Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau shouldn't need it, but he has plenty of support to keep job

GREENBURGH

By almost every sane measure, Tom Thibodeau should not be on the hot seat.

Thibodeau just coached the Knicks to the franchise’s first back-to-back 50-win seasons since the mid-1990s. He has a three-year contract extension that kicks in at the start of next season. This season, he has managed to keep his team together through major injuries, including an ankle sprain that sidelined the team’s most important player, Jalen Brunson, for a month.

A whole new generation of Knicks fans has never seen a team as successful or exciting to cheer for as the one that will open the playoffs against the Pistons at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

Yet not a day goes by without the subject of Thibodeau’s job security being a hot topic, with the general feeling that a failure to get past the Pistons would push the Knicks to cut ties with their coach.

On Friday, Brunson finally decided he had heard enough. Without outright declaring “Let’s win one for the Thibber,” Brunson threw his full support behind the coach, who he says has been responsible for so much of his development as a player.

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,” Brunson said. “I’m a big Thibs supporter. That’s who I am and that’s who I’ll be.”

One frequent big knock on Thibodeau is that he plays his starters for too many minutes and that he takes too long to have confidence in and develop his younger players. Social media features hysterical post after post pleading for Thibodeau to give more minutes to players at the end of his bench.

Yet Brunson said the league is filled with players who can say they benefited from playing for Thibodeau. He specifically cited himself and Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns, who was drafted by Thibodeau in Minnesota and rejoined him here.

“He means a lot [to the team]. Individually, he’s meant a lot to my career,” Brunson said. “He’s meant a decent amount to KAT, coaching KAT in Minnesota and here. There’s a lot of players who can say they’ve benefited from Tom Thibodeau in his career.

“I think as a team, we’re always in a position where we can compete in the postseason since I’ve been here. He’s very prepared, he’s a very prepared individual. He’s done a lot for my career, so I’m always going to be a supporter. Always.”

Right now, the best way for Brunson and the Knicks to support their coach is to have a dominant series against the Pistons. Detroit is young and athletic and has a big-time player in Cade Cunningham, but the Knicks have experience and a more talented overall roster. It’s hard for any team to open a playoff series at the Garden, and it ought to be doubly hard for a young team such as the Pistons.

A big win against Detroit could signal that the Knicks have survived the struggles they had down the home stretch of the regular season. It also could give them much-needed momentum — yes, momentum is a weird thing — going into a series against the Celtics, against whom they were 0-4 in the regular season.

Coaches in the star-driven NBA have long been considered expendable. It’s a fact that has been driven home this season with the firing of Denver’s Michael Malone two years after he won an NBA title. This set off an internet frenzy about which other coaches were on the hot seat, with the list including two coaches in the playoffs, Thibodeau and Milwaukee’s Doc Rivers.

It’s easy to blame a coach for a team’s failures, especially a team as talented as the Knicks. Yet can anyone remember what the Knicks’ culture and roster looked like before Thibodeau got here? Can anyone remember that the Knicks’ previous five coaches — Derek Fisher, Kurt Rambis, Jeff Hornacek, David Fizdale and Mike Miller — had a combined 147-329 record over six seasons?

Thibodeau helped shape this team and brought in a winning environment. The Knicks should beat Detroit, and no matter what happens after that, Thibodeau should get a chance to keep going with this group.

In the meantime, he’s not worried about what anyone else says.

“I don’t pay attention to any of that stuff,” he said when asked about his job security. “I just worry about the series. That’s all I worry about.”

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.