Nets' Cam Johnson reacts to Knicks firing HC Tom Thibodeau
"It's kind of crazy to say this, but the initial thought now is not really shock," Johnson said during his recent appearance on "The Young Man and The Three" when asked by host Tommy Alter about the Knicks firing Thibodeau. ESPN's Shams Charania reported on Tuesday that the Knicks fired Thibodeau despite leading the team to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000.
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"I guess he kind of adds to complete that every coach of the year, from '18 to '23 has kind of found degrees of success," Johnson continued. "Kind of in the midst of it, being let go, but you kind of got to look at it from a team-building perspective. That team is a really good roster, and they're really close. So, I guess maybe ownership, front-office is just looking at it like, What can get us over the hump? I guess that's the best solution they had."
As Johnson alluded to in his reaction, Thibodeau continues a line of coaches that have been fired recently despite either having good track records in their career or with their team having a good record. Since the beginning of the 2024-25 campaign, Thibodeau joins Mike Brown, Taylor Jenkins, Mike Malone, and Mike Budenholzer as the coaches that were shown the door.
While Thibodeau had his flaws when it came to distributing minutes amongst his rotation and adapting to adjustments made by opposing teams in real-time, he still took the Knicks farther than they had been in a quarter-century.
Johnson, who is paying attention to the NBA outside of his involvement with the Nets, understands that Thibodeau may have needed to go, but also sees that the Knicks may be close enough that a coaching change could be all that is needed for New York to get to the Finals eventually.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets' Cam Johnson reacts to Knicks firing HC Tom Thibodeau
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