Tom

Thibodeau

The extension will keep him with New York through the 2027-28 campaign. The Knicks made the conference semifinals in each of the last two seasons, and the team came within a game of making the conference finals in 2024 despite missing a number of key players due to injury.

This translates to more frustration for fantasy managers. Thibs has been known to play guys that aren’t fantasy friendly, leave young guys with potential on the bench, and really favor players that come into training camp already in shape. He also gives a fresh start to everyone every year. Thankfully, Taj Gibson isn’t in New York anymore, so hopefully that translates into more minutes for Obi Toppin off the bench. However, there’s a chance that a lot of the young guys (Cam Reddish, Quentin Grimes, Immanuel Quickley) don’t play as much as we all want them to.

Bondy acknowledged that the Knicks were better down the stretch last season with the young guys playing. With Jalen Brunson added into the mix, Thibs could end up on the hot seat or even fired quickly, if the Knicks are out of the playoff hunt again. They have a young team, but New York’s expectation should be to return to the postseason. It’ll take a bounce back season from Julius Randle to make that happen, which Thibs should focus on making happen.

“It’s similar to last year,” Thibs said. “When you throw in he’s been sick, and to me you get rhythm when you work ... So get back in the gym, get back to grooving your shot. Shoot a lot of threes and you’ll start making more.” Beat writer Ian Begley notes that while that may sound like a criticism, Thibs was likely referring to Barrett’s inability to “get back in the gym” due to the illness. Barrett said he’s adjusting to getting shots in new ways with new teammates this season. Regardless of the cause or the cure, fantasy GMs may want to bench him until he sorts out his high-volume shooting woes.

“We’re very efficient at shooting them,” Thibodeau said. “So our shot profile is right. Making the right reads is the most important thing off the dribble. Attack the rim, and make the proper rim read by hitting the open man. If guys make the extra pass, we’ll have good rhythm 3s.” If pre-season is any indication, The Knicks will definitely be north of 40 per game, as they attempted 52 3-pointers, making 24 in Saturday’s 117-99 victory over the Washington Wizards. Now, this was preseason, so we don’t want to overreact, but more three’s is great for fantasy managers of Knicks players.

Thibs helped take a 21-45, bottom-dwelling Knicks team to their first playoff berth in eight years with a top-4 finish out East with a record of 41-31 this season, and he did so without the Knicks overhauling their roster. He also helped Julius Randle take home the Most Improved Player Award, and this is Thibs second time bring home the Coach of the Year trophy. Monty Williams finished second place in the Coach of the Year race and actually had more first-place votes than Thibs, while Quin Snyder finished third.

Williams helped increase the Suns’ winning percentage from last season by almost 25% (46.6% to 70.8%), Thibodeau took the Knicks to the playoffs for the first time in over a decade and still was able to manage home-court advantage, and Snyder’s Jazz simply had the best record in the NBA at a 52-20 (72.2%) record. All three of these coaches without a doubt deserve this award, but with the Suns’ amazing jump compared to last season and ownership of the second best record in the league, Monty Williams may have a slight edge.

Dwane Casey said pregame that Rose will be inactive against the Lakers on Saturday for personal reasons but considering the latest Shams report, this could be a preventative move by the Pistons to avoid an injury to the veteran guard as they look to trade him. Rose hasn’t played since Jan. 30 and he and Pistons have already agreed it would be best to trade him as Detroit hopes to develop its young players. Could we see a Rose-Tom Thibodeau reunion?

The Knicks now have the No. 8 and No. 23 pick in their first draft with President of Basketball Operations Leon Rose at the helm. The Knicks have holes all over their roster so it’s hard to get a read on what direction they will go. This should be the first trade of many we’ll see today so buckle up.

Five days after it was reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that the two sides were working on finalizing a deal, it has officially been done. The team did not disclose the details of Thibodeau’s contract, but it was reported last week that he was to receive a five-year deal. Thibodeau most recently served as head coach/team president of the Timberwolves from 2016 to 2019. A key for Thibs in New York will be the development of the team’s young players, most notably Mitchell Robinson and RJ Barrett.