Publicly criticized by players! Completely suppressed by Carlisle! Revealing the multiple factors of Thibodeau s dismissal

Translator's note: This article was originally published from ESPN, and the author is Ramona Shelburne. The data in the article are as of the original article as of June 5th local time. The views in the article have nothing to do with the translator and the platform.

Tom Thibodeau understands what the job he signed means. Growing up, he often listened to the Knicks games on the radio, and drove from his Connecticut home to watch the game with his father. In the 1990s, he was a young man who worked as an assistant coach in Jeff Van Gundy's Knicks coaching staff. He arrived at the stadium early in the morning and was always the last to leave at night, fearing that he would not be the last person to leave.

"I love the time I was here in the 1990s," Thibodeau told ESPN during his first season as team head coach in 2021. "The atmosphere in Madison Square Garden is unparalleled. We have great players and a great coaching team and have gone through many important games, whether it's against the Chicago Bulls, the Miami Heat or the Indiana Pacers. But you know that life is, Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, the 1990s seemed to be yesterday. "

"But I always know how lucky it is to work for the Knicks." In his first season as Thiboddeo took charge, the Knicks failed to continue their regular season performance in the playoffs (Thiboddeo was elected NBA coach of the year, and Julius Randle also entered the MVP discussion). They lost to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the playoffs.

"I love the challenges that all this brings," Thibodeau said. "When I went to Chicago, it was a team with a 50% winning rate, and everyone said 'Don't go there,' but I was having fun there. When I came here, people said the same thing, 'The Knicks' job is hard to do,' but it never made me back."

He has been known for his tireless workaholic image for decades, which has driven him to rise, coaching in Chicago and Minnesota, but it has also been the reason for his failure in coaching in both places.

No one knows Thibodeau's pros and cons better than Knicks president Leon Ross and Executive Vice President William Wesley, both of whom have established relationships with him through their shared connections at the CAA agency. Knicks owner Doran convinced them to resign from their position at the agency in 2020, and Thibodeau was one of their first hiring.

"We meet almost every game," Thibodeau said of Ross and Wesley in 2021. "They will always be honest with me, and I will be honest with them. I feel like I have a say, and that's what I need - there is a chance to speak out."

Like Thibodeau, Ross has been a fan of the Knicks since he was a child. This is the only team he is willing to leave the elite client lineup he has built in CAA for. He also has unique qualifications to do this position and has established a strong relationship with Dolan over the years.

The key to success in this position is the introduction of talents first and foremost, Ross has proven himself an expert in this field as an agent. This is obviously different from the way the team acquires talent, but Dolan bets that his ability to build relationships will be translated into management’s work. However, it is equally important to be able to navigate Doran, known for his fickleness, and Thibodeau, known for his tough and aggressive style.

Ross happens to have a unique advantage, he worked closely with Dolan during his client Cameron Anthony for the Knicks and established a relationship with Thibodeau for twenty years.

For five years, Ross did exactly that. Those who know them are marveling at how Ross can help Thibodeau avoid falling out of control over small matters and focusing on bigger goals. As one source said, Thibodeau tends to overwork himself is acceptable, but Ross largely avoids him from overworking others too.

Managing Dolan is another achievement entirely. Ross won Dolan's trust through his methodical team building and made the right judgment on when to go all out and when to wait for the opportunity.

Doland expressed a similar view when he participated in the podcast of Josh Hart and Jaylen Brunson in March.

"Sometimes we want to try to grab that shining and dazzling thing, 'maybe this is what we need', especially when things aren't going well," he said. "'Let's bring in this guy, maybe he'll make everything better.' Sometimes it's a player, sometimes it's a coach."

"Over time, I realized that it doesn't work, it really doesn't work. You have to really do the foundation and lay the foundation. You have to build a team, you have to build an organization. There's no wand that can swing on the team and suddenly it becomes a strong team. That's not going to happen."

Only Ross and Dolan know what's going on between that speech in March and the decision to fire Thibodeau on Tuesday. Yes, Thibodeau leads the team just two wins away from his first NBA Finals in twenty-five years; yes, he is the most successful Knicks coach of his era, winning 50 games in two consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1994-95 season.

But they also lost to the Indiana Pacers in a series, and many inside the team thought they should have won the series.

Finally, Ross - the person Thibodeau would meet after every game - gave the kind of candid assessment that Thibodeau once said that he said he "he really appreciated it."

"The only thing our team focuses on is winning the championship for our fans," Ross said in a statement announcing the sacking decision.

The implication is obvious: He and the team think Thibodeau cannot lead them to win the championship.

"This pursuit led us to make a difficult decision to inform Thibodeau that we decided to go in another direction. We are very grateful to Thibodeau for putting his heart into every day as the head coach of the New York Knicks. Over the past five seasons, he has not only led us with grace and professionalism, but has also led us to great success on the court, making four playoffs and winning four rounds of the playoff series. Ultimately, we made the decision we thought would be the best for the team's future development."

According to ESPN, Ross met with several key players and coaching staff members a few days before Thibodeau's sack.

On the surface, this is similar to the kind of departure meeting the team holds with players after each season, but in this case only a few players — basically the main rotations — are called to meet Ross and Dolan to give their opinions on the current situation of the team and how the team should move forward.

But a source told ESPN that the decision to replace Thibodeau has been moving in this direction for months. Although the team has two NBA All-Star players, Brunson and Towns, they simply haven't used their talents to the fullest. After meeting with selected players and coaches this week, Ross clearly realized that the team needed a new voice, the source said.

A source told ESPN that the players did not lose patience with Thibodeau, but after the Knicks lost to the Pacers, there were doubts that he could lead them to the finals.

"He was suppressed in a coaching showdown," a league source familiar with the situation told ESPN. "The collapse of the first game was crazy. If they hadn't had that collapse, who knew what would have happened."

Thibodde's decision was constantly questioned by the New York media throughout the series. In the fourth quarter of the second game, when the Knicks' offense was in trouble, Towns sat off the court for a long time. In the third game, after the Knicks starter scored 29 more points by his opponent in 43 minutes of the first two games, Thibodeau did not make a lineup adjustment, putting Mitchell Robinson into the starting lineup and putting Hart on the bench.

After New York won Game 3 with an adjusted starting lineup in Indiana, Hart confirmed that he had proposed a lineup adjustment to the coaching staff later in the series with Boston.

"We have to find ways to get him on the court," Hart said of Robinson. "We performed well when he was on the court. We all have to be willing to sacrifice for the good of the team."

Although Thibodeau did take some key measures to help the Knicks catch up and drag the series into Game 6, it was too late. This cannot change the course of the series, nor can it change the public questioning of Thibodeau and his decision.

This is not the first time his players have publicly criticized him this season.

Earlier this year, as one of the most durable players in the league, forward Mikal Bridges publicly complained about the starter's playing time and said he thought substitutes should get more playing time.

"We have a lot of great players on our team who can share their playing time, which helps defense, helps attack, helps avoid players being exhausted and losing too much points on the court," Bridges told reporters before a game in Portland in mid-March. "It helps us keep the players physically alive."

Bridges said he had spoken with Thibodeau and the senior coach expressed understanding.

"Yes, no, he didn't argue about this topic," Bridges said. "Sometimes I feel like he's just sticking to his own way, falling into a state of concentration, and wanting to keep the players on the court. Sometimes you have to tell him, like Landry Shamet or someone else, keep them on the court, they play well."

This is a criticism that has plagued Thibodeau for decades, and he has never solved it.

Sources say it is worrying that two big-name players on the team have criticized their coach so publicly.

In addition, there is a widespread concern that Thibodeau is too dependent on Jaylen Brunson. The combination of Brunson and Towns was a huge success at first. As February entered, the pick-and-roll combination between Brunson and Towns was the second most efficient pick-and-roll combination in the NBA, and averaged 1.22 points per direct offense. But after February, as the opponent began to arrange a winger to defend Brunson and let a center switch to Josh Hart, whose unstable shots were made, the data dropped to 0.88 points per direct pick-and-roll offense.

Tibodeau never came up with an effective response - often forcing Brunson to save the team at the end of the offensive round. Brunson won the NBA Key Player of the Year award because he did a really good job in those key situations. But under Thibodeau's coaching, Brunson's usage rate reached the highest level of his career, which has raised concerns.

A league source said history could serve as a warning precedent - Brunson missed some games this season with ankle and calf injuries, and it would be difficult for him to stay in good shape for a long time without a more layered or balanced offensive system, just as Derek Ross fell in form while playing for Thibodeau in Chicago.

If the Knicks beat the Pacers, all this may be forgiven. The Pacers, though less top-notch talent, have better lineup depth and shooting, which was particularly evident in the epic fourth-quarter reversal of Game 1, when Nesmith and Halliburton recreated Reggie Miller’s most classic “Kill Knicks” performance of the 1990s, with New York losing a 14-point lead in the final 2 minutes and 50 seconds of the game.

And Miller himself was in the on-site commentator's seat and spread salt to the Knicks' wounds. The Knicks fell into the abyss of despair overnight.

After an upset defeat of defending champion Boston Celtics in the second round, all the hope and kindness established by Thibodeau and the Knicks disappeared. Instead, what is left is a cold reality: the Knicks have given all this season but have been eliminated before entering the finals.

New York traded five first-round picks for Bridges, a player with strong defense and capable of carrying the team's offensive ability at any night; in another deal, the Knicks sent Randall, Divinzenzo and a first-round pick and got Towns, who was one of the most offensive big men in the league.

Tibodeau's mission is to maximize the unique talents of new players while minimizing their flaws. In the end, he failed to improve any one's performance, nor did he bring this talented lineup into the finals. This is especially heartbreaking, as the Eastern Conference pattern proves to be unprecedentedly open this season — and should still be the pattern next season after Boston’s Jason Tatum and Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard suffered devastating Achilles tendon injuries. The next task for the Knicks is to find someone they think is better than the current coach and readjust a roster where the loophole is completely exposed.

Whether the coach who replaced Thibodeau would help the Knicks achieve a further breakthrough remains to be seen. The job of the New York team is an amazing job, but it is also the toughest job in the NBA. No one knows this better than Thibodeau, who has personally experienced the extremely close but failed years of the 1990s as a young teaching assistant.

Since the team last won the championship in 1973, countless superstars and coaches have tried to complete the journey, but they have all failed. Thibodeau is just the latest one to hit the rocks and bleed.

He knows the risks he faces. The pressure, the environment, and the craze in the city when the Knicks seem to be approaching success again.

"Those games played at Madison Square Garden were unparalleled," Thibodeau said in his first season in charge. "That was the best experience. The Knicks meant so much to New York City... Later, as life unfolded, sometimes I would look back and sigh, 'Wow, how lucky are you?'"