Why the Knicks Fired Tom Thibodeau

June 13, 2026 LouV Analysis 0

Leon Rose took over a moribund Knick team that was in a 20-year gutter, heading towards a 21-45 finish in 2020 after a 17-65 season the year before — and the first thing he did is hire Tom Thibodeau as the coach.

This began a perfect harmony of a great coach invoking his system and bringing an identity to the team — which for Thibodeau and the Knicks was one of Defense and Intensity — while the GM team got that coach players for his system.

Rose orchestrated a GM team that included William “World Wide Wes” Wesley (Rose’s confidant), Brock Aller (a salary-cap maven), Scott Perry (the holdover GM who had done a good job getting the Knicks well under the cap with short-term contracts and some good players like Julius Randle), Frank Zanin, and Gersson Rosas (a consultant at first who took over the role of GM when Perry left).

Step  by step over the next few years that management team built one of the best teams in the NBA, with amazingly smart acquisitions — turning the roster over to reflect Thibodeau’s system.

It wasn’t perfect at first — there were a few players acquired that weren’t Thibs’ cup of tea — like Cam Reddish. But by year 3, the GM team adjusted and started getting only players that appeared to have Thibs’ blessing — like Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, Mikal Bridges, and Landry Shamet.

NY also drafted Miles McBride early on, reportedly a Thibs recommendation. The one Knick from the previous regime that the Knicks kept was Thibs fav Mitchell Robinson. Jalen Brunson of course was a key early signing, and his defense — and ability to draw fouls — appeared to get better under Thibs. In Thibs’ final year NY traded Julius Randle — who tended to over dribble and have a high-strung temperament on the court — for Karl-Anthony Towns, who improved his defense dramatically under Thibs (Thibs had of course coached him previously in Minnesota).

Thibs turned the Knicks around. NY went:

  • 41-31 the first year under Thibs, making the playoffs but losing in the 1st rd to Atlanta as they double-teamed Julius Randle.
  • 37-45 in year 2 — a fallback year.
  • 47-35 in year 3 — the Knicks seemed headed to the Finals — as they had won the season series against Boston during the regular season — but lost to Red Hot Miami in the Eastern Conference semis.
  • 50-32 in year 4 — the injury year — another year when they seemed headed to the finals after aquiring OG Anumoby in February they became the hottest team in the NBA, beating top teams like Golden State, Miami, and Boston easily — but then came the injuries to Mitchell Robinson, Julius Randle, and by the playoffs, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, and in the final game Jalen Brunson.
  • 51-31 in year 5 — getting upset by the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals — the Knicks with a 14-pt lead with 4 minutes left in game 1, when Indiana shot LIGHTS OUT from 3 to win the game and turn the series.

And then days later, Thibs was FIRED — just like that.

It devastated so many Knick fans. And devastated Thibs.

Why?

The answers started to trickle out soon afterwards:

1. Indiana Got More Out of Its Assistant Coaches than NY Did in 2025

The first was a report that Oklahoma City coaches feared playing Indiana more than the Knicks because their offensive plays were more varied and unpredictable.

At around the same time, this tweet by Indiana coach Rick Carlisle came across Twitter — where he talks about one of their offensive plays, and says “I don’t know which of my coaches was the one that drew that one up; but the great thing about today’s game is that the pace and movement has made it an even more beautiful game than it’s been over the last several decades.”

2. Thibs Has a History of Being Bull Headed

Then came reminders that Thibs had been fired in Chicago under the same circumstances — he turned around a moribund Bulls team and made them a playoff team during an amazing 5-year run — then was fired. The owner of the  Bulls, Jerry Reinsdorf, published a highly critical public statement that said Thibs was fired for, essentially, not listening to anyone.

It stated, in part:

“The Chicago Bulls have a history of achieving great success on and off the court. These accomplishments have been possible because of an organizational culture where input from all parts of the organization has been welcomed and valued, there has been a willingness to participate in a free flow of information, and there have been clear and consistent goals. While the head of each department of the organization must be free to make final decisions regarding his department, there must be free and open interdepartmental discussion and consideration of everyone’s ideas and opinions. These internal discussions must not be considered an invasion of turf, and must remain private. Teams that consistently perform at the highest levels are able to come together and be unified across the organization-staff, players, coaches, management and ownership. When everyone is on the same page, trust develops and teams can grow and succeed together. Unfortunately, there has been a departure from this culture.”

Chicago was Thibs’ first head coaching job. The same thing happened in his second head-coaching job in Minnesota — he took a moribund Timberwolves team and turned them around into a playoff team — a magical 3-year run. And then was fired. There was a report that summer before he was fired that he threw a temper tantrum in the Timberwolves headquarters — throwing things.

3. Dolan: Thibs was a “Lone Wolf”

Finally, in January, 2026 — midway through the 2025-2026 — Knick owner James Dolan went on the Craig Carton show and said why.

“The team is really built on the shoulders of Tom Thibodeau. He built that core (that enabled us to) go as far as we did last year. You really have to take your hat off to Tom,” starts Dolan. “But we needed to evolve beyond the old traditional coaching formulas. We tried to work it out with Tom but it wasn’t really his thing.”

Dolan elucidated: “It was much more about style of leadership — collaboration vs “lone wolf” type of thing — because of the way particularly basketball — but also hockey too — the way the sports evolving, how much more complicated it is — we’re very very big on development on both clubs. It’s not like the old days like the old Yanks where you get Reggie Jackson and this guy and this guy and build a team. It’s almost impossible to do that in the NBA. You Have to home grow some of your talent, and that also builds up trade currency etc. But its a development today and that’s a team of people; there’s literally 20 people who are specifically dedicated to developing the players, to getting their skill level up, to getting the strategy on the court in.”

Dolan continued, “I won’t say you can’t win a title with Tom Thibodeau. It’s just that if you want to build a long-term compete-for-the (title) you need someone who is much more of a collaborator than Tom was. Tom is still a great coach. He should coach again in the NBA. If I had a franchise that I was just starting with, he would be a goldmine. He brought discipline, he brought strategy; he brought us all that way. But we really felt we needed to make a change to go the rest of the way.”

Dolan laid down the goal: “We want to get to the Finals and we should win the Finals. Anything can happen in sports. Getting to the Finals, we’ve absolutely got to do. Winning the Finals, we should win.”

The interview was held after the Knicks won the 2025-26 In Season Cup. The Knicks did not raise the banner for that cup at Madison Square Garden. “We want an NBA championship,” said Dolan. “We don’t want the consolation prize.”

4. Coach Brown Has Spent the Season Crediting His Assistant Coaches

After firing Thibs, the Knicks went on a lengthy search for a coach, reportedly asking 5 teams to talk to their head coach — and being denied each time — before hiring Mike Brown, a former Coach of the Year winner who was unemployed after being fired by Sacramento earlier in the year.

Brown — who I call “the orphan child coach” because he was the Knicks’ 6th pick — has spent the season regularly calling out his team of assistant coaches for the Knicks success, and stating he was given this team built by Thibodeau.

Like during this post-game interview after a 140-132 NY win over Miami on November 14, 2025:

“I thought all of our guys as players did well,” said Brown, “And my freaking staff was unbelievable — Chris Jent was fabulous, Rick Brunson was fabulous, BOC .. they were all really good and they were on point, helping me with substitutions, mixing in zone, kind of figuring where we needed to go with the ball offensively — and we didn’t just come down and call a play and go through them, we did it naturally through our stuff; we didn’t hunt mismatches, we just did it naturally through our early offensive-line attacks. But those 3 guys they did not a great job but a helluva job helping me coach this game tonite.”

And after Crushing the Hawks by 50 pts to take the 1st round series in the 2026 playoffs, Brown had this to say:

“I give my entire staff — Chris Jent, Brendan O’Connor, Rick Brunson, Darren Erman, Ricky Foy, TJ Saint, Mo Cheeks, Mark Bryant, Chuck Allen, Jordan Brink, Joe,  Peter Patton, Billy Ryan, I could go on and on and on about the guys that carried me and I’m the one sitting up here. Those guys were phenomenal, getting us prepared for the series and they were phenomenal throughout the course of the series. So I take my hat off not only to the players but to my entire coaching staff including the video room and the performance group.”

And then after winning game 2 of the Finals against San Antonio, Brown had this to say:

“I’ve said it before, man, I’ve got great assistants. I’m scared to death one of these teams are going to poach my guys. I’m surprised nobody has come at Chris Jent for a head job yet. The guy’s won Summer League as a coach, and he’s a lead assistant here. I can go down the line talking about my guys. But Jordan (Brink) is fantastic. He’s been doing this (challenges) two years in a row. I rely totally on him. Every once in a while I lose my mind; he don’t get emotional and try to stick it to the refs even though I like all of them. That never works so I try like heck to follow Jordan’s lead; it was his call.”

5. The Knicks Have a Team of Great Assistant Coaches

The Knicks have an amazing crew of assistant coaches — some who will be head coaches the day after tomorrow. They include:

  • Chris Jent (Associate Head Coach): Veteran NBA assistant (previously with the Hornets and others) and former player who serves as the offensive coordinator/shooting specialist; he played briefly for the Knicks in the 1990s and won a title with the Rockets.
  • Brendan O’Connor: Longtime defensive specialist and top assistant who joined from the Clippers; a New Hampshire native with over two decades of NBA experience, including a championship run with the 2004 Pistons.
  • Rick Brunson: Former NBA player (and father of Knicks star Jalen Brunson) who has been with the team since 2022; he provides continuity from the prior staff with a strong player-development and guard-mentorship background.
  • Mark Bryant: Highly regarded big-man coach and former NBA player (Seton Hall alum) who joined in 2024; he specializes in frontcourt development after stops with the Suns and Pistons.
  • Darren Erman: Defensive-minded holdover from the Thibodeau era (since 2020) who stayed on under Brown; he previously had NBA experience with teams like the Warriors.
  • Riccardo Fois: Assistant who followed Mike Brown from the Sacramento Kings; he focuses on player development and analytics.
  • Charles Allen: Player development and chief-of-staff type who also came over from Brown’s Kings staff.
  • TJ Saint: Newer addition with a strong player-development background (formerly with Belmont and G League), and known for expert offensive strategies.
  • Maurice Cheeks (Special Advisor/Assistant): Hall of Fame point guard and longtime coach who brings veteran wisdom and mentorship as a holdover.
  • Jordan Brink (Assistant Coach / Special Situations / Player Development): Former video coordinator and player development specialist (ex-Pistons) who rose from the video room; known for his sharp game-film eye, high challenge success rate, and leading the Knicks’ Summer League team.
  • Kwadzo Ahelegbe (Assistant Coach / Player Development): Former University of Northern Iowa standout and overseas pro who brings guard/developmental expertise; joined the Knicks staff in 2025 after G League coaching experience.
  • Peter Patton (Assistant Coach / Player Development, Shooting Specialist): Veteran shooting coach (ex-Mavericks, Timberwolves) hired in 2025; credited with elevating the Knicks’ perimeter shooting and 3-point efficiency.
  • Mark Tyndale (Assistant Coach / Player Development): Former longtime G League player (10 seasons) and ex-Raptors/Trail Blazers development coach; focuses on skill work and player growth.

 

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