“Before Load Management”: Joakim Noah Reveals Tom Thibodeau Made Him Work Out 3 Months Straight For $60M Extension

New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau is legendary for his intensity and his demanding nature. Thibodeau has a reputation of working his players harder than any coach in the league, but in fairness, he also holds himself to that same high standard.

Tony Allen and Zach Randolph of the Out the Mud podcast talked this week about how hard-working Thibodeau is. They brought longtime Thibs disciple Joakim Noah on to illustrate to their audience just what it was like to play for someone like that. Allen talked about how if there was a 10 a.m. practice, Thibs would be there at 5 a.m. breaking down film, to which Noah responded:

“You got Thibs as an assistant coach [with the Boston Celtics], and he was probably already crazy. Now imagine he get the keys in his first year. This is how he did me: I didn’t sign my extension yet, and he goes, ‘If you wanna get this money, you gotta stay with me here this summer.’ He was working me out every day that summer. Now that I think about it, I’m like, ‘Yo this guy is crazy, man.’

Noah talked about Thibs running him every day in the July heat, and he said how this was before the term “load management” was even a thing. “That didn’t even exist. Like if someone said ‘load management,’ you’d say, ‘What does that mean?'”

Noah did end up signing a five-year, $60 million contract extension that ran from 2011-15, so all that hard work did pay off for him.

Tom Thibodeau is still pushing players to their limit

Thibodeau’s Knicks are 25-13 and in third place in the Eastern Conference at the time of this writing. They’ve been fortunate so far this season to stay healthy, especially after last season, when they lost in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to the Indiana Pacers due to an accumulation of injuries.

Karl-Anthony Towns has been a great addition to the Knicks, but Thibs is still running a tight ship. Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart are currently the top two players in the league in terms of minutes per game, and together they’ve played in all of the Knicks’ 38 games but one.

The Knicks are hoping to improve on last season’s finish and challenge the Celtics and Cavs for Eastern Conference supremacy, but they’ll need to be healthy to have a chance. Time will tell if Thibs’ hard-driving ways help or hinder them in their quest.