OKLAHOMA CITY — The initial shock has worn off from the New York Knicks firing Tom Thibodeau after a successful five-year run and a trip to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000.
What was clear was Thibodeau’s firing being spearheaded by Knicks owner James Dolan, sources told Yahoo Sports. Dolan and team president Leon Rose held exit meetings with key Knicks players and the complaints were clear.
Dolan, whom sources said was never a huge Thibodeau fan through the years, asked the questions in the meeting while Rose took a secondary role.
A couple of players felt like Thibodeau played the starters too many minutes and felt he had an inability to adjust, sources said, and another player said he didn’t feel like he could play for Thibodeau if the coach returned next season.
The complaints obscured the success, perhaps — four winning seasons in five years, the last two being 50-win campaigns. Getting to at least the second round in the last three years was commendable, but perhaps the Knicks left food on the table in the playoffs, falling short to the Pacers last year and this year, the latter in spectacular fashion.
Thibodeau did play his starters a lot and didn’t develop a bench the way other coaches have. Mikal Bridges openly complained about playing too many minutes and that’s when it seemed things started to go sideways.
You don’t fire Thibodeau with three years and $30 million on a contract extension that won’t kick in until next season because you lose in the conference finals. You fire Thibodeau because you want to.
But it’s unclear where the Knicks go from here. Perhaps they try to poach Jason Kidd from Dallas, maybe highly thought of assistant Johnnie Bryant gets his first job — albeit in a difficult situation.
Some have suggested the coaching search will go into Summer League in July, because it seems the Knicks don’t have an outlined plan for the future.
Either way, things are intriguing, if not wholly uncertain, in Manhattan.
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