There aren’t many coaches who inject their personality into a team’s identity quite like Tom Thibodeau.
If one thing has stood out about the Knicks’ surprising 2022-23 season, it was how, under Thibodeau, they would constantly grind with an imperfect offense and a sometimes inflexible defense, win or loss.
Following the Knicks’ second-round exit at the hands of the Miami Heat, there are still questions about the Knicks and their coach after the team’s most successful season in 10 years.
When compared to other coaches in the franchise’s recent past, Thibodeau looks like a Hall of Famer. In three seasons, he’s coached the club to a 125-111 record (53 percent win percentage) and won one playoff series.
After a disappointing 2021-22 season that saw the Knicks miss the playoffs, and a shaky start to this season, Thibodeau’s seat simmered. Despite the increased pressure, he made some key rotation decisions that worked.
In the first seven games, incumbent starter at shooting guard Evan Fournier was benched in favor of a combination of Quentin Grimes and Cam Reddish.
Fournier would play just six more games in the rotation before his permanent banishment to the bench outside of some spot appearances due to injury.
In early December, the team was 10-13 after a jarring 121-100 blowout loss against the Dallas Mavericks. It was after that game that Thibodeau benched veteran Derrick Rose and Reddish, while adding Miles McBride into the rotation. After the decision, the Knicks won their next eight games and went 37-22 over the final 59 games, saving the season.
By the trade deadline, the team added Josh Hart from the Portland Trail Blazers. The move added the perfect hard-nosed fit for Thibodeau’s coaching style and helped cement the Knicks as a legitimate playoff contender.
Thibodeau’s performance in the playoffs had some good moments. In the team’s first-round 4-1 series win against the Cleveland Cavaliers, he made the decision to have guards and wings like RJ Barrett be the screener rather than big men such as Mitchell Robinson and Julius Randle, which helped relieve the immense amount of pressure Jalen Brunson was facing.
New York also did a good job of containing Cleveland’s two star guards Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. The Cavaliers were last among all playoff teams in offensive efficiency, scoring just 101.9 points per 100 possessions.