NBA insider reveals why Tom Thibodeau was fired by the New York Knicks
NBA insider Brian Windhorst has revealed Tom Thibodeau was fired by the New York Knicks for making personnel changes too late into the season.
Thibodeau was shockingly fired by the Knicks on Tuesday, three days after their playoff elimination at the hands of the Indiana Pacers.
Now, as New York looks for a new coach in a hire that will have championship-or-bust expectations, Windhorst has shined a light on why there is a vacancy in Manhattan in the first place.
'What Tom Thibodeau did to his coaching strategy during the Eastern Conference finals might've assured his firing. What I mean by that is after falling down 2-0 in that series, he made a whole bunch of changes,' Windhorst said on 'Get Up'.
'He changed his starting lineup. Then he extended multiple players into his bench - something that players, team personnel, and people across the league had been begging him to do for months. He also changed some of his strategies within the coaching of the game, and it worked.'
Yet, the changes may have been a little too late, in moves that were reactive and not proactive, to keep him with the franchise.
For most of the season, Thibodeau stuck to his core rotation of seven players and did not dig into his bench.
It worked against the Pistons and Celtics, but bit them against the Pacers, who had the depth to tire out Jalen Brunson and the rest of Thibodeau's preferred players.
The Knicks will likely try to swing big with their hire, trying to court Dan Hurley or Jay Wright, before going for a more realistic option if the home-run option does not work.
Other names like Mike Malone and Johnnie Bryant have been tossed around to be the next Knicks coach, with the most important factor of the hire being someone who can maintain what Thibodeau built.
The next head coach in New York will have his legacy with the team directly tied to that of team president Leon Rose, who made the decision, with the backing of owner James Dolan, to fire Thibodeau.
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