New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau has a notorious reputation for extracting every last ounce of energy from his players, be it his demanding rotations or intensive practices. Not all players are built for it, and one former All-Star who struggled under him was Kyle Korver. Former Bulls’ center Joakim Noah revealed how Korver would hate practicing under Coach Thibodeau.
“Kyle Korver before practice, would stay in his car until the last minute. I would walk by and I would see Kyle, and his eyes were wide open. You knew what he was thinking. He’s like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this right now. We just had a game and we’re here doing defensive slides, what is going on? There’s no other team that’s doing this.”
Noah explained that the team locked into these methods because the results were unarguable.
“He’s (Thibodeau) looking at his books like, ‘No. 1 defensive team. Best rotation in the league. That’s because you guys are doing it the day after practice, man. That’s why we’re doing it.’ The truth is in the pudding.”
Noah further revealed how intense Thibs is, as the coach would yell at his team even if they let a 20-point win become a 14-point win.
“Thibs is nuts man. You’d be winning by 20 points and if they made two threes and at the end of the game we won by 14, he could come into the locker room and be going nuts on us like we lost.”
Thibs had Kyle korver not wanting to practice cuz he ran them hard after a win 😂 pic.twitter.com/r75Su9mhdh
— THE OHIO STATE, DEFENDING CHAMPS (@FlowsAndolini) May 19, 2024
Thibodeau’s first two seasons in Chicago as head coach were marked by tons of success, winning 62 games in his rookie coaching season, the same year his starting point guard Derrick Rose was named the youngest MVP in league history.
He followed it up with a 50-16 season in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 year, improving on his winning percentage from the year before.
These heavy years ultimately started weighing on the players, with players like Derrick Rose suffering career-altering injuries and even young stars like Jimmy Butler feeling burnt out by the time Thibs left in 2015. He’s stuck to his methods and finally found a new home in New York.
Chandler Parsons Blamed Thibodeau’s Rotational Style For Knicks Injuries
Former player and analyst Chandler Parsons slammed coach Thibodeau for overtaxing the Knicks rotation this season, leading to the injury-stricken playoff run they had.
“Is it Thibs’ fault? Again, this is why we were concerned initially because when injuries do start to happen and things linger and now guys are missing games and there’s just an obvious, glaring huge minutes being played by them. It’s hard not to look at that, right?
The Knicks ended the season with six key rotational players injured, five of them being starting-caliber, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Julius Randle, and Mitchell Robinson, along with key bench piece Bojan Bogdanovic.
Some of these were freak incidents, such as Brunson’s hand fracture or Randle’s shoulder injury, but Thibs taxing his players led to wear-and-tear injuries for the likes of Josh Hart. Even Brunson was dealing with an ankle injury at the time of his Game 7 injury, suffered due to the heavy minutes he played over the playoffs.
Thibs way of working led to incontrovertible regular season success, as he also led the Timberwolves to their only playoff appearance between 2004 and 2021. Whether he can win a title with this style remains to be seen, but the way these players are falling apart by the end of seasons, it seems unlikely.
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