Another NBA coach received a contract extension on Monday, but a longtime friend and coaching confidant says there’s been no official announcement yet for Tom Thibodeau, who has one year left on his original contract but is uncertain about his future. He says there’s no need to worry too much.
“I think it was a real mistake (on the Knicks’ part) not to lock him up for more years,” current TNT analyst Stan Van Gundy told the Post. “I don’t think Tom has anything to worry about. He certainly wants to be there. It will be done.
“So I don’t think he has to worry too much about that. But he’d rather be out there, so I’m sure they’ll want to lock him up as much as possible.”
Thibodeau’s five-year contract expires after next season, but coaches aren’t typically left in lame duck status.
Monday’s announcement of Jason Kidd’s “multi-year” contract extension with the Mavericks means that at least five coaches — Kidd, Jamal Moseley, Steve Kerr, Erik Spoelstra and Gregg Popovich — will be joining the team with more after the summer. He has signed a one-year contract.
Coincidentally, Kidd was the Knicks’ other final choice before Thibodeau took over in 2020. Kidd just led Dallas to the second round with a win over the Clippers.
James Dolan (Isiah Thomas) is the only Knicks coach to extend his contract, but Thibodeau was by far the best on the sideline under ownership.
He has already won more games (175) and playoff series (two) than any coach in the past 22 years. Since Red Holtzman, only Jeff Van Gundy and Pat Riley have won more games with the Knicks than Thibodeau.
“I’d be shocked if the Knicks organization didn’t understand that. And I have a bias going back to my brother’s time, but players like my brother (Jeff) and Tom… “Not only is he a great coach, he’s a great fit with our fan base,” said Stan Van Gundy. “New York wants a tough, stubborn team. Everyone wants to win. But I don’t know if New York will accept a soft, skilled team. There are many ways to win. Other ways There’s nothing wrong with winning in New York. But for me, the New York fan base also wants a certain type of team, and Tom fits that perfectly.”
Van Gundy denied the notion that players would prefer not to play for Thibodeau because he is not a great offensive coach and gets tired from playing so many minutes. did. In The Athletic’s annual player survey, Thibodeau was once again chosen as the “manager you least want to play for.”
“Honestly, I think a lot of the stories about him were unwarranted,” Van Gundy said. “Number one, everyone thinks he’s just a defensive player, and there’s not enough creativity in his offense, and all of this is Bulls. But over the last six years, he’s become one of the We’ve had a top-10 offense in four games and a top-10 defense in two of those games. That doesn’t add up. But no one cares because that’s the story.”
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Thibodeau’s starters have historically played more minutes than league average, with Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo ranking in the top five in minutes played since February 1st in the second half of this season. That was certainly true amidst injuries.
“More time, more numbers, more money. The players understand that,” Van Gundy said. “The second thing is that his team is extremely conditioned. To me, that’s one of the big reasons he won. More than the time you play with the best players, he You have more time to play with the best players. How can that not be an advantage when the players are conditioned to the point of exhaustion?”
With several Knicks fresh off the best season of their careers, DiVincenzo said Sunday that he wants Thibodeau as his long-term coach.
“He’s one of the most prepared coaches out there,” DiVincenzo said. “That’s not an attack on other coaches. I know other coaches I’ve played with are very, very prepared. But Thibs is on a whole other level. He knows what they’re going to do, every move, every adjustment during the play. And we go through all of that.”
