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Knicks Playoff Foe Rips Tom Thibodeau Firing

One of the New York Knicks' vanquished playoff foes didn't like the message that Tom Thibodeau's firing sent.

Geoff Magliocchetti

Apr 24, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff looks on in the second half against the New York Knicks during game three of first round for the 2024 NBA Playoffs at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
Apr 24, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff looks on in the second half against the New York Knicks during game three of first round for the 2024 NBA Playoffs at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
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J.B. Bickerstaff has one last beef with the New York Knicks before the 2024-25 season lets out.

The Detroit Pistons head coach implied as much when he was about the Knicks' ousting of his colleague Tom Thibodeau during a Friday appearance on ESPN Radio's "Joe & Q Show."

Though Bickerstaff didn't mention the Knicks by name, his firm response to a query about the switch hints at obtaining a dire message to Association's head coaches, claiming it's a "last straw" in a year partly defined by some shocking transactions on the coaching front.

“Some of the decisions made down the stretch, firing coaches, it just shows that there are some places that don’t value what coaching is or what it can bring," Bickerstaff ranted to host Joe Fortenbaugh and Q Myers. "When you are a coach, you feel like there is a job you have been told to do and when you go out and do that job well, you should carry it over to the next year."

"If you have had past successes, that should envision future successes. You can’t guess what the future is going to look like with somebody new.”

In any other season, the Knicks dumping their head coach after making their first conference finals appearance in a quarter-century would be a jaw-dropper, especially considering how fast it took to bid Thibodeau farewell.

Instead, it's the climax to a topsy-turvy campaign that saw Sacramento fire the man who ended its lengthy playoff drought (Mike Brown), Memphis ditch its all-time winningest coach (Taylor Jenkins), and Denver oust the boss that led it to its 2023 title (Michael Malone). Both Jenkins and Malone were relieved of duty with less than 10 games remaining in the regular season.

Bickerstaff, whose Pistons fell to Thibodeau's Knicks in the opening round of the 2025 playoffs, believes that that the quick trigger fingers of modern management paint an ugly picture of where coaching stands in the modern Association.

"Our job is extremely difficult. To win in the NBA is extremely difficult. To build teams in the NBA is extremely difficult. To lead guys, who have the superstar power in the NBA, is extremely difficult," Bickerstaff said. "So if a guy does a great job at it, from the outside looking in, we want to see that guy get rewarded and it there seem to be cases now where guys that do a great job aren’t being rewarded with a next year.”

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Geoff Magliocchetti
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI

Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.

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