Next Knicks Coach Will Face Challenges

The New York Knicks will inherit a coach with a few changes to make.

New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau arrives at the arena before the game against the New Orleans Pelicans. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

The New York Knicks are a new team with Tom Thibodeau no longer serving as the franchise's head coach.

Thibodeau was fired earlier this week despite making the playoffs in four of his five seasons at the helm, including an Eastern Conference Finals appearance this year.

ESPN insider Chris Herring thinks Thibodeau's successor will have some roster challenges to face when he arrives in the Big Apple.

"New York scrambled to stay connected. In many cases — the Game 2 loss, in particular — Towns seemed lost trying to stay with Indiana's fast-paced, spaced-out attack. If this rotation is back fully next season, the next coach will need to consider changes to the starting lineup. Mitchell Robinson would give Towns a back-end defender more along the lines of Rudy Gobert. Or perhaps there's another rangy wing defender who could help Bridges and Anunoby cover for Towns' and Brunson's shortcomings," Herring wrote.

"Either way, the fix on defense figures to be a heavier lift than what's necessary on offense."

The Knicks have a championship-level basketball team, and because the Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns trades have only gone into effect for one season, it's tough to tell what the problems actually are with the team.

New York may have had a coaching problem, which is what the team chose to address this offseason. However, that doesn't mean there aren't any roster changes worth addressing.

It's hard to imagine any major personnel changes will come this offseason as the front office may want to see more of a sample size with Bridges and Towns, but whoever replaces Thibodeau will still have to figure out how to take the roster as-is and make it better.

The only way to make the Knicks better is to go to the NBA Finals, which will be a tough task for whoever is hired.

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