New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau has built up a reputation for running his players into the ground. So, with the Knicks having a bit of an injury crisis, some have placed the blame for that on Thibodeau’s feet. Former NBA player Chandler Parsons was asked about the situation and felt Thibodeau’s coaching style played a role in it.
“Is it Thibs’ fault? Again, this is why we were concerned initially,” Parsons said on Run It Back. “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?
“This is why that players’ poll came out with guys don’t want to play for him because it doesn’t last,” Parsons continued. “You can’t sustain it in such a long season. Is he gonna be a fall guy? Are they gonna fall out? No. I think they think ‘Alright, let’s try and maybe manage this a little bit better next year. Let’s use our bench a little bit better, let’s sign some guys that we trust, that Thibs likes in this system and his role.’ … So yeah, in my opinion, it does fall on him.”
(starts at 0:38 mark):
"This is why that players poll came out with guys that don't want to play for [Tom Thibodeau], because it doesn't last, you can't sustain it in such a long season."
Chandler Parsons on why the Knicks keep getting injuries 👀
(via @RunItBackFDTV)pic.twitter.com/t5K2QpGjU4
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 13, 2024
Parsons was, of course, referring to that yearly player poll conducted by The Athletic. The results for this year came out in April and 46.8% of the respondents chose Thibodeau as the coach they wouldn’t want to play under. Doc Rivers was a distant second at 9.1% and that shows just how unpopular the Knicks head coach is.
While I am not the biggest fan of Thibodeau making his best players play a ridiculous amount of minutes, I don’t blame him for a lot of these injuries. For starters, Julius Randle is out with a dislocated shoulder after falling awkwardly in the fourth quarter of a game against the Miami Heat back in January.
You could blame Thibodeau for keeping him in when the Knicks were up 17, but that was just an unfortunate incident. As for Mitchell Robinson, he seemingly reinjured his ankle after Joel Embiid grabbed it in the first round of these playoffs and that’s another that I wouldn’t put on the head coach.
Another player to get injured in that series against the Philadelphia 76ers was Bojan Bogdanovic. He got tangled up with Nicolas Batum in Game 4 and injured his left foot. Bogdanovic needed surgery after that and was ruled out for the season. Just like with Randle and Robinson, Thibodeau didn’t have anything to do with it.
When it comes to OG Anunoby, though, I suppose Thibodeau can be blamed after he suffered a hamstring injury. Anunoby had averaged a whopping 41.7 minutes per game in his first seven playoff outings in 2024 and it almost seemed inevitable that a hamstring issue might pop up. He missed Games 3 and 4 against the Indiana Pacers because of it and has now been ruled out for Game 5 as well.
As for Josh Hart, it is a mini-miracle of sorts that he hasn’t suffered a hamstring problem yet. Hart has averaged 44.1 minutes per game in these playoffs and played all 48 minutes in two games in this series. While I applaud him for giving his all out there, this isn’t a recipe for success.
In all, I think these injuries are a mix of bad luck and Thibodeau making his players play big minutes. It would be unfair to put all the blame on him but I do believe he needs to change his philosophy just a little bit. Will he do that, though? I seriously doubt it. As for this series against the Pacers, which is now tied at 2-2, I think the Knicks will end up losing thanks to all these injuries.
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