A friend who is a lifelong New York Knicks fan has been eagerly following the New York Knicks these playoffs. Watching them sweep the 76ers and cruise back into the Eastern Conference Finals got me thinking.
Last year, the Knicks also made the Eastern Conference Finals — their deepest run in years. They lost to the Indiana Pacers. Then they fired their coach.
Their coach, Tom Thibodeau, had gotten them further than they’d been in a long time. Why change it?
But the pattern keeps showing up. The Chicago Bulls fired Doug Collins in 1989 after he’d taken them to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 15 years. They replaced him with his own assistant, Phil Jackson. Phil Jackson instituted the “triangle offense”, a significant departure from the way they played. Six championships followed.
Similarly, the Golden State Warriors fired Mark Jackson in 2014 after back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time in decades. They hired Steve Kerr, who had never coached before and upset their players. Four titles followed.
In each case, the previous coach had done something real and hard. They’d built the culture, changed the trajectory, earned genuine loyalty. That’s what made the decision so difficult. And that’s also exactly why it had to be made — because what got them there wasn’t going to take them further.
The Knicks will likely not win it this year — both western conference finalists look formidable. But the decision to change already looks like the right one.
This shows up in companies and individual careers too. The skills and habits that create early success can quietly become the ceiling. Recognizing that — and doing something about it — takes a different kind of courage than just grinding harder.
What got you here won’t get you there.
A Learning a Day 