A few hours after the Nuggets fired general manager Calvin Booth and head coach Michael Malone, Tom Thibodeau was sitting in the press conference room at Madison Square Garden, answering questions about Malone, Booth, and the high stakes of working in the NBA.
“I think it’s maybe a byproduct of where we are today with all that goes on. That’s where, hopefully, you have people that can remain calm. You win together, you lose together. You work through things together,” Thibodeau said that day. “I think that’s an important part of this business.”
The overarching question facing the Knicks right now: Do you remain calm, make changes on the margins, and run it back next year with the same group? Or do you go the opposite route and trade for a star or search for a new head coach?
These are questions that will be answered in the coming days as the Knicks conduct exit meetings with players and perform an autopsy on the 2024-25 season.
If you zoom out, it would seem strange to make massive changes to a team that made the conference finals for the first time in 25 years.
The Knicks have, mostly, showed year-over-year progress in the Jalen Brunson era. You can make an easy case for running it back with Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby as your core and Thibodeau as your coach.
After New York’s season-ending loss on Saturday, Brunson expressed unequivocal support for his teammates and head coach.
He was incredulous when asked by a reporter if Thibodeau is the right coach to lead the team forward.
“Is that a real question right now? You just asked me if I believe he’s the right guy? Yes. Come on,” he said. As he left the podium and walked out of the room, Brunson continued to critique the premise of the question.
Brunson was also asked how confident he is that the current iteration of the Knicks.
“The most confidence. Over confident. Seriously,” he said. “There’s not an ounce of any type of doubt that I’m not confident with this group.”
Obviously, it would be strange if Brunson didn’t express confidence in his teammates and head coach in this setting. But the way he answered the question tells you more than the words. Brunson meant what he said.
Do the Knick decision-makers – chiefly team president Leon Rose and owner James Dolan – feel the same way? We’ll find out the answer to that question over the next six weeks or so.
What’s next for the Knicks? Like all teams, the franchise will take time to evaluate both players and coaches in the wake of Saturday’s season-ending loss. That in-person evaluation didn’t begin on Sunday but will start this coming week, per people in touch with the Knicks.
I assume all NBA teams go through a similar process after their season ends. But with the Knicks, the evaluation will be made with clear criteria: Does this help us win an NBA championship?
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