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Over the past years, the New York Knicks have been lauded for their turnaround from a perennial lottery team to an Eastern Conference contender. But this offseason is not being viewed as a success so far for New York.
For many years, the Knicks were among the NBA's most disappointing teams; despite one of the biggest and most passionate fan bases in the league, they, time and time again, missed the playoffs and appeared wholly incompetent. That reputation has mostly been worn away by the logical, widely praised moves of a front office led by Leon Rose.
However, after reaching the franchise's first Eastern Conference Finals in a quarter of a century, the Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau, a move immediately criticized and one that only appears worse with the hiring of Mike Brown, who, while a two-time Coach of the Year winner, has been fired four times in the last 15 years, including this past season by the Sacramento Kings.
Understandably, there have been numerous Thibodeau defenders before and after Brown's hiring, and count former NBA head coach and current broadcaster Stan Van Gundy chief among them.
“That was a big mistake [firing Tom Thibodeau],” Van Gundy said on the ‘Nothing Personal with David Samson' podcast [h/t HoopsHype. “Tom Thibodeau, one of the best coaches in this league, did an unbelievable job with that team this year. Maximized virtually everyone on their roster. I mean, OG Anunoby — best year of his career. Karl-Anthony Towns — probably the best year of his career. Jalen Brunson, a guy who was, what, a 15, 16 point-a-game scorer in Dallas, has become a star. Josh Hart went from a backup to a triple-double-type of guy in New York. He just maximized this roster and took them places they hadn’t been in a quarter of a century. And they make a coaching change? Made absolutely no sense to me.”
The Van Gundy family, in general, are big supporters of Thibodeau; amid speculation Stan's brother, Jeff Van Gundy, would be a candidate for the Knicks' job, multiple reporters said it was very unlikely that, out of respect, Jeff would ever succeed Thibodeau.
Regardless, the Knicks' coaching search seemingly went nothing like they had planned. After firing Thibodeau, New York reportedly targeted numerous active NBA head coaches, including Jason Kidd, Ime Udoka, Chris Finch, and Billy Donovan. Their respective teams quickly denied the Knicks permission to interview any of them, forcing the Knicks to look elsewhere. Reportedly, some of the top candidates at the end, in addition to Brown, included former Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins and New Orleans Pelicans associate head coach James Borrego, the latter of whom appears to be drawing interest from the Knicks as an assistant.
Under Thibodeau, the Knicks went 226-174 and reached the playoffs four out of his five seasons. In each of the last three years, the Knicks have also won a playoff series.
