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New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau is predicted to win his third Coach of the Year award by ESPN’s panel of experts.
“With another “Nova Knick” added to the roster, the hopes are high for New York. Coach Tom Thibodeau is once again at the helm for the Knicks and was voted as most likely to take home Coach of the Year by our Summer Forecast panel. The award would be his third, after winning with the Bulls in 2011 and the Knicks in 2021,” ESPN staff wrote about Thibodeau’s case to become the league’s best coach this season.
Thibodeau collected 29 points on the strength of 19% first-place votes. Last season’s Coach of the Year Mark Daigneault of the Oklahoma City Thunder was a close second with 24 points. Daigneault also drew 19% of first-place votes. Boston Celtics’ Joe Mazulla came in third with 22 points, also gathering 19% of first-place votes.
There will be immense pressure on Thibodeau to finally guide the Knicks to the top of the Eastern Conference after they traded five first-round picks for Mikal Bridges.
Bridges joins a Knicks loaded with his former Villanova teammates — star point guard Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo. Aside from the Villanova quartet, the Knicks still have three-time NBA All-Star Julius Randle and former NBA All-Defensive wing OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson inspiring optimism that this could be their year.
Tom Thibodeau Voted as Least-Liked NBA Coach Last Season
Last season, Thibodeau was voted in The Athletic’s Anonymous Player Poll as the least-liked coach in the NBA players would want to play.
Such contrasting views make Thibodeau one of the most polarizing coaches in NBA history.
If you ask his players, they swear to run a wall for Thibodeau. But outsiders have this draconian view of Thibodeau as a coach who runs his players to the ground.
The messy exits of Kemba Walker, Evan Fournier, Obi Toppin and Quentin Grimes from the Knicks only added to Thibodeau’s bad reputation as a coach.
Knicks Players Defended Tom Thibodeau From Disparaging Poll
Thibodeau’s current players slammed The Athletic’s poll last season when it came out.
“[Expletive], that’s all I have to say,” Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo said, per New York Post in April. “A lot of guys don’t play for Thibs. I play for Thibs. On the outside, looking in you have a certain viewpoint. When you are inside and play for Thibs, like I said, it’s [expletive].”
But nearly half (46.8%) of the 77 NBA players, who voted, selected Thibodeau as the coach, other than their current coach, they least like to play for.
“I’m too old for those practices,” one player told Athletic.
Another player told The Athletic: “He’s playing everyone 48 minutes.”
“Man these dudes soft,” Knicks forward Josh Hart wrote in the comments section of the NBA on ESPN’s Instagram post about the poll.
DiVincenzo said those are baseless accusations on Thibodeau.
“You don’t know him. You don’t know how the organization runs. You don’t know how the practices run. you don’t know anything,” DiVincenzo said, per New York Post. “You see honestly on the sideline how he acts. To us that’s dedication. That’s how much love and dedication he gives to us every day. Like I said, that poll is [expletive] and inaccurate.”
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