Knicks' Tom Thibodeau: I Don't Ever Worry About Criticism of Players' Workloads
June 14, 2024
New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau has been notorious over the years for his penchant to play his stars a large amount of minutes (sometimes without any rest at all for big games).
That was especially the case this year with the shorthanded Knicks suffering numerous injuries, forcing Thibodeau to shorten his rotation.
Thibodeau isn't concerned about any criticism of his tactics, though, per his comments to Knicks players Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart on their podcast, The Roommates Show.
Roommates Show @Roommates__ShowAre NBA fans too hard on Thibs when other coaches play their stars just as much? 🤔 <a href="https://twitter.com/TommyJohn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TommyJohn</a> <br><br>Get 20% off your first order at <a href="https://t.co/LbTOSyaHup">https://t.co/LbTOSyaHup</a> <a href="https://t.co/3BOcIcs0km">pic.twitter.com/3BOcIcs0km</a>
Hart and Brunson clearly don't mind. Hart notably averaged 46.3 minutes per game in the Knicks' first-round series win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Brunson posted 43.8 MPG in that matchup as well. Not only did neither complain about their workload, but Hart lashed out at the critics.
"You expect ignorance when people have no idea what goes on in this building," Hart said in May (h/t Peter Botte of the New York Post). "People love to have a narrative or a label and run with it. None of those guys are here watching us practice. None of those guys are watching what we do.
"At the end of the day, seventh year of my career, I've probably had more off days than I've had in other days. We don't go contact in practice. Everyone thinks we do three-hour practices of scrimmaging. It's idiotic to put it on him. He's not going to say anything about it. He's going to take it on the chin and keep on moving."
Ultimately, the Knicks had to play their top guys big minutes by the end of the year with so many players missing at various times, including Julius Randle, OG Anunoby, Bojan Bogdanovic and Mitchell Robinson.
The Knicks ended up having their best season in quite some time, winning 50 regular-season games, earning the East's No. 2 seed and coming one win away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals. They'll run it back with Thibodeau, Brunson, Hart and more next year as they search for an even deeper playoff run.
