Under Fizdale the Knicks Lost; Under Thibodeau They Must Learn How to Win

The key to making a change in New York

The New York Knicks are entering another head coaching era: Tom Thibodeau is here. There is no doubt Knicks fans are hoping the next 5 years brings some coaching stability, as in the past 5 years New York has had 5 different coaches.

The Knicks missed on their last head coach hire in David Fizdale. The team simply did not do the thing you step out on the court to do, win. Fizdale had a 21-83 record as New York’s head coach, and some of those final games before he was relieved of his head coaching duties were bad blowouts.

It is likely the Knicks were also thinking about the 2019 free agent class when hiring Fizdale. Fizdale is someone who has a positive relationship with many players in the league. Did the Knicks believe hiring Fizdale would make New York a more desirable free agent destination?

In early 2019 then-Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis was tired of the organization’s losing and requested a trade. Porzingis’s issues seemed to be with the organization as a whole, but the Knicks winning a few more games or showing some promise in the 2018/19 season could have made Porzingis less likely to request a trade.

Fizdale also did not develop New York’s young draft picks. Many of the Knicks’ young players have not taken many steps of improvement in their games. Player development is crucial on a team that has picked in the Lottery the past three years and will do so again this upcoming draft.

Back to the newest Knick head coach, Tom Thibodeau. The former Coach of the Year is coming in with experience that I think will help him find success with this young Knicks roster.

Thibodeau has helped the games of younger players in the past like, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and Jimmy Butler. He does like to give his top players a lot of minutes, which could be a looked at as both a positive and negative. On a positive note, some young players who weren’t getting as much playing time as they should have will see more minutes next season. On the not so positive side, too many minutes is obviously not good for a player’s health.

Defense is a huge emphasis in Tom Thibodeau’s coaching system. Under Fizdale New York struggled defensively, especially against the three ball. In Fizdale’s last game as head coach the Knicks allowed the Nuggets to go 21-39 from beyond the arc. As they say good defense leads to good offense, so an improvement on the defensive end of the floor could go far for New York.

Thibodeau isn’t a stranger to making the playoffs, and his experience in the postseason could hopefully propel this Knicks team there sooner rather than later.

At the end of the day a basketball team is judged by wins and losses. Thibodeau has to be the one to make sure the Knicks break this cycle of losing season after losing season.