For the first time in nearly eight months, the Knicks officially have a permanent head coach.
On the morning of the first day of the 22-team NBA restart, the Knicks restarted their own franchise by announcing the hiring of defensive wizard Tom Thibodeau, their former assistant coach from the 1990s glory days.
Knicks president Leon Rose has been close to Thibodeau for several years as a client of the Creative Artists Agency, which Rose used to run.
“Tom Thibodeau is a proven winner who makes the most of the players and teams he has coached,” Rose said in a statement. “It will bring leadership, responsibility and a hard-working mindset to our organization. We are excited to bring him back to New York and look forward to partnering with him and his staff for a successful future. ”
On Saturday Thibodeau accepted the terms of a five-year contract. The terms were not announced, but some league experts estimate the deal could be worth at least $ 25 million, even with a pandemic discount that will likely make Thibodeau’s Knicks debut be played without fans.
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“I am grateful for the opportunity to return to this historic franchise as head coach and work alongside a talented head office that I have great confidence in and respect for,” Thibodeau said in the statement. “I know what New York is like when the Knicks are successful and there is nothing comparable. I hope to be part of what we are building here and I can’t wait to go to work. ”
Despite accusations that 62-year-old Thibodeau’s picky style doesn’t go along with millennial players, the Knicks, who have missed the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons, are adding a coach with the best winning percentage (. 589, 352-246) of any coach hired in the past two seasons.
The former Bulls and Timberwolves head coach won the NBA Coach of the Year award in 2011 with Chicago, which led to five consecutive playoff positions. Thibodeau then broke Minnesota’s 13-year-old playoff drought. However, there are charges that he did not connect with young Minnesota players and was fired in January 2019.
Thibodeau will likely receive an early gift of running mini team camps in mid-August for the eight clubs not in Orlando.
Thibodeau has relied on assistants Andy Greer, Larry Greer, and Yoshimoto that he would like to hire, but Knicks vice president William Wesley is pushing to add more diverse staff. Mike Woodson, the former Knicks head coach, and Mike Miller, his recent interim coach, are strong candidates to be with Thibodeau.
The Knicks interviewed a total of 11 coaches, and the search began on June 4 after the NBA announced that the team would not be part of the restart. And the Knicks waited almost before the notice to make their hiring official after owner James Dolan had David Fizdale fired on December 4.
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