The New York Knicks decided to fire head coach Tom Thibodeau after their exit from the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
A decision that felt as if many knew it was coming. Thibodeau had been criticized over the regular season on not being able to compete against the top teams in the league. Another reason came over the lineup formations in the playoffs.
Tom Thibodeau has been known for being a well-respected coach in the league for many years. He led the Chicago Bulls to quite some successful seasons and led the Minnesota Timberwolves to their first playoff appearance in 2018 after they had not been there since 2005.
Thibodeau was also an assistant coach with the New York Knicks from the late 90’s to early 2000’s alongside head coach Jeff Van Gundy. Thibodeau had joined Van Gundy in Houston in 2003 as an assistant as well. Thibodeau was also credited for the Boston Celtics championship for a well put defense by him.
Thibodeau had a total of four playoff appearances in five years as the Knicks head coach. This season has been quite a season for head coaches as winning records do not seem to matter. Head coach Mike Malone had been fired by the Denver Nuggets right before the playoffs started. Now Malone has been a name that the Knicks are after at head coach. Malone had led Denver to many playoff appearances and the 2023 NBA championship.
Despite the firing, Tom Thibodeau would not have a hard time finding a job as he is well respected in the league, and someone would be eager to find him to rebuild a culture.