Thibs on the Hot Seat?

 

If you went to a Knicks game this year, you would hear the usual sounds of an NBA arena. The raucous crowd, the referee’s high-pitched whistles, the PA announcer. However, one thing that would stand out would be the booming, coarse voice coming from a man on the sideline. You would see this man screaming at the refs and his players alike, pacing up and down the sideline. This loud man, who some might think will lose his voice throughout the game, is the Knicks’ head coach - Tom Thibodeau.

Thibodeau is coming into the 2022-23 season in an interesting spot. In the 2020-21 season, Thibodeau brought the lowly Knicks back to the playoffs, finishing fourth in the east and winning 41 out of 72 games (shortened pandemic season). He won coach of the year, over the likes of Monty Williams, who would go on to lead his Phoenix Suns to a finals appearance, and Quinn Snyder, whose Jazz team finished first in the western conference. But Thibodeau had done something special with the Knicks - he gave a seemingly lost team an identity, something New York had been missing for years. The Knicks played tough, grind it out games all season, finishing third in defensive rating. Further propelled by most-improved player Julius Randle and emerging star RJ Barrett, things were looking up for the Knicks. Then, the playoffs happened. The Atlanta Hawks completely outclassed the Knicks, winning the first round in five games. Trae Young torched the Knicks, who seemingly made no adjustments to slow down the young guard. Randle went ice cold, but Thibodeau refused to go away from his star. Elfrid Payton, who started all season, was horrific but Thibodeau refused to bench his starting guard. All in all, it was a disaster.

Fast forward to the 2021-22 season. Hopes are high again in New York. New season, new team. The front office had brought in a real point guard, Kemba Walker, and paid big money to sharpshooting Frenchman Evan Fournier. Despite this, weeks into the season, things were looking more like that Hawks series from last year. Thibodeau’s stubbornness was on full display throughout the season. Once again, he refused to make Barrett the number one option, even with Randle struggling. It took more than half the season for Thibodeau to realize that maybe he should give Barrett a shot. He refused to play the “kids” (what Knicks fans affectionately call the rookies) more than short spurts at a time. Even though the offense looked dramatically better with Quickely and Toppin running the court, Thibodeau rarely played them for more than five minutes at a time. That’s the thing with Thibodeau: he loves his vets and doesn’t play his young guys. Everyone knew that about him coming in, but we thought that maybe he could change.

Adding fuel to the dumpster fire last year, the Knicks' defensive rating dropped down to around 110 ppg, almost the middle of the pack in the NBA. The tough, grind-it-out defense that was the Knicks’ identity just a year ago had seemingly evaporated into thin air. Some of this can be blamed on personnel changes, switching out Payton and Bullock, two defensive guards, for Walker and Fournier, two very much not defensive guards, did have some effects on the team. However, most of the blame falls on coaching. The rotations were not crisp, and three-point shooters were left wide open seemingly almost every possession. At times you just had to pray the other team would miss wide-open shots. On the other side of the ball, it wasn’t any better. The Knicks were bottom ten in offensive rating. Their offense would often look stagnant, unable to score, and ending up in inefficient Randle isolations. The only time the offense looked watchable was when the young guys got their run. The ball moved around more, the players got up and down the court with pace. It just looked like a more modern offense.

Coming into this season there is a lot of pressure on Thibodeau. After the signing of Jalen Brunson, the Knicks finally have a true point guard, so no blame can go there anymore. Thibodeau has to change his ways and play the young Knicks. This New York roster is filled with great, young talent. Obi Toppin; Quentin Grimes; Immanuel Quickely; Miles McBride; Jericho Simms. These young players have the potential to all be great, contributing pieces in the future, if not potential starters and stars. However, we will never get to see that if Thibodeau continues to refuse to play with youth. The only way that I can see Thibodeau making it through this season is if he can somehow get the Knicks to what they were, or even close to what they were, in 2020-21. That means they have to be much better defensively, no more wide-open threes and lazy rotations, and the offense has to be much, much better. If Thibodeau can’t produce a winning record this season, the only person who is going to hear him screaming at the players is going to be his wife, in the living room.