Shams: New York Knicks Fire Head Coach Tom Thibodeau

[kingr]

I don't think this was a good decision. He deserved to continue as head coach, at least another year.

[Woodsanity]

Honest question: What would Knicks fans consider an upgrade?

To be honest there isn't any clear upgrade available.

We might have to take a risk on someone who hasnt held a HC position before like Johnnie Bryant. I rather do that than hire poor man's Thibs aka Michael Malone.

I understand a re-thread may not work but for every 1 Mark Daigneault, there's a few more Wes Unseld Jr, Chauncey Billups, Kokoskov, Earl Watson, etc.

I agree but its a risk we have to take to make it further. Thibs is not a bad coach but he had some very severe flaws that limited our ceiling.

[kingr]

Name a coach who is available or could potentially be fired who is head and shoulders above Thibs. Malone? Jenkins? Bud? Doc? Vogel? None of them is a clear upgrade nor worth firing a coach who just got to the ECF over.

I half-jokingly mentioned JVG earlier, but maybe him? That's the only person I can think of.

That's the thing. This board likes to think there are an infinite number of people better than the person they're not a fan of.

[azcatz11]

We're eventually getting to a point where a coach will be fired days after winning a championship

Results don't matter anymore

Results don’t matters. Expectations matter. A rebuild is a GMs best friend.

[NyKnicks1714]

Name a coach who is available or could potentially be fired who is head and shoulders above Thibs. Malone? Jenkins? Bud? Doc? Vogel? None of them is a clear upgrade nor worth firing a coach who just got to the ECF over.

I half-jokingly mentioned JVG earlier, but maybe him? That's the only person I can think of.

That's the thing. This board likes to think there are an infinite number of people better than the person they're not a fan of.

In fairness, front offices seem to be doing that too.

[1993Playoffs]

Bad coaching cost them game 1 and a chance at a finals. Not surprised

[Bankai]

The NBA is weird. Knicks season was a success. But as someone said, this is like getting an A on a test and them saying you still failed.

[hundreth]

So cliches > facts I guess. Again, who is this far superior coach the Knicks are hiring?

The season isn’t over so no one knows who is available. Sometime Cliches are just the way things are.

Name a coach who is available or could potentially be fired who is head and shoulders above Thibs. Malone? Jenkins? Bud? Doc? Vogel? None of them is a clear upgrade nor worth firing a coach who just got to the ECF over.

I half-jokingly mentioned JVG earlier, but maybe him? That's the only person I can think of.

Of course it's a risk to fire Thibs. You might get worse if you make the wrong call. That said, you still make the move. You HAVE to take a chance with this roster.

This team is really good. We watched a whole season of Thibs' systemless ISO based offense where none of our player's strengths were maximized. This was already bad, but then in the playoffs we watched his defense get decimated too.

This wasn't solely a personnel issue. The narrative now is KAT + Brunson blah blah. A few bounces the other way and there would be a Pacers' personnel narrative instead. The real issue is that we saw Thibs struggle to adjust. The players were consistently not in the correct positions to guard the Pacers on the fast break. They gave up way too many open 3s, etc. If Thibs defense isn't elite and his offense is bottom tier, you have to move on from him. We act like Thibs dragged this team this far, but it is really the other way around.

Will we be better next season? I don't know. Of course it's possible we are worse. I still think you need to roll the dice.

[Marrs-Law]

I don't think this is a good move unless they have someone whom they have tons of confidence in lined up. To borrow the analogy above, it's more like trading Demar Derozan for a bunch of random rotation players in the hopes that you'll get lucky and get someone better. It seems like change for the sake of change, not for anything else.

[mademan]

Thought they'd fire him. He's not great, but the Knicks are a fairly flawed team that couldve went to the finals if not for the game 1 collapse (which is on the players).

[GiannisAnte34]

Watch them hire someone who also just plays heavy minutes with the starters lol

wait, are they trading for JJ Redick?

I could see them hiring Malone

[knicks512]

This forum is hilarious to me.

You guys spend most of the time trashing Thibs, his rotations, his minutes distribution, etc, then he gets fired and you all act like he's an amazing head coach.

Hire him for your team if you think he'll win you a title.

The guy is a good coach and works hard but he has limitations that will never get him over the hump. Look at his resume. It speaks for itself. Just because he took a team that was going nowhere and made them respectable doesn't mean the team needs to be married to this dude forever.

General Board gonna General Board.

[hundreth]

Thought they'd fire him. He's not great, but the Knicks are a fairly flawed team that couldve went to the finals if not for the game 1 collapse (which is on the players).

The only reason the Knicks made it this far is because of the players, not Thibs.

Did you ever wonder why in every single series the Knicks played from behind and pulled off a comeback in the 4th quarter? When the majority of the game is based on your offensive system, you will be drowning when you have none. In the 4th quarter every team reverts to ISO. In this scenario the Knicks players are very talented and very clutch. They were able to pull out miracles the entire post season.

[tamaraw08]

Watch them hire someone who also just plays heavy minutes with the starters lol

wait, are they trading for JJ Redick?

I could see them hiring Malone

I can't help but wonder, Does Giannis like Malone?

[JonFromVA]

Fired the coach that just got them to the Conference Finals for the first time since 99' smh.

My thought as well. Not something you should be doing unless you have a very specific vision for what comes next and you have specific coaching candidates in mind you think could do better.

It may well be the right call and still the Knicks may not get back to the Conference Finals this generation, in which case it won't seem right.

Well, the Knicks have surely done their exit interviews, and what the stars on the team think matters a lot; and they no doubt have some opinions on Johnnie Bryant if the Knicks move fast before Phoenix or another team hires him.

[JujitsuFlip]

I don't think this was a good decision. He deserved to continue as head coach, at least another year.

To do what? He's been there 5 years. He's had bottom 5 bench MPG every season.

His offense has never been diverse.

You know what you're getting with Thibs, no point to waste another season.

[mademan]

Thought they'd fire him. He's not great, but the Knicks are a fairly flawed team that couldve went to the finals if not for the game 1 collapse (which is on the players).

The only reason the Knicks made it this far is because of the players, not Thibs.

Did you ever wonder why in every single series the Knicks played from behind and pulled off a comeback in the 4th quarter? When the majority of the game is based on your offensive system, you will be drowning when you have none. In the 4th quarter every team reverts to ISO. In this scenario the Knicks players are very talented and very clutch. They were able to pull out miracles the entire post season.

Are the Knicks some incredibly talented team that shouldve been better than they are with Tom holding them back? Im honestly trying to understand. They won in spite of him? But when they lose because their top 2 is outplayed by the other teams top 2, it's still him and not the players? Theyre in the finals if Brunson/Towns are the better duo in the CF's...the players failed here, not the coach.

[dynomite8]

Great move, no more 7 man player rotations and zero offensive identity.

He’s a fantastic coach. Why can’t nba players play 34 min 3x a week. He will get hired by the Kings

Well, because when your starting 5 is something like 2nd, 4th, 6th, 17th, and 20th in MPG... There are zero roles for anyone on the team.

How wild is it that Thibs did not go 10 deep until the final 2 or 3 games of the season? It's like too late buddy, you had these guys collective anus glued to the bench.

i mean lets be real the drop off in talent from their top 7 players is insane, that's on leon rose.

they wouldn't have beaten detroit or boston playing 10 players regularly. i feel like there were thib's teams in the past where he shoudl have trusted the young talent more but this aint it. cam payne, landry shamet, delon wright, these guys should be garbage minute players at this point, not rotational.

i think thibs has his flaws but i don't think the pacers loss is on him and the knicks roster is what it is.

wings like hart, bridges, anunoby are young enough and athletic enough to play heavy minutes.

[infinite11285]

To be honest there isn't any clear upgrade available.

We might have to take a risk on someone who hasnt held a HC position before like Johnnie Bryant. I rather do that than hire poor man's Thibs aka Michael Malone.

I understand a re-thread may not work but for every 1 Mark Daigneault, there's a few more Wes Unseld Jr, Chauncey Billups, Kokoskov, Earl Watson, etc.

I agree but its a risk we have to take to make it further. Thibs is not a bad coach but he had some very severe flaws that limited our ceiling.

Every coach has flaws—just like every roster does. I don’t understand the logic behind calling the firing a “necessary risk.” The coaching staff should’ve been given a chance to retool and learn from last year’s mistakes. Starting over doesn’t solve the underlying issues with the roster or player personnel. This isn’t even a calculated risk—there’s no clear upgrade available. It feels more like an unnecessary gamble made just for the sake of change.

[seren]

Forget about the results for a minute. Dude was putting enormous amount of mileage on the teams’ most expensive players and he won’t stop. At some point, you need to protect your players’ health. Right decision by the FO