After leading the Knicks for five seasons, including back-to-back 50-win seasons and their first trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in 25 years, Tom Thibodeau was surprisingly fired by team president Leon Rose at the end of the 2025 season.
The move raised many questions about New York’s direction as it felt like Thibodeau was a driving factor in the team’s growth and success.
Firing Thibodeau was critiqued even more after Rose decided on hiring longtime coach Mike Brown, who’s best season came back in 2007 when a young LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals (which they lost 4-0 to the San Antonio Spurs).
Fast forward 12 months, Rose’s hire of Brown proved to be a major difference maker as he was able to guide the Knicks over the hump to their first NBA title since 1973.
Speaking with 2026 NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson and teammate Josh Hart on an episode of their Roommates Show podcast, Rose opened up about the “tough” decision to fire Thibodeau after the team lost to the Indiana Pacers in the ECF and the choice to hire Brown.
“It was tough. Thibs is a great coach. Did so much for the organization,” Rose said. “We were right on the doorstep. Just felt that, just needed a change in voice, a change in philosophy. It was a tough move.
“Mike is a guy that really fit what we were looking for. He’s somebody that I’ve known for a long time. I represented LeBron when he coached him in Cleveland. Knew him and kind of followed him through his career. Didn’t know him that well but he always was a guy that was a good guy, that you could talk to, that you really felt good about. That was just your gut.”
Rose went on to explain what made Brown an attractive hire over other candidates, mainly pointing to his open-minded approach.
“First of all, just his openness and his willingness to share ideas,” Rose said. “And share ideas with the front office, his staff and the inclusion of everyone. I think you guys probably saw that. He really was open to things, open to people’s suggestions, open to ideas.
“I believe that’s what led to some of the changes that were made throughout the season. We started out a certain way, he may have had an idea about how something was gonna work and how he wanted it to work, but he kind of evolved throughout the season, as did our team. I think that all went into the fact that we went into another gear in the playoffs.”
It’s clear the players and rest of the organization adapted and worked well with Brown in his first season with the team. By winning the Finals, he became just the sixth head coach since the NBA/ABA merger (1976) to win a title in their first year with a team (the Toronto Raptors’ Nick Nurse in 2019, Cavaliers’ Tyronn Lue in 2016, Golden State Warriors’ Steve Kerr in 2015, Los Angeles Lakers’ Pat Riley in 1982, and Lakers’ Paul Westhead in 1980).
While it may have been hard for Rose to move on from Thibodeau after helping get the Knicks back on the winning track, it worked, and will go down as one of the best in his tenure as team president.
Read the full article here