The New York Knicks are off to a 2-3 start to the 2025-26 season, which has certain fans already questioning whether New York’s decision to fire Tom Thibodeau was the right one. Despite Thibodeau accomplishing considerable success with the Knicks over a five-year span and turning them into a perennial postseason threat, New York’s brass axed Thibs in the offseason out of a reported desire for a new voice.
That voice — after a clumsy and messy search — became Mike Brown, a respected basketball mind in NBA circles known mostly for his uptempo approach to offense.
Well, so far (and the sample size is small, we know), Brown doesn’t have the Knicks looking like an offensive juggernaut, and New York’s defense is clearly worse off without Thibodeau in charge.
While Thibodeau has been seen enjoying his time off — which has included visits to the Boston Celtics’ practice facility (Thibs was a member of Boston’s staff for years) — Brown is caught in the stressful hurricane of righting a Knicks ship that fans expect to level up from last year’s Eastern Conference Finals appearance.
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To get back to being an elite team, New York needs to start defending again, but does Brown have what it takes to get his players to do that?
With Knicks fans going through an early-season panic, New York’s front office is staying up at night and wondering why they thought the grass would be greener with Brown.
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There’s nothing bad about Brown, by the way, it’s just that New York already had a winning formula with Thibs at the helm. Why try to fix something that isn’t broken?
There are quite literally 77 games left in the season for Brown and the Knicks to turn things around, but early returns on the Thibodeau firing aren’t looking good.
