Andrew Buller-Russ
The NBA has a total of 30 NBA head coaches. Naturally, they don’t all have a similar approach. We have a player’s coach like San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich or Golden State’s Steve Kerr, and then we have the opposite in New York’s Tom Thibodeau.
That doesn’t mean coach Thibs isn’t an excellent leader who can get the job done. He’s led his team to the playoffs in eight of his 11 seasons at the helm, emerging with a regular season win rate of 57.2%. He’s even won Coach of the Year twice, most recently in 2021.
It’s hard to argue against the idea that Thibodeau doesn’t get a lot out of his players, but his style isn’t for everyone. Some might even argue Thibs asks for too much from his rotation.
A recent poll by The Athletic got 55 current NBA players to fess up on which coaches (aside from their own) they’d least like to play for. The results were overwhelming, with coach Thibodeau outranking his peers, in a bad way.
NBA coaches players would like to play for the least
- Tom Thibodeau, New York Knicks – 43.6%
- Stephen Silas, formerly with Houston Rockets – 14.5%
- Other – 9.1%
- Doc Rivers, Philadelphia 76ers – 7.3%
- Rick Carlisle, Indiana Pacers – 5.5%
- Jason Kidd, Dallas Mavericks – 5.5%
Other coaches named included Steve Clifford, Quin Snyder, Gregg Popovich, and Wes Unseld Jr. The ‘other’ category is filled out by Chauncey Billups, Dwane Casey, Erik Spoelstra, Jacque Vaughn, and hilariously, “anyone who didn’t play in the league.”
So why don’t some players see Thibodeau, the coach too favorably? It’s fairly obvious, but one unnamed current player, not on the Knicks, was willing to offer his opinion.
“Just the grind. He plays his guys 44 minutes (a game) all year. I’ve heard from guys like if he likes you — if you’re his guy — he’ll treat you great. He’ll play you a lot, talk to you, so you’ll f— with him in that sense. But if you’re on the outside, it’s like you’re not getting back in.”
Anonymous current NBA player on why he wouldn’t like to play for coach Tom Thibodeau
Related: New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks stars voted most overrated by fellow NBA players
While the claim that Thibs plays his player 44 minutes a game is far from true, it’s a reputation the coach earned in the past, routinely having stars who ranked highly in minutes per game. But that hasn’t been the case this season, with Julius Randle receiving the most playing time of current Knicks players at 35.6 minutes per game.
For the record, coach Popovich was named as the one players would most want to play for, receiving 25.3% of the vote, with coach Kerr getting 13.5% and coach Spoelstra earning 9.5%.
Thibs wasn’t popular here, receiving zero votes out of 95 participants for the favorable coaches poll. As mentioned, he’s not for everyone, but the Knicks are happy to have him leading their group back to the playoffs.
