still over 30 games but the Knicks have a strong chance to make the playoffs, especially if they can stay relatively healthy. For the Knicks, making the playoffs would be an incredible achievement, considering they haven’t made it in over 7 years.

Being a winning basketball team is incredibly important for the Knicks because it will make them a destination for stars in free agency. New York is a very attractive market but the dysfunctional losing culture has turned off free-agent suitors. It only took one season for Thibodeau to change the narrative and turn the Knicks into a winning competent organization.

The Knicks were projected by most mainstream sports outlets to be one of the worst teams in the league and yet under Thibodeau, they’re a winning team and a very scrappy defensive unit that is competitive on both ends of the floor. The Knicks probably won’t finish as a top-4 seed in the East but the way he’s helped to turn around the organization in just one season should lead him to his second Coach of The Year Award.