Knicks Players' Public Tom Thibodeau Criticism Reportedly Alarmed NBA insiders

The New York Knicks may have surprised some when they decided to fire head coach Tom Thibodeau after he led them to the Eastern Conference Finals, but there was reportedly some concern that multiple players publicly criticized him during the course of the season and playoffs.

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported Thursday sources said Mikal Bridges' and Josh Hart's willingness to publicly question Thibodeau turned some heads.

"That two of the team's marquee players went so public with critiques of their coach was alarming," Shelburne reported while also noting "the players hadn't tuned out Thibodeau, one source told ESPN, but there was doubt that he could lead them to the Finals after the way the Knicks lost to the Pacers."

One of the incidents occurred during the Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Indiana Pacers, as Hart told reporters it was his idea and not the  head coach's to insert Mitchell Robinson into the starting lineup and move himself to a bench role.

The other occurred when Bridges told reporters in March the starters were playing too many minutes.

"We've got a lot of good guys on this team that can take away the minutes, which helps the defense, helps the offense, helps tired bodies being out there and giving up all these points," Bridges said. "It helps us keeping fresh bodies out there."

That is a familiar refrain when it comes to Thibodeau, as he has been criticized for relying on his starters for too many minutes since back when he was the head coach of the Chicago Bulls earlier in his career.

"Yeah, no, he's not really, he's not arguing about it," Bridges said. "Sometimes I think he just gets in his ways and he gets locked in and he just wants to keep the guy out there. Sometimes you have to tell him like, Landry [Shamet], for example, or somebody, keep them out there, they're playing well."

Ultimately, the Knicks enjoyed plenty of success under their former head coach.

They advanced to the second round in 2023 and 2024 before this year's run to the conference finals. The last time they reached the conference finals was 2000, and they won a grand total of one playoff series between then and the decision to hire Thibodeau ahead of the 2020-21 campaign.

Yet there may have been a ceiling in place with the coach's tendency to play his primary players so many minutes during the regular season. 

New York also missed a golden chance to make the NBA Finals this season considering it had home-court advantage against the Pacers and collapsed in Game 1 before losing winnable contests in Game 2 and 4.

Now the organization will be tasked with finding its next head coach after moving on quickly after the loss.