3 moves Knicks can make to improve chances of making the playoffs
1: Fire head coach Tom Thibodeau
I think I speak for most Knicks fans when I say, I’m tired of Tom Thibodeau. Not only do his rotations and minutes distribution make little-to-no sense, but he just simply is not the right coach for this team.
The most pressing issue in recent games has been the way in which he has overplayed a very clearly sick RJ Barrett. Obviously, it is Barrett who should make the decision on whether or not he plays, but this does not give Thibodeau the excuse to play him so many minutes.
Thibodeau has shown time and time again that he does not care for his players’ health. This sort of recklessness is what lead to Barrett’s ankle injury last season when Thibs subbed Barrett into the game down 15 with 3:56 left in the fourth quarter. Despite the deficit not getting any better, Thibodeau left Barrett in for the remainder of the game, where he went on to get hurt with 18 seconds left.
At the time, this reminded me of what happened to Derrick Rose. Obviously, the injury was not as close to as serious, but neither of them should have been in the game when their respective injuries occurred.
In almost his entire coaching career, Thibodeau has proven time and time again that he does not know how to properly run a rotation and it has cost almost every team he has coached.
Whether its the overplaying of Barrett while sick, his — until recently — love for Evan Fournier when he should never have been used so much, or his complete and total lack of a competent offensive system at times, it is very clear that Thibodeau should no longer be coaching this team.
While replacing Thibodeau may not necessarily make the Knicks “better” this season, it will not only be better for the team’s future, but the young players will reap the benefits in terms of their development.
If the Knicks were to fire Thibodeau, they would most likely hire assistant Johnnie Bryant as the interim head coach. Bryant, in my opinion, would likely be a much better coach than anything Thibodeau has been in the past two seasons.
