Why New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau is on the hot seat

Tom Thibodeau’s New York Knicks keep finding ways to lose games.

This team has already reached a point where they’ve both accepted the fact they won’t progress from last season, but that isn’t too big of an issue in this rebuild. The biggest issue is the team actually regressing to a point where they’ve lost any semblance of last season’s success.

They suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. A type of that for most teams happens once a year. For the New York Knicks, it’s a regular occurrence.

Right now, it’s hard to say they haven’t hit that point, and their head coach deserves a lot of the blame.

New York Knicks: Why Tom Thibodeau is on the hot seat

I want to make this clear from the jump — I am a fan of Tom Thibodeau. He’s a terrific basketball mind and someone who a lot of players want to play for. He’s made some great connections with some of the players. 

I’ve defended him plenty of times when people are clamoring for unproven young players to play 35 minutes. He tries to put out the best possible lineups to win. Now, I’m not so sure his methods are working.

A lot of the time, head coaches getting fired is just as much the circumstances surrounding the team as it is their individual blame. That’s exactly what’s happening with Tom Thibodeau right now.

Good coaches have gotten fired plenty of times. When there are unnecessary problems, zero consistency from night-to-night, and potentially some fundamental differences in basketball philosophy between the front office and Thibs.

Tom Thibodeau is hard-headed, this is well documented. It’s led to a lot of his success in the NBA but it’s been a part of his shortcomings.

So how did these issues begin to simmer? Will Thibodeau be fired sooner rather than later?

New York Knicks: Tom Thibodeau vs. the front office

This is something I’ve begun to realize and have written about for months now, but there is clearly a disconnect between all of the different voices in the New York Knicks organization.

Marc Berman of the New York Post pointed this out at the trade deadline, that people around the league feel the Knicks have “too many cooks in the kitchen” making basketball decisions.

You can see it from the offseason.

The idea this offseason was simple — add more shot creators to help out the offense, and the team’s defense will stay the same because of the head coach.

It was an idea that many (myself included) believed to be obvious, and yet, looking back on it, it’s very clearly a plan that sounds good on paper but discredits the basics of team building.

For better or for worse — we knew what to expect from the Knicks every game last season. They were a slow, grueling team that played hardnosed defense. They were physical and would find ways to stay in games.

Sure, the Knicks’ lack of shot creation cost them in the playoffs, but it was their defense and grit that got them there in the first place.

Do Evan Fournier and Kemba Walker seem like those types of guys? Regardless of what their level of basketball is, those are just not Tom Thibodeau players. They simply can’t fill the roles and responsibilities he gives to his starting wing and point guard.

We know he wanted to keep Bullock, and perhaps the New York Knicks should’ve gone for athletic, hardnosed guys at those positions.

This idea of “running it back” wasn’t well thought out. Tom Thibodeau isn’t going to change how he coaches for Evan Fournier’s style of basketball. And now, this team is trying to capture a spirit from last year that they just can’t put together with this roster.

New York Knicks: Tom Thibodeau’s baffling decisions

Again, I have defended Thibodeau in the past for his rotations.

This team re-signed a ton of role players from last year — there are veteran guys getting paid on this roster to play meaningful basketball and just because young players are the shiny new toys, doesn’t mean they will play over guys older guys who are taking up most of the salary cap.

However, there have been so many times this season where the reverse has been true.

Where the veterans will play 5,6 minutes of horrendous basketball, and they’ll… stay on the court? If this was a rare occurrence, sure.

But this happens almost every night, and Thibodeau will make zero adjustments. He has been horrible and making in-game adjustments on the fly.

Look at some of these weird occurrences from just this last game:

These are just bizarre notes. How do these things happen? Obi Toppin, an 8th overall pick who has certainly flashed potential, only logs 7 minutes in a game where the only big is Taj Gibson? When he is ever going to play? What are we doing here?

Sure, you’re allowed to have set rotations with veterans at the forefront. That’s all fine. But when injuries happen, and when young players are actually stepping up, why are they not rewarded?

You have young players just rotting away. Quickley and Toppin will be in year 3 next season. Cam Reddish is up for an extension soon.

This team can actually field better lineups and rotations, and yet they’ve stuck with the same formula every single time, a formula that doesn’t work.

Is the end for Tom Thibodeau?

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?