The New York Knicks Head coach Tom Thibodeau was recently tipped to win the NBA Coach of the Year award for the 2024-25 NBA season.
Thibodeau has twice received the league’s highest honor for head coaches during his illustrious career. The Connecticut native was named Coach of the Year in 2011 while on the bench for the Chicago Bulls and in 2021 for the Knicks. He led the Bulls to an astonishing 62-20 record in his rookie season as a head coach and took them to the Eastern Conference Finals that year.
He also coached Derrick Rose to the 2011 NBA MVP award. Eleven years later, the former 2008 NBA champion, as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics, led the Knicks to the playoffs with a 41-31 record in the COVID-19-condensed 2020-21 campaign, although they lost in the first round to the Atlanta Hawks.
Most recently, Coach “Thibs” led the Knicks (50-32) to their first 50-win season since 2012-13, finishing second in the Atlantic Division behind the defending champion Boston Celtics, and their longest playoff run — Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals — since 2000. He did it while dealing with a multitude of injuries.
The Knicks have had several players miss significant time throughout the 2023-24 season, including All-Star Julius Randle (36 games), Mitchell Robinson (51 games) and OG Anunoby (27 games). The Knicks are hoping the injured monkey will leave their backs. If so, Thibodeau will have three of his most crucial pieces at his disposal, alongside the Knicks’ blockbuster offseason acquisitions, in what could prove to be a 2024-25 campaign that allows them to surpass their 50-win mark from last time out.
Knicks: Tom Thibodeau given on-court advantage for 2025 Coach of the Year award
According to a recent ESPN poll who predicted all the end-of-season award winners across the league, their staff gave Thibodeau the green light to win the COTY at the end of next season, as Geoff Magliocchetti of the New York Knicks on SI (h/t) arranged:
“With 19 percent of the vote, Thibodeau tied for first with Mark Daigneault, who currently holds the title for his work with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics. Thibodeau, however, had 29 total points to lead a top five that also included Gregg Popovich (San Antonio) and Kenny Atkinson (Cleveland),” Magliocchetti wrote.
Knicks’ elite roster on paper could help coach Thibodeau win his third COTY
The biggest advantage for the Knicks and coach Thibodeau is the arrival of rising star Mikal Bridges. The fact that the Knicks managed to win 50 games last time around without their No. 2 option in Randle and the 24 points per game his absence left on the table speaks volumes about the depth of the roster. However, Bridges is the most reliable player in the entire NBA and has not missed a single game in his six-year career.
Bridges’ track record shows he can be the No. 2 alongside former Villanova teammate Jalen Brunson if Randle misses another game next season. His 26.1 points per game for the Brooklyn Nets after being traded by the Phoenix Suns at the 2023 NBA trade deadline showed what his potential could be in the conference. Additionally, his 19.6 points per game in 82 games for Brooklyn in 2023-24 gave a more realistic sample of where he is in his career and what he can do in a secondary or tertiary role with 15.8 field goal attempts per game.
The Knicks The Knicks also addressed their playmaking shortage at point guard by signing Cam Payne and drafting Tyler Kolek from Marquette. Coach Thibodeau may only face issues at center behind Robinson, but even there, the Knicks are still bolstered by Precious Achiuwa and Jericho Sims, the latter of whom could take the next step in 2024-25.
New York finished seventh in offensive rating (117.3) and ninth in defensive rating (112.4) but was dead last in pace (95.96) last season. Now that Bridges is in town, they’ll boast what could be the league’s best perimeter defense and play faster. Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart will continue those efforts as Thibodeau’s first backups. If the Knicks go 50 games, finish in the top three in the Eastern Conference again and win their regular-season series against the NBA’s other top contenders, Thibodeau could take the lead for a third time.
