Pistons’ JB Bickerstaff Reacts To Knicks Firing Tom Thibodeau

The New York Knicks fired Tom Thibodeau as head coach on Tuesday despite making the conference finals this year for the first time since 2000. 

Detroit Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff, who was fired by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2024, spoke about Thibodeau’s firing on Wednesday’s episode of “First Take” on ESPN. 

“Outside looking in, you make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, that is a successful job Thibodeau has done,” Bickerstaff said. “I can’t speak enough about the respect he has in coaching circles about the job he is able to do. You know you are in a dogfight every time you face a Thibodeau-led team and I think he did that with the Knicks.”

Thibodeau joined the Knicks in 2020. He went 226-174 in the regular season and 24-23 in the playoffs. 

According to Ian Begley of SNY, Knicks president Leon Rose fired Thibodeau after meeting with his “top players.”

New York owner James Dolan was in the meeting, too.  

“It is not an easy job,” Bickerstaff said. “Every year, we sit down with our front office and we lay out a plan on what a successful season looks like. … We have to do more. We have to overachieve in order to progress and move forward.”

Bickerstaff just finished his first season with the Pistons. He led the team to the playoffs for the first time since 2019. Detroit lost to New York in the first round of the playoffs in six games. 

“I am happy where I am,” Bickerstaff said. “For us as coaches, we are trying to figure out, ‘What is my job? What are the expectations? And how do I continue to move those expectations forward?’ The best organization in this league is the team that is the most consistent.

“When things get rocky, they hunker down on the things they believe in, the people they believe in and the players they believe in. … I am truly blessed to be where I am with Trajan Langdon and Tom Gores. They are the type of people who, when things get tough, have my back and have shown that.”