The New York Knicks made their deepest playoff run in 25 years this season as they made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals before losing to the Indiana Pacers. It was a good season, but the Knicks decided to fire head coach Tom Thibodeau after the team was eliminated. Thibodeau was with New York for five seasons, and he took the team to the playoffs four times. A lot of people were surprised by his firing, but NBA legend Carmelo Anthony was not.

Carmelo Anthony played for the Knicks from 2011 until 2017. He has a lot of connections to the team, and he recently said that the decision to fire Tom Thibodeau is something that had been brewing for a while.

“No and I say that meaning everybody else thinks that that just happened overnight,” Anthony said during a recent episode of 7PM in Brooklyn. “That ain’t just happened overnight. That’s been a part of the conversation behind the scenes going on, observations, analyzing, really scouting Thibs. Whatever it is, he was under a microscope for a period of time. So it ain’t just happened.”

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Anthony vouched for Thibodeau's coaching ability, but he thinks that he reached his peak with the Knicks. Making the Eastern Conference Finals is great, but this teams wants to win championships, and the front office clearly didn't believe that Thibodeau could take them there.

“Thibs is an unbelievable coach, one of the greatest basketball minds that this game has ever seen when it comes to strategy,” he continued. “X’s and O’s the way he studies the game, the way he coaches the game. Let’s get that out of the way. It’s like a peak. Because what adjustments are you going to make from here on out, you’re going to get us here but what adjustments are you going to make to get us over the hump.”

Now, the Knicks need to find someone that can take them to the top. If Tom Thibodeau is truly one of the greatest basketball minds that the game has ever seen like Carmelo Anthony said, it's not a great sign that he wasn't able to take New York to the next level. If someone that good can't do it, then who will be able to?