Tom Thibodeau, Julius Randle, New York Knicks. (Photo by Wendell Cruz/USA TODAY Sports)
After an exciting end to last season, the New York Knicks are officially eliminated from the playoffs this year. There’s a lot that New York could change during the offseason, but according to reports, Tom Thibodeau’s going to be back at the helm for the Knicks next year.
Thibodeau was named the 2021-22 NBA Coach of the Year last season after leading New York to a fourth-place finish in the East. Here we are one year later, and the narrative’s been changed.
Knicks fans are no longer partial to Thibodeau or former All-Star Julius Randle and that’s because of the team’s disappointing finish. We can all hope that next season won’t be the same, but that’s going to require a change of mindset on Thibodeau’s part.
With three games remaining on the schedule for New York, now seems like a good time to reflect on Thibodeau and the Knicks’ season.
3 New York Knicks adjustments Tom Thibodeau failed to make in 2021-22
3: Changing up late game rotations
Ah, here we go. If you’ve even watched New York play in only one game this year, you likely got to witness the Knicks make their typical late-game collapse.
If New York has a lead at halftime or the start of the fourth quarter, it isn’t safe. It’s been tough for the Knicks to put together a full game, but Thibodeau’s to blame, too.
If there’s one thing about the coach, it’s that he’s going to stick with New York’s starting five. It doesn’t matter what’s going on, those five players (when healthy) are going to start the game and finish it.
In last Monday’s 109-104 win over the Bulls, the Knicks were up by one point with over three minutes left to play and Thibodeau decided to pull Obi Toppin in favor of Julius Randle. For reference, Toppin finished with 17 points (6-of-11) in 20 minutes and Randle had five points (1-of-9) in 28 minutes.
New York still won the game, yes, but Toppin having the hot hand didn’t mean much at all to Thibodeau. A similar occurrence happened two nights later in New York’s 125-114 loss to Charlotte.
The coach took Quickley out of the game with 4:59 left to play, after he had scored 11 points in the quarter, for Evan Fournier. At that point, the Knicks were down 107-102, and Quickley didn’t re-enter the game until the 2:48 mark when the score was 114-106.
If the second-year guard would’ve stayed in the game, would he have been able to combat Miles Bridges’ scoring run? There’s no way to know for sure, but while Fournier had a good shooting night (he finished with 30 points), he shouldn’t have replaced Quickley.
Thibodeau’s going to live and die by his ways. For a young team like New York to be successful, he’s going to need to have an open mind.
New York Knicks</a> are officially eliminated from the playoffs this year. There’s a lot that New York could change during the offseason, but according to reports, Tom Thibodeau’s <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10029894-sources-new-york-knicks-expected-to-keep-tom-thibodeau-beyond-this-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">going to be back at the helm</a> for the Knicks next year.</p>
<p>Thibodeau was <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"https://www.nba.com/news/new-yorks-tom-thibodeau-wins-2020-21-nba-coach-of-the-year-award" target="_blank" rel="noopener">named the 2021-22 NBA Coach of the Year last season</a> after leading New York to a fourth-place finish in the East. Here we are one year later, and the narrative’s been changed.</p>
<p>Knicks fans are no longer partial to Thibodeau or former All-Star Julius Randle and that’s because of the team’s disappointing finish. We can all hope that next season won’t be the same, but that’s going to require a change of mindset on Thibodeau’s part.</p>
<p>With three games remaining on the schedule for New York, now seems like a good time to reflect on Thibodeau and the Knicks’ season.</p>
<h2>3 New York Knicks adjustments Tom Thibodeau failed to make in 2021-22</h2>
<h3>3: Changing up late game rotations</h3>
<p>Ah, here we go. If you’ve even watched New York play in only one game this year, you likely got to witness the Knicks make their typical late-game collapse.</p>
<p>If New York has a lead at halftime or the start of the fourth quarter, it isn’t safe. It’s been tough for the Knicks to put together a full game, but Thibodeau’s to blame, too.</p>
<p>If there’s one thing about the coach, it’s that he’s going to stick with New York’s starting five. It doesn’t matter what’s going on, those five players (when healthy) are going to start the game and finish it.</p>
<p>In last Monday’s 109-104 win over the Bulls, the Knicks were up by one point with over three minutes left to play and Thibodeau decided to pull Obi Toppin in favor of Julius Randle. For reference, Toppin finished with 17 points (6-of-11) in 20 minutes and Randle had five points (1-of-9) in 28 minutes.</p>
<p>New York still won the game, yes, but Toppin having the hot hand didn’t mean much at all to Thibodeau. A similar occurrence happened two nights later in New York’s 125-114 loss to Charlotte.</p>
<p>The coach took Quickley out of the game with 4:59 left to play, after he had scored 11 points in the quarter, for Evan Fournier. At that point, the Knicks were down 107-102, and Quickley didn’t re-enter the game until the 2:48 mark when the score was 114-106.</p>
<p>If the second-year guard would’ve stayed in the game, would he have been able to combat Miles Bridges’ scoring run? There’s no way to know for sure, but while Fournier had a good shooting night (he finished with 30 points), he shouldn’t have replaced Quickley.</p>
<p>Thibodeau’s going to live and die by his ways. For a young team like New York to be successful, he’s going to need to have an open mind.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> What we've all been wishing for </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-125681" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2134,w_3200/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2022%2F04%2F1239592275.jpeg" alt="New York Knicks, Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley, Miles McBride" width="3200" height="2134" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2022/04/1239592275.jpeg 3200w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2022/04/1239592275-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley, Miles McBride, New York Knicks. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>2: Giving younger players more minutes</h3>
<p>I think that Knicks fans’ voices are hoarse from screaming either at Madison Square Garden or at their televisions for Thibodeau to give the younger guys more minutes. It didn’t happen until after New York fell to Atlanta on Mar. 22, and even then Thibodeau still showed that he was set in his old ways.</p>
<p>It seems like Randle started the season out in the bottom of a hole that he’s yet to dig out of. Last year, everything he did was worthy of praise. This year, he’s been booed by Knicks fans on numerous occasions.</p>
<p>Randle, who will likely miss the remainder of the season with his quadriceps injury, averaged 20.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists in an average of 35.3 minutes. He started in all 72 games that he played in.</p>
<p>It’d be foolish to say that Randle didn’t provide value to New York this year because that isn’t the case. On the nights that he was struggling and appeared to be visibly disinterested, Thibodeau should’ve put Toppin in the game.</p>
<p>Because of Randle, Toppin’s been placed on the back burner. Timing hasn’t been in Toppin’s favor, but <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"https://dailyknicks.com/2022/03/24/obi-toppin-success-previous-two-new-york-knicks-starts-tom-thibodeau-flaw/">his play in recent games has proved that he’s capable of contributing more than what he’s been allowed</a>.</p>
<p>In the Knicks’ past two games, Toppin scored 20 points in both (his career-high) in over 30 minutes.</p>
<div class="embed ">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"https://twitter.com/obitoppin1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>@obitoppin1 making space with the fader <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"https://t.co/tVoJJtSoxB">pic.twitter.com/tVoJJtSoxB
<p>— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"https://twitter.com/nyknicks/status/1510762633896599561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>April 3, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></div>
<p>The same can be said for Immanuel Quickley, who’s been playing his best basketball recently. There’s no legitimate reason why either player hasn’t seen the court more often. It’s been fun to watch them play in the past couple of weeks, but let’s be real, New York’s playing in meaningless games.</p>
<p>I’m not insinuating that Toppin should’ve replaced Randle in the starting lineup, or that Quickley’s the definitive answer to the point guard problem, but Thibodeau refusing to switch things up hurt the Knicks in the end.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> The lingering issue </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-125682" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2134,w_3200/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2022%2F04%2F1239592158.jpeg" alt="New York Knicks, Alec Burks" width="3200" height="2134" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2022/04/1239592158.jpeg 3200w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2022/04/1239592158-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Alec Burks, New York Knicks. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>1: Not trying to fix the point guard plague</h3>
<p>Same story, different year. Before Derrick Rose injured his ankle and underwent two surgeries, he was doing well as New York’s starting point guard. The Knicks can’t have nice things, though, so after he went down, there wasn’t a light at the end of the tunnel.</p>
<p>Well, maybe there could’ve been a light if it weren’t for Thibodeau. He <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"https://dailyknicks.com/2022/03/30/new-york-knicks-trading-alec-burks-offseason-mistake/">pulled Alec Burks out of his usual shooting guard position to take over as the starting point guard, which isn’t a role that he’s excelled in</a>.</p>
<p>This year, Burks has started in a career-high 41 games and is averaging 28.3 minutes, the most for him since he played in 48 contests for Golden State in 2019-20. Not only has he undertaken a new job in his 11th season in the NBA, but his usage rate has shot up.</p>
<p>Burks is averaging 11.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game. During New York’s four-game win streak, he averaged 18.5 points per contest, including a 27-point performance in a 109-104 win over Chicago on Mar. 28.</p>
<p>Why did he perform well amidst the streak? Because Thibodeau’s upped the minutes of young players like Quickley and Miles McBride. Being a rookie, McBride’s game isn’t as developed as Quickley’s, but let’s not forget that Burks isn’t a true point guard.</p>
<p>Quickley, on the other hand, is fresh off his first triple-double. In Sunday’s <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/immanuel-quickley-records-triple-double-despite-new-york-knicks-coach-tom-thibodeau/">118-88 win over Orlando, he finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in 34 minutes</a>. It’s been exciting to see him excel in recent games, but it also continues to make no sense why Thibodeau has continually opted for Burks to run the offense.</p>
<div class="embed ">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Good morning, now look at this dime by <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"https://twitter.com/IQ_GodSon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>@IQ_GodSon 🪙 <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"https://t.co/Qhxy4rpskJ">pic.twitter.com/Qhxy4rpskJ
<p>— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"https://twitter.com/nyknicks/status/1510972961397907461?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>April 4, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src=https://dailyknicks.com/2022/04/04/new-york-knicks-3-adjustments-tom-thibodeau-failed-make-2021-22/"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></div>
<p>If the Knicks don’t trade for a point guard, draft one, or sign one in free agency, I don’t think that New York will be in bad hands with Quickley and/or McBride. If that ends up being the case, it’ll be up to Thibodeau to see that. That isn’t exactly reassuring.</p>
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