New York Knicks: The end of Tom Thibodeau?
It is disappointing that we’ve gotten to this point.
The New York Knicks have been a never-ending carousel of coaches. They have one good season with a new coach, and suddenly they fire him after a bad year?
But you have to look at the reality of the situation. This isn’t the team Thibs wants it to be.
I’m not even sure the front office knows what it wants to do the rest of the season with not just Thibs, but the actual roster. Why trade for Cam Reddish and not play him? What does that do?
The Knicks are in a weird spot, a spot that not many teams are in.
The Knicks aren’t a “Bad young team” like the Pistons or Thunder, who have zero expectations and are just trying to build through the very top of the draft.
This is a team that expects to be in the playoff hunt, and right now, no one knows what the Knicks’ goals are for the rest of the year.
If they were losing games and RJ Barrett and Quentin Grimes and Toppin, Reddish and Quickley were all growing, this really wouldn’t be an issue.
But the team is losing games in tragic fashion with journeyman players playing heavy minutes. They are genuinely better than their record shows, and we know this from all of the massive leads they’ve blown. They find ways to lose games.
We can be thankful for Tom Thibodeau. Really, a lot of what he instilled and the principles he brings are things that got this rebuild started. We know he formed connections with a lot of players and really, Tom Thibodeau at his best is the brand of basketball that New York loves.
But right now, he isn’t right for this job. He’s not going to wake up one day and decide to cut down Nerlens Noel’s minutes for Obi Toppin.
Thibodeau got the rebuild started, but he isn’t the man to help the team reach the next level. His decisions are killing this roster.
Maybe it’s Kenny Payne? Johnny Bryant? What do you think?