There were plenty of valid reasons to fire Tom Thibodeau, despite him leading the Knicks to their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 25 years. While only time will tell if Mike Brown will be a better coach for this team than Thibodeau was, he will almost certainly be a better coach for Mikal Bridges.
Thibodeau was, and remains, a fantastic coach. You don't luck into a coaching career that has stretched as long as his has, nor do you luck into all the success he has had. By all accounts, he has a great relationship with Karl-Anthony Towns, stretching back to their time together in Minnesota.
He also almost certainly deserves some of the credit for Jalen Brunson turning into an All-NBA player during the couple of years he was coached by Thibodeau. The point is, there are plenty of players on this roster who probably loved being coached by Thibodeau. However long that list of players is, it is unlikely that Bridges was on it.
Thibodeau played Bridges too many minutes
Speaking on The Game Theory Podcast, Sam Vecenie explained how Bridges getting more rest time this season could have massive benefits for him. Last season, Bridges and Thibodeau had an awkward conversation about playing time, something that made it clear that Bridges felt he was being overextended.
Bridges played an obscene amount of minutes last season. In the regular season, he was the only player in the league to eclipse the 3,000-minute mark, logging 3,036.1in total. In the playoffs, he tacked on 706 more. Bridges is an ironman; if anyone can take the extensive workload, it is he. Still, some more time on the bench could help him bounce back this season, after an underwhelming first year with the Knicks.
Bridges just turned 29 this offseason. He has played all 82 games in each of his last four seasons. All of those miles start to take a toll, especially as players get older. Last season, for example, Bridges ran a total of 231.1 miles, 17 more than anyone in the league.
That marked the third time in the last four years that Bridges has traveled more miles than anyone else in the league. Hopefully, with the added depth that the Knicks brought in this offseason, Bridges will get more opportunities to sit. That doesn't mean missing games, as he will likely play all 82 again, but perhaps playing fewer than 37 minutes per game will have some benefits.