Even after their recent signing of Landry Shamet, the New York Knicks need help on their bench. That much is obvious.
The Knicks were 24-10 and on a nine-game winning streak before their last two games. Then they lost two in-a-row to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Chicago Bulls on back-to-back nights. Now, fans are in frenzy over coach Tom Thibodeau's alleged overuse of key players.
But everyone needs to pump the brakes. Frankly, coach Thibodeau is not to blame.
Knicks were due to lose again

First, let's address the elephant in the room—the Knicks were not winning all of their remaining 48 games. Few, if any, Knicks fans thought they would.
Therefore, it is irrational to be angry about a loss to the Western Conference-best Thunder (who, by the way, beat the Boston Celtics two days after defeating New York). And it's even more irrational to be upset about a loss the very next night on the road on the tail end of a back-to-back.
Knicks' roster isn't deep enough to lean on reserves
For those of you angry about Thibodeau's unwillingness to turn to the bench, to whom do you suggest he turn?
The Knicks bench typically consists of Miles McBride, Precious Achiuwa, Shamet, Cam Payne, and—to a lesser extent—Tyler Kolek, Jericho Sims, Matt Ryan, and Jacob Toppin. None of whom, by the way, instill anywhere the confidence that Jalen Brunson, Mika Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, and Karl-Anthony Towns do.
Still, the bench was thinner than usual against Chicago. McBride was (still) out due to injury.
Achiuwa, Shamet, and Payne played typical minutes—with Shamet even logging a season-high 16 minutes despite just joining the team and Achiuwa playing a near-season high 26 minutes. Thibodeau can't put that much pressure on guys like Kolek or Sims and expect good results.
Sure, Achiuwa could have played even more minutes, although that wouldn't have remedied the problem. But playing Achiuwa alongside Hart creates spacing issues, even with the best shooting big man of all-time (Towns) on the floor. Further, some of Hart's minutes were in place of Anunoby, which allowed Anunoby—who is far more injury prone than Hart—to get some extra rest. So, doing so would have been tricky, to say the least.
No matter how you approach it, the fact remains that New York is not fully healthy. They need McBride. And, more importantly, they need Mitchell Robinson. So, the starters are going to continue to shoulder the load for Thibodeau until they are healthy.
Knicks' workloads remain mostly unchanged
The Thunder game is less relevant given the appearance of playing the best in the West (as well as facing their former teammate, Isaiah Hartenstein). But Thibodeau only played his starters between 32:24 minutes and 40:23 minutes in the loss to the Bulls.
To put those minutes into context, Bridges, Anunoby, and Brunson played fewer minutes than they average through 34 games this season. Sure, Hart and Towns logged slightly more minutes against the Bulls. But, at least in Towns' case, there is a logical reason for it: there is simply no qualified replacement for him. Sims remains too much of an offensive liability, especially alongside rundown teammates, to play the minutes they need from him.
Back to the starters who were on the Knicks last season, Brunson and Anunoby averaged 35.4 and 34.9 minutes per game, respectively. Meaning they played slightly fewer minutes against the Bulls than their 2023-24 averages. Hart negligibly exceeded his 2023-24 minutes totals as a starer (39.2 minutes per game). Meaning this is all frankly overblown, at least for the guys were Knicks last year.
Tom Thibodeau has operated like this through entire tenure
More importantly than roster construction is the fact that Thibodeau seemingly prefers to operate like this. I'm sure there is a sense of pride in doing so. And there is an even bigger sense of accomplishment when it works out. It might not have worked against Chicago, or (to a lesser extent) Oklahoma City. But it's worked more often than it hasn't, at least through his tenure with the Knicks.
And realistically, can you blame Thibodeau? The Knicks' starters are among the most dangerous lineups in the NBA, and they have amassed a +4.6 net rating despite logging more minutes than any other five-man lineup in the league. That's a lineup worth leaning on. Conversely, the Knicks bench was embarrassingly outscored by the Thunder bench 44-5. So, while Thibodeau ay prefer to go with a shorter rotation, he doesn't have many other options at the moment.
Ultimately, the Knicks just wrapped up a scorching December. They are firmly in the third-seed in the Eastern Conference. And their depth chart is not yet final. So, if all else fails (to brighten your spirits), look back to the first few weeks of the season and remind yourselves of the “woe, is me” reaction to Bridges start to the year. And then consider that maybe, just maybe, the sky is not falling.