How the New York Knicks came to reflect Tom Thibodeau
What a long, strange trip it’s been . . . but a good one
November 4, 2022 was just another Friday to most people. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a basketball game was played between two teams off to extremely slow starts early that season. With 10:38 left in the fourth quarter, after Furkan Korkmaz hit a 3-pointer to put the 76ers up 86-74 against the reeling new-look Knicks, head coach Tom Thibodeau called timeout. Most Knicks fans who followed this team knew what would happen next: Thibodeau would go back to the players he trusted most, cutting their brief rest short.
And then, a funny thing happened.
Some may forget, but at that moment in time the hot topic for debate was whether Julius Randle and Obi Toppin would ever see the court together. Over the prior two seasons it had happened rarely, and Knicks fans wanted to see it, results be damned. On this particular night, with his back up against the wall and rear-end warm from sitting on a toasty seat, Thibodeau reinserted Randle but kept Toppin on the court, then watched the Knicks outscore the Sixers 32-18 over the last ten minutes, buoyed by Toppin’s 13 points.
A new era had begun…or had it?
Exactly one month later, the Knicks were 10-13 and Thibodeau’s seat had become scalding hot. The front office couldn’t just stand idly by and watch another season marooned in purgatory – especially after its nine-figure investment in Jalen Brunson. Thibodeau’s firing was effectively inevitable. All it would take was a Sunday loss to the Cavaliers, the team that had swooped in and stolen Donovan Mitchell from the Knicks.
Naturally, the Knicks put forth their best defensive effort of the season, allowing just 81 points. Randle and Toppin would share the court for all of six seconds. Thibodeau had sent a message to the front office: Fire me if you want, but so long as I’m here I’m doing things my way. And for the majority of the ensuing two seasons, that’s exactly what he’s done.
The front office decided if they were going to commit to Thibodeau, that’d mean maximizing his preferred style of basketball. At the 2023 trade deadline, they swapped Cam Reddish and draft capital for Josh Hart; at the start of 2024, they traded popular young players RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley for OG Anunoby. This past offseason, management made its biggest splashes, acquiring Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and five first-round picks.
There have been frustrations along the way. But fast forward 18 months from that night in Philadelphia and the Knicks are up 2-0 in the second round of the playoffs against their rivals and the defending champion Boston Celtics. The Knicks have won those games by a combined four points, and in an era defined by record offensive efficiency neither team’s cracked 110 points. Just as this head coach would have it.
Scan the roster: every player in the rotation has some wart that seemingly defined them in the public eye. Brunson? Too small to be the best player on a title contender. Towns? He’s soft; can’t protect the rim. Anunoby and Bridges are too limited for what they cost. Hart can’t shoot. Mitchell Robinson really can’t shoot, or stay healthy. Deuce McBride is a small guard you can’t run the offense through. Every player has been disrespected at some point in the same way Thibodeau – voted by players as the coach they’d “least want to play for” – has been basically his entire New York tenure.
Some (maybe all) of these criticisms are at least somewhat valid. But warts be damned, this coach and this roster have put themselves on the doorstep of their first Conference Finals since 2000. There’s still work to be done. The Celtics have been arguably the NBA’s best team since the start of last season. The Knicks have mucked up their offensive game plan by forcing them into more shots off the dribble than they’d like, but it’s fair to assume they’ll start hitting shots at a higher rate at some point.
It’s also worth acknowledging while Thibodeau’s conviction (and the front office’s faith in it) led to the roster the Knicks have today, the Knicks are in the position they are in this series because Thibodeau didn’t stubbornly dig into his foundation. He’s deviated in ways many fans – this writer included – didn’t expect. He’s switching. Diversifying lineups. Running the offense through Bridges in crunch time even when Brunson has a pulse. Closing games with a double-big lineup despite limited regular-season utilization. Adjusting the offensive strategy (pace and shot selection) when the situation requires, and probably more I haven’t even mentioned.
Two games in, this has been Tom Thibodeau’s magnum opus coaching performance. And he has a team of similarly flawed and discounted players willing to go to war for him. That may just be exactly the way he prefers it.
