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On Tuesday, the New York Knicks shocked the NBA world by firing head coach Tom Thibodeau. The move came just days after New York was eliminated from the Eastern Conference Finals, the first time they had been on that stage in a quarter of a century.
Still, despite the controversial move, the decision had plenty of outspoken supporters, including former Knicks sharpshooter Channing Frye, who recently relayed his thoughts on the Road Trippin' Podcast.
“There are little things, because I do think Tom Thibodeau is a great culture setting coach,” said Frye. “What I saw and I went back, there’s a guy on Twitter, bad coaching whatever his thing is, he has a whole list of things that KAT was trying to do, that Jalen Brunson was trying to do, that they obviously have not practiced or there was not enough discipline to do these things.”
Frye also referenced some of Thibodeau's bizarre lineup decisions in the series vs the Indiana Pacers.
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“You can’t ask somebody to just work on something in the Eastern Conference Finals,” said Frye. “You can’t just say, ‘Hey I’m gonna play five guys. Hey Eastern Conference Finals let me go dig in the garage, dust off, Delon Wright who had played 14 minutes all season.' There are big things that he needs to work on as a coach.”
Tom Thibodeau is widely viewed as one of the best floor-raising coaches in the NBA, but there have been concerns over the years about whether or not he also is capable of minimizing teams' ceilings.
The Knicks' lack of offensive ingenuity at times this season as well as their inability to get stops when they needed them against the Pacers may have been the nail in the coffin for Thibodeau's time in New York.
Still, he'll undoubtedly be remembered fondly by the Knicks' fanbase for helping turn their franchise from laughingstock into contender.
