Over the years, Tom Thibodeau has garnered the reputation of the head coach who runs his players into the ground by playing them excessive minutes.
During last year’s playoffs, the Knicks lost OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson to injuries, and even franchise star Jalen Brunson ended his postseason campaign with a fractured hand. After New York crashed out of the playoffs, Celtics legend Paul Pierce blamed Thibodeau for mismanaging his players and causing them to suffer injuries.
This season, Thibodeau is seemingly right back at it again. Through the first quarter of the season, three of the top 10 players in minutes per game are Knicks starters — Mikal Bridges (1st: 38.2), Josh Hart (6th: 37.2) and Anunoby (10th: 36.6). Although Jalen Brunson (34.8) and Karl-Anthony Towns (33.5) are logging fewer minutes, both All-Stars have seen a significant uptick in minutes over the past week or so.
On Wednesday, Brunson logged 36 minutes in the second night of a back-to-back against the Mavericks after playing 38 minutes the previous game. Towns, too, logged 70 minutes across the two games. The 129-114 loss in Dallas wasn’t surprising, as New York was coming off playing in the Denver altitude less than 24 hours before.
The Knicks starters were clearly fatigued, and in an ideal world, Thibodeau would have been wise enough to reduce their workload, especially after the Mavs ran away with a 60-37 lead at the half. However, even as the Knicks starters were out of gas — and struggled to run back on transition — Thibodeau kept them in the game for extended stretches.
At that point, one couldn’t help but wonder if Thibodeau hadn’t learned his lessons from his previous years in the NBA.
Knicks need a bench
It also doesn’t help that the Knicks have a nearly nonexistent bench, with only Miles McBride (25.6) and Cameron Payne (18.3) playing over 15 minutes a night.
In comparison, their Eastern rivals such as the Celtics, Cavaliers and Bucks all have multiple players off the bench logging over 15 minutes. While the Celtics have four such players — Payton Pritchard (27.3), Sam Hauser (21.3), Neemias Queta (19.2) and Luke Kornet (17.2) — the Cavaliers are blessed with a deep bench in the form of Caris LeVert (24.4), Georges Niang (20.0), Sam Merrill (19.5), Isaac Okoro (20.8), Dean Wade (21.9) and Ty Jerome (19.3). Even the Bucks have Gary Trent Jr. (25.5), AJ Green (19.8), Pat Connaughton (17.9) and Delon Wright (16.7) to help ease the workload on the starters.
The Knicks need to desperately bolster their bench. If not, they could be staring down a redux of the 2024 postseason.