The Case for Tom Thibodeau as a Coach of the Year Contender

The NBA Coach of the Year award often finds itself in the shadows during awards season discussions. It’s intriguingly elusive, often favoring coaches who spark new life into a team or steer a franchise toward resurgence, rather than solely rewarding the season’s top-performing coach. Among the 15 greatest coaches in NBA history, as honored in the NBA 75 list, there’s a combined total of just 16 Coach of the Year awards. Some of the most illustrious names in NBA coaching history who have yet to claim this accolade are Erik Spoelstra, K.C. Jones, Chuck Daly, and Jerry Sloan. Established coaches presiding over sustained team success find it hard to win this accolade. Tom Thibodeau on the other hand, is guiding his injury-riddled team to a playoff berth. Shouldn’t he get any attention for this award?

The Case for Tom Thibodeau as a Coach of the Year Contender

Award Frontrunners

This year’s leaders are a confusing batch. Mark Daigneault (OKC), Jamahl Mosley (Magic), and Chris Finch (T-Wolves) are the consensus top-3 picks. Between them, they have a combined 9 years of coaching experience in the NBA, and this is the first time in almost a decade that their franchise has been this good. The last time Orlando was above 0.500 was in 2018-19, and their last sustained success came with Dwight Howard, over a decade ago. Additionally, OKC was over 0.500 in 2019-20, and the Timberwolves have not won these many games since 17-18. However, each of their rosters is littered with lottery picks. At some point, talent translates to success. It is impressive that it has come this soon, but it would have arrived sooner rather than later.

Other Candidate

Meet Joe Mazulla, the 4th candidate. Why him? Well, think about the Celtics. They’ve had one so-so season in the last decade, but in the past two years, they’ve been on fire, winning over 50 games each time. They are on pace for the most wins in a season since the 17-18 Rockets. The core team is pretty much the same as last year when they won 57 games, but guess what? They’ve gotten better. And it’s not just a little improvement – it’s significant. Sure, nobody saw them skyrocketing to a double-digit net rating, putting them among the greatest teams ever, but you could sense they were onto something good.

Knicks’ Up-and-Down Season

Let’s play a game of hypotheticals. Imagine your favorite team enters a season with high hopes. 2nd month of the season, you lose your starting center. Then, you trade your backup PG and SF to get an SF and a backup big. You lose your PF and SF to injury approximately a month after the trade. Then, you trade your starting SG, to get expiring contracts for this year. Now, for the past 2 months, you have started 4 guys under 6’4″ to play out the season. What do you think happens to the team? Do they make the play-in? Are they a lottery team?

Wrong. That team is 44-30, 0.5 games behind the Cavaliers for the 3-seed. This shouldn’t work. But it has. This is the New York Knicks. Since the start of the new year, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo have played 695 minutes together. That is the greatest minutes a 3-man lineup of that height has played together.

Tom Thibodeau should be a Coach of the Year candidate

Thibodeau’s been the glue for the team, holding them tight even when the Knicks’ injury list could practically field its own starting five. Critics argue he’s pushing his players too hard, and they’ve got a point. Hart‘s been clocking in over 38 minutes per game for the past 20 or so matches. But Thibs knows what it takes to win. His teams have been solid over the last decade, and he’s practically dragged his lineup to punch above their weight.

Since January 1st, the Knicks have fielded 11 lineups for over 40 minutes each, leaving Charlotte and Cleveland trailing with 9 each. Thibodeau’s been juggling his roster, getting the most out of his players, and finding ways to exploit the opponents’ weak spots. His go-to lineup? It’s got three guys standing under 6’4″ and two big men who don’t shoot outside the paint. It might seem like an odd combo, but hey, it’s working like a charm.

His defenses are as stout as ever, and their intensity can be seen at every single moment. They play bully ball. The Knicks love driving players off their sweet spots and are physical to players barreling toward the paint. They don’t give the easy paint points to opposing players, instead challenging them to shoot the 3-ball. Thibodeau has done his best to turn a horrible situation into something good, and it has helped his teams to win games they shouldn’t be winning. They have gone 0.500 since their stars were injured; that is much better than some other teams can say.

Thibodeau’s Case

The biggest reason he should win is keeping this team in the thick of the playoff race despite having his starters miss a combined 118 games. Add to the fact that some of their trade acquisitions did not work out (partly their fault), and they are running on fumes. But here’s the underrated reason Tom Thibodeau should be a Coach of the Year candidate. His player development has been top-notch.

Player Development

Precious Achiuwa, a mid-season acquisition is having the best season of his career. He is shooting his best-ever marks from the field, playing his highest minutes, and has become an offensive rebound machine for the Knicks, with 3.2 a game. He is having his best defensive season ever, and his big minutes are a huge part of the Knicks’ success.

Ace in the Hole

But I think this is the biggest story of Thibodeau’s Coach of the Year candidacy. Jalen Brunson’s meteoric rise to the top of the NBA. Brunson was subjected to very harsh criticism upon signing with the Knicks. People graded it horribly, many said it was a bad deal, and people called out the front office for repeating previous mistakes. Now, 2 years later, he’s on pace to make an All-NBA 2nd team, solidifying his status as one of the best in the league. Nobody saw this coming. Even his most loyal fans had no NBA tape to rely on for such exposure. His good playoff performances were nothing similar, and there was little belief he could lead the Knicks anywhere.

I know the Coach of the Year award rarely goes to the Coach of a team that has been successful in the past. In this case, I firmly believe Tom Thibodeau should be in the hunt for Coach of the Year. His player development that helped in building a well-rounded roster, and his ability to move on despite the stream of injuries his team has suffered means that he has done all he can with what he had. Wikipedia states that it is awarded to the “Coach deemed most integral to their team’s success in the regular season of the National Basketball Association”. I know according to that definition, Thibodeau is a leading candidate. It’s time the voters realize it too.