Tom Thibodeau joined the Knicks this past offseason with a strong reputation despite unceremonious exits during his last two stops with the Bulls and Timberwolves, and has helped New York exceed expectations, putting the club on the cusp of a postseason appearance.
One player who has been with Thibodeau for a while is Derrick Rose, who enjoyed his best years with Thibs in Chicago, joined him briefly in Minnesota, and is now a key depth piece for the Knicks. In Rose’s view, Thibodeau, a top contender for Coach of the Year, has only improved, Zach Braziller of the New York Post writes.
“It shows that he’s improved as a coach. He’s already a great coach, but every year he’s improving and adjusting,” Rose said. “That’s the big difference that I see with him this year. He’s giving guys more freedom to go out there and play the way they want. He’s being positive on the court.”
The Knicks own a record of 33-27 record entering play Saturday, good for fourth in the Eastern Conference.
Check out more Atlantic Division notes:
- Year after year, the Knicks seemingly found new ways to become a laughingstock of the NBA through poor hires, questionable signings and head-scratching trades. This season, however, the club has played well behind some shrewd acquisitions and the hiring of a good coach, and is trending in the right direction, Yahoo Sports’ Vincent Goodwill writes.
- The Nets believe Kevin Durant is close to returning but it’s unclear when that will happen, according to head coach Steve Nash. “I think he’s close, but I don’t think he’s there,” Nash said, per NetsDaily. “We’ll see tomorrow and Sunday if that’s a possibility. But it may not. It may bleed back into this road trip.” Nash added that guard Tyler Johnson, who has missed 10 straight games, is close to a return too.
- The Nets are also currently without recent signee Alize Johnson as he is sidelined due to health and safety protocols, per ESPN’s Malika Andrews (Twitter link). Brooklyn recently inked Johnson to a multiyear deal after he signed a pair of 10-day deals.
- Celtics trade deadline acquisition Evan Fournier returned to the court on Friday in Brooklyn after missing nine games due to COVID-19. Fournier detailed his symptoms and noted he needs time to ramp up back into shape, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps writes. “My experience — where do I start? The first two days I was doing great, no symptoms at all, and then flu-like symptoms, high fever, really tired, fatigue, all that,” Fournier said. “I honestly stayed in bed and slept for four or five days. The roughest part was ramping up the activity. The last two days of practice was really hard. I had moments where I was doing good and moments where I was exhausted.”
Go New York go New York go!
Let’s be honest, noone expected this from the knicks, not even diehard fans. And the oddest part is that they’re turning it around without playing Toppin, who was supposed to be some kind of franchise saviour
I had the Knicks playing .333 (24-48 record) ball and that was being optimistic.
Who said franchise saviour? I think I said ROY but also that it was a weak draft. That does not add up to a franchise turning around… that took the new suits & newish Barrett & whatever one classifies Randle.
Nobody thought Toppin would be a ‘franchise saviour’. No one.
At best around 30 wins. That’s cause I liked Thibs for coach of rebuild. Toppin I thought would get mins. So could be in running for ROY. The young guys taking a step up. That’s the best that could happen. Most would probably say I expected too much. No one No one saw this. Thibs and Randle have just exceeded all expectations. 90% of Knick fans were ready to dump Randle. I at least thought make him look gd. Then move him and play Toppin. Continue the rebuild . We were all wrong, thankfully. Randle at 26 has truly become, not just a star. But the leader with talent and IQ vet of team. I’m jus amazed how far they’ve progressed. Thank you , just thankful. It’s been a long time. I’m just enjoying it game by game.
Fournier has just had a heck of a time since joining the C’s. Hoping he can stay healthy for the playoffs..
Fournier just isn’t that good. He put up decent numbers on a bad team, and the fit isn’t all that great with the Celtics if everyone is healthy.
? The point isn’t that he’s been playing poorly it’s that he hasn’t been on the court. For a team who needs points off the bench when Brown or Tatum is resting, how exactly is he a bad fit?
I think you missed his point. He’s not good either way.
He’s about 10 times better than anyone else they have on the bench.
Depends what you mean by good. His PER built up to 16 at the time of the trade, and no sign of decline. On Boston, likely a backup… and probably too late in arriving to have full effect. But at least mediocre.
Yeah, on a terrible team. He should’ve been over 20 per playing for them. He’s fine off the bench, but not enough of a difference maker to get them over the hump to go beyond the second round.
I sincerely apologize to Knicks
I thought Celtics and Heat would be better than Knicks before season starts
At this moment
Knicks 4th seed
Celtics 8th seed
Heat 9th seed
Celtics aren’t going to be the 8th seed. Check the remaining schedule. link to tankathon.com
Miami, Charlotte, and Indiana aren’t playing very well so Boston should hold on to their top-6 spot. Washington won’t catch them either, despite winning 7 in a row. The Wizards will be lucky just to make the play-in tournament ahead of Chicago or Toronto.
Celtics and Heat are not going away. Haws also are getting healthy. Knicks have a tough April coming. So I see all 4 going down to wire for seeding. Fournier I always liked. He can definitely help, they need scoring off bench. I’m happy with 6th seed. No play in game. But NY would go nuts with Hm court for playoffs. As a 4th seed, I can see Knicks winning 1st rd series then.
This feels like a repeat of last year. The media went hard saying the Clippers were favorites for the title. George and Leonard were constantly injured or resting and didn’t get enough games together. People saw how important chemistry is after they lost in the playoffs.
It feels like no one in the media learned that lesson. The 3 Nets stars have played 7 games together. I don’t buy that talent will win out and game experience playing together doesn’t matter.
The injuries to LeBron and AD are far worse than they are to KD and Harden but the media still acts like it’s no big deal and the Lakers will be just fine once the playoffs begin. Perhaps they are simply pandering to the LA fans like always.
I think the same with the Lakers. They really have no room for error. They need Lebron and AD to come back and stay back. If one of them ends up injured again it will really hurt them.
Wolves made a huge mistake last offseason
They should trade Edwards and Culver for Randle
So nice to see Knicks headlines be about the actual team and not James Dolan doing something stupid.
Or coaching and FO. Feels so new lol
It would be nice if the league gets rid of the salary cap. You know where the best players will play at that point? In New York… where they would get paid the most money. And it wouldn’t matter who the owner is. Snowflakes don’t want to hear that, but it is true.
Like in baseball, where the Yankees win every other year. Oh wait, once in 20 years. Sorry
Imo Lakers and Nets injury issues happening all yr. Are going to affect them in playoffs. We are too close now. I don’t see them in Finals. I’d love to get Nets in playoffs. They will all see who NY wants to win here. They are lucky it’s not 100% lols. Cause they’d be in Bklyn by the thousands for gms. It’s made for TV. Nets better be 100% is all I’m gonna say.
Fournier is staying out because he knows the C’s suck. This team is so dysfunctional. They need to dump Danny and Brad. Break down this roster and start over with a real GM and coach.