New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau has been known throughout his coaching career to demand a lot from his starters. It's been a characteristic that's followed him at his various coaching gigs across the league.
That hasn't changed during the 2024-25 season. The current NBA leaders in minutes per game are Knicks guard Josh Hart and forward Mikal Bridges, both of whom average 37.8 minutes per game. OG Anunoby ranks sixth in the league at 36.6 minutes per contest.
According to Stefan Bondy of the NY Post, Bridges said that he's asked Thibodeau to consider lightening up the workload for the Knicks starters, indicating that he feels the team's bench players deserve a bigger opportunity.
"Sometimes it's not fun on the body," said Bridges. "You'll want that as a coach but also talked to him a little bit knowing that we've got a good enough team where our bench guys can come in and we don't need to play 48 (minutes), 47.
"We've got a lot of good guys on this team that can take away minutes. Which helps the defense, helps the offense, helps tired bodies being out there and giving up all these points. It helps just keeping fresh bodies out there," he added.
No starter for New York logs less than an average of 35.1 minutes per game. That means all five starters rank in the top 25 league-wide in terms of average minutes played. With capable players such as Miles McBride, Precious Achiuwa, Cameron Payne and Mitchell Robinson on the bench, Bridges urged for Thibodeau to give his starters more rest in order to keep them fresh with the playoffs not far off.
"Sometimes I think he just gets in his ways and he gets locked in. He just wants to keep the guy out there,” Bridges said of Thibodeau. “Sometimes you’ve got to tell him, like Landry (Shamet), for example or somebody, keep him out there, they’re playing well."
With 18 games remaining in the regular season, it will be critical for New York to keep its starting rotation feeling fresh before the playoffs, and Bridges appears hopeful Thibodeau can make the necessary adjustment to do so.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mikal Bridges Says He Asked Tom Thibodeau to Ease Up on Minutes for Knicks Starters.
