Knicks Coach Once Again Fired Away from Star Partnership

The New York Knicks officially parted ways with head coach Tom Thibodeau this week, ending a five-year relationship on the heels of the team's elimination at the hands of the Indiana Pacers in these most recent Eastern Conference Finals.

This was Thibodeau's third spin as an NBA head coach, and he wasn't short on success in his most recent turn. He appeared in seven playoff series over the last three seasons, and his bringing the Knicks back to the conference finals for the first time in 25 years still wasn't enough to save his job.

This ugly ending lined up with Thibodeau's other exits from the Chicago Bulls in 2015 and the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2019, who rostered a player the Knicks have in common. Karl-Anthony Towns was there when Thibodeau met his end at his previous stop, and somehow found his way to the Knicks for the coach's fifth and final year at the head of the team.

Plenty of analysts have pointed out the confidence a team must have in one coach being the wrong guy for the job to fire him days after their most successful season in a quarter-century came to a close, but the fundamental differences posed between a Towns and Thibodeau marriage showed over a tumultuous start-to-finish season.

Thibodeau has his warts as an in-game manager, but he's as tied to his values as any coach in the association. He values defense and hustle, which were represented in past iterations of these Knicks, but he lost some of his on-court avatars between seasons.

Half of the Knicks' rotation was flipped in the offseason, as they lost Isaiah Hartenstein to free agency while giving up Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo in the Karl-Anthony Towns trade to Minnesota. The lineup that remained, as talented as it was, failed in executing Thibodeau's defensive-minded vision. Complementary layers like Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart did their best to fill in the gaps, but Jalen Brunson and Towns sank the ship with their inability to stop anyone.

One indicator of the disagreements brewing in the New York locker room was a report from The Athletic on how Towns' defensive woes have long frustrated the team, making it clear that something about the Knicks' current formula had to change between seasons. Thibodeau, who knew all about Towns' defensive shortcomings, ended up as the fall guy from a relationship that looks like it may have run its course.

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