Knicks closing in on hiring Tom Thibodeau as next head coach
The signing of Thibodeau would be the first major move for New York’s new-look front office led by Leon Rose and William Wesley. Rose, the Knicks’ president, was hired shortly before the NBA’s shutdown in March. Wesley, an executive vice president, signed on last month.
“It’s very exciting,” Rose said of the coaching search in June. “We want to find the right leader who can develop our young players and hold everyone accountable. To take us from development to becoming a perennial winner. We want someone to be collaborative with the front office. Someone who is in the huddle and every player knows that person is driving the ship.”
New York’s coaching chair has been in a state of near-constant turnover under owner James Dolan, with only Mike D’Antoni lasting three consecutive seasons during the past 20 years. Thibodeau would be the Knicks’ eighth coach since 2012, and would be charged with returning the team to the playoffs for the first time since 2013. New York went 21-45 this season — its seventh straight losing campaign — and was one of eight teams left out of the NBA’s bubble restart at Disney World.
Thibodeau, who was named the NBA’s coach of the year in 2011, and selected as an assistant coach for USA Basketball, has cultivated a reputation as a defensive-minded thinker who pushes his teams hard to maximize their potential. He led the Bulls to five straight playoff trips, including a run to the 2011 East finals, and guided the Timberwolves to the 2018 playoffs, snapping a streak of 13 straight lottery appearances. Thibodeau built the Bulls into the NBA’s top defense in 2011 and 2012, before constructing a top-five offense in 2018 around Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns with the Timberwolves.
But Thibodeau’s uncompromising approach led to clashes with management and acrimonious exits in both Chicago and Minnesota. His old-school refusal to manage the minutes of his star players has been a point of criticism for years, and his 2017 trade for Butler backfired when the all-star forward later forced his way out of Minnesota.
After years of turbulence and losing, the Knicks should benefit from Thibodeau’s experience, intensity and name recognition. Whether he can return the franchise to long-term respectability and guide young prospects like R.J. Barrett remains to be seen. In Minnesota, Thibodeau often prioritized short-term improvement over longer-term development. That approach should align him with Dolan, who has displayed little patience during rebuilding efforts and overhauled his front office multiple times over the past decade.
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