Early Wednesday morning Tom Thibodeau was back at the Knicks' training facility, even with some of his assistants on hand, and maybe from a distance it would almost feel normal, like every other day when he’d skipped vacations and time off to instead remain entrenched at what he jokingly called “Club Tarrytown.”

But there was nothing normal about this. Thibodeau was there to clear out his office about 36 hours after he’d been given the word and less than 24 hours since the Knicks had publicly announced that he was being “relieved of his duties.”

And as long as we’re counting hours, maybe the most surprising missing part of Wednesday’s activities is that the Knicks didn’t announce a new head coach. That matters because you can make an argument within the walls of Madison Square Garden and the offices in Westchester County for firing a coach just as you can opt to trade franchise players. But just as when you deal a player — or five first-round picks — the move had better work or eventually the fingers you’ve been pointing will point back at you.

No one wants to have their every decision at work dissected and criticized publicly, but it’s the price that you pay to walk away with a $30 million golden parachute and already inquiries coming to work in television (hopefully looser and more confident and open than his first go-round long ago if he takes them up). And although Thibodeau right now isn’t going to go out and make his case for the job he did, it’s as easy to make the case in his defense as it was for the front office of the Knicks to make the change.

Some of the stories that have begun to leak out are easy to deflect. The notion that players were unsure of their roles seems odd since Thibodeau might have been more clear about roles than any coach. The true statement might be more like, some players didn’t like their role. And the critique that he was slow to change his lineup can be argued with two points: First, Mitchell Robinson only played 17 games in the regular season, and second, how did that rotation work when it knocked off the defending champion Boston Celtics?

But it’s not a shock that the decision was made to pull the rug out from under Thibodeau, something that has been on the table numerous times over his five-year tenure and a choice that was the subject of conjecture among sources close to Thibodeau even as the Knicks were navigating through the postseason all the way to the Eastern Conference finals, a place that the franchise had not been in a quarter century.

Whatever side you take on these debates, the one thing that is not up for debate is that the Knicks were dysfunctional for decades before Thibodeau arrived. You can attribute that change to not just the coach, but to team president Leon Rose and his staff. And maybe just as important, there is no room for debate on what’s next.

According to a league source, the Knicks are not expected to make an immediate hire as the list of names has been compiled, some more likely to be considered than others. Some of the names are NBA champions or established veteran coaches. Some are untested assistants and some are college coaches. But there is one thing that any of them will face: pressure and expectations.

The Knicks were in the playoffs in four of the five seasons under Thibodeau and one could argue they were one bounced-in Tyrese Haliburton buzzer-beater in Game 1 from likely heading to the NBA Finals. If Thibodeau stayed and the roster was kept intact with maybe some tweaking the Knicks would arguably be one of the favorites for next season’s title. That’s what the bar is now for the next coach.

“Who’s going to go into the New York Knicks situation right now [where] anything short of the NBA Finals is going to be a disaster for this new coach?” St. John’s coach and former Knicks coach Rick Pitino said on WFAN Wednesday. “The pressure on this new coach, whoever it may be, is going to be probably the biggest amount of pressure I've seen in all my tenure rooting for the Knicks.”

Can a first-time coach like Johnnie Bryant, who has never been a head coach at any level handle that? How about college coaches like Dan Hurley or Jay Wright? Or even coaches who have had their ups and downs under much lower spotlights than Madison Square Garden and inheriting a team where the NBA Finals is the floor of expectations? The one name I keep hearing is Jason Kidd — under contract in Dallas, but intriguing with the Knicks already importing much of the Mavs training staff and Jalen Brunson having already played for Kidd, as well as Kidd having played for the Knicks.

“The Knicks have such a unique situation with so much attention and such a large fan base and such a worldwide following, it’s one of the most difficult jobs to take,” said Rick Carlisle, the Pacers coach and head of the coaches’ association. “The guys that have been most successful — Red Holzman, Pat Riley, Jeff Van Gundy, Rick Pitino had a short run but a very effective run. And then you know, there were a lot of lean years. Thibs went in there and changed so much. You look at all that and then what happened yesterday, when I first saw it  . . . I thought it was one of those fake AI things. No way. No way possible. And I know how the players feel about him, too. There’s not much else to say.”

There isn’t now. There were boxes to be packed up, mementos to be removed to clear the office for the next person. But the expectations that were within the walls of that office remain.