Donte DiVincenzo had seen the poll.
Last April, as the playoffs approached and the New York Knicks were well on their way to the franchise’s best season in a decade, The Athletic published an anonymous player poll in which their coach, Tom Thibodeau, was the leading vote-getter in a most unflattering category: The coach whom players would least like to play for.
It wasn’t even close, either, with Thibodeau receiving 43.6 percent of the votes and then-Houston Rockets coach Stephen Silas a distant second at 14.5 percent. Add in the fact Thibodeau had become a two-time winner of this unwelcome award, having also taken the (dis)honor when this poll was last published in 2019, and it’s safe to say his reputation as an old-school leader in these new-age times was alive and well.
But to see these Knicks (41-28) compete with that vintage Thibodeau style on their 3-1 West Coast trip that ended with a loss at Denver on Thursday night, and to marvel at their ability to remain among the Eastern Conference’s best (Boston notwithstanding) despite a brutal run of injuries to pivotal players, was to realize that today’s players are just flat-out wrong about the oft-criticized 66-year-old. Just ask DiVincenzo.
“That poll, for me — and excuse my language — but it doesn’t mean s—,” DiVincenzo, who played for Golden State last season and signed a four-year, $50 million deal with New York last summer, told The Athletic after the Knicks’ win over the Warriors on Monday night. “I’ve seen the poll, but I signed here.”
His ringing endorsement continued from there.
“I don’t care (about Thibodeau’s reputation),” DiVincenzo continued. “I don’t care. Guys in the NBA now (are different) than before. Everybody wants the game all offense. Nobody wants to come in and practice. But me, being my first year here, I think he’s done a great job of balancing things.
“From the outside world, there’s always (a different view). But in our house — in-house — we have a good dynamic and we enjoy it and everybody enjoys being around each other. To the outside world, you don’t really know. All you know is perception. All you know is the history from other teams (Thibodeau has coached) and his years with different organizations. But we’ve had plenty of rest days, plenty of off days.”
And rumor has it, I shared with DiVincenzo, that Thibodeau practices aren’t nearly as hard as advertised these days.
“They’re not,” DiVincenzo confirmed. “I played for (the Warriors’ Steve) Kerr and played for Coach Bud (former Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer). It’s not like you come here and all of a sudden you’re just running track every day (in practice). I think what he does by far better than anybody I’ve been around is he’s the most prepared. So it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go for two hours on your feet and running. But when you’re in there, you’re gonna lock in and you’re gonna get the stuff done and we’re gonna get out of there.”
In this “player participation policy” season where the NBA has finally pushed back on the load management movement, and where a public outcry for improved defensive play and increased physicality has come along with it, there’s something fitting about a Thibodeau team showing out in this kind of way. They’re tough, with a next-man-up mentality that has helped them survive serious setbacks for Julius Randle (out since suffering a dislocated right shoulder on Jan. 27), Mitchell Robinson (out since ankle surgery in mid-December) and OG Anunoby (missed 20 of the last 23 games after having a loose bone fragment removed from his right elbow). They play hard on both ends of the floor, with a seventh-ranked defense that has flourished despite the aforementioned absences (Robinson and Anunoby, in particular, are elite on that end).
After wins at Portland (105-93), Sacramento (98-91) and the Warriors (119-112), these (severely) undermanned Knicks used that formula to nearly upset the defending champion Nuggets in their West Coast finale (they trailed by five midway through the fourth and lost 113-100). It was another strong sign, among so many of late, that the Knicks will be a handful for any team that comes their way in the playoffs — no matter who’s able to take the floor.
But if Thibodeau’s Knicks can get healthy in time for the postseason — and that’s a major if — it’s not hard to imagine a world in which they’re making the kind of deep playoff run their franchise hasn’t seen since falling to Reggie Miller’s Pacers in the East finals nearly a quarter century ago. After all, they have nearly a month of compelling evidence (Jan. 1 to Jan. 27) that they can play like title contenders when at full strength.
During that span that followed their trade with Toronto for Anunoby, and included Randle, the Knicks went 12-2 while boasting the league’s No. 1 defensive rating, ninth-best offensive rating and second-best net rating. It was some of the best basketball any team has played this season — Celtics included.
Yet the uncertainty that comes with all these ailments makes it harder to handicap New York’s postseason prospects. It’s not yet known when, or if, Randle will return. And as our Fred Katz wrote on Thursday, the Knicks have learned the hard way before that Randle rushing back after an injury is not a wise plan.
Julius Randle has been out of action since late January. (Brad Penner / USA Today)
Anunoby’s timeline is unclear, too, as he returned for three games recently only to need time away again because of pain caused by lingering inflammation. Robinson, meanwhile, was a full participant in Knicks practice on Wednesday but, per Thibodeau, will still need “a while” to regain his form and must also be cleared to return by the team’s medical staff. Even big man Isaiah Hartenstein, who has played so well while helping fill the void left by Robinson, remains on a minutes restriction because of an Achilles issue that has dogged him all season.
Which brings us back to Thibodeau.
As is the case with any coach whose contract situation is in question, the outcome of the postseason will surely matter when it comes to what comes next. His current deal runs through the 2024-25 season, but league sources say he hopes to secure his future with the Knicks when both sides plan to revisit the topic this summer. At this rate, the Knicks might wind up hoping they’d decided to get something done with Thibodeau before the recent explosion of coaching salaries.
For those who might have missed the economic boom on this front, take a look at this list of recent deals that have drastically changed the market:
League sources say Thibodeau, by comparison, makes an annual salary in the neighborhood of $7 million. All signs point to a well-deserved raise likely coming his way.
It makes perfect sense too. This roster, which was largely built by the Leon Rose-led front office with Thibodeau’s gritty mentality in mind, is full of players like DiVincenzo who thrive in a demanding and professional environment. In that sense, it’s a much better fit than Thibodeau’s Minnesota mess that came before (the fact Jimmy Butler was the only core player who was cut from the Thibodeau cloth was … problematic).
Franchise centerpiece Jalen Brunson is known to be among his biggest backers, as is his father and Knicks assistant coach, Rick Brunson. Randle is his kind of player too, a bruiser who is surely trying to rush his way back right about now. Ditto for Anunoby, who fought through obvious pain in his recovering elbow before the decision was made to give it more time to heal.
For a more specific example of their simpatico ways, consider that 29-year-old Josh Hart played all 48 minutes of the Knicks’ win over the Warriors (tallying his fifth triple-double) and seemed ecstatic to do it. He’s signed through the 2026-27 campaign. And as an intriguing and relevant aside, third-year point guard Miles McBride (a 2021 second-rounder from West Virginia) has shown the kind of developmental progress of late (including a career-high 29 points against the Warriors) that only adds to their depth.
Even with all these injuries, in other words, the Knicks have no shortage of reasons to be optimistic about what lies ahead. As Katz reported after the Anunoby trade in mid-January, the search for another star to pair with Brunson will continue this summer — whoever that might be. New York has all of its own first-round picks going forward, along with protected firsts from Dallas (2024), Detroit (2024), Washington (2024) and Milwaukee (2025). Those kinds of assets help greatly, of course, in these sorts of star-player pursuits.
In the here and now, though, Thibodeau’s focus is on these Knicks fighting through all this adversity and raising as much hoops hell as they can when it matters most. And the coach so many players would least like to play for, it seems, has total buy-in from the ones who couldn’t be happier that he’s their coach.
“It’s a team, and that’s what we prioritize,” Thibodeau explained before the Warriors game. “That’s (why) we want guys to sacrifice and put the team first. But there has to be that belief. And I think when your best players have that belief, your entire team ends up having that belief. We know we have a great group that we work with. They’re great to be around every day. They give you everything they have. So we know we’re fortunate, but we know we still have a lot of work to do.
“And I think confidence comes from demonstrated ability, like the fact that we’ve won with players being out (means) there’s a belief that we can do it. If we stay disciplined and do the things that we should do, we’ll have a chance to win.”
(Top photo of Tom Thibodeau and Jalen Brunson: Mike Stobe / Getty Images)
