Knicks head coach Mike Brown made it clear on Tuesday that his philosophy regarding his minutes distribution for starters and rotation players won’t look the same as what the team got accustomed to under former coach Tom Thibodeau, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscription required).
“The biggest thing is trying to make sure you watch everybody’s minutes instead of trying to chase games,” Brown said. “There might be some games where maybe you throw the towel in early. It’s important to win, but you also have to understand, ‘Hey, I want to keep this guy’s minutes here, this guy’s minutes here, this guy’s minutes here, instead of trying to extend everybody’s minutes.’ Because if the season is long, we don’t want anybody worn out by the end.”
As Bondy observes, Thibodeau’s approach often felt like the exact opposite of the one laid out by Brown. The former Knicks coach frequently faced criticism due to the perception that he overextended his top players, particularly by leaving them on the court late in games in which the team held a big lead.
Brown, who worked as a Warriors assistant from 2016-22, pointed to the 2015/16 Golden State team that chased – and achieved – a regular season record of 73 wins but seemed to run out of gas at the end of that season. That prompted the Warriors to more closely monitor their stars’ workloads in subsequent years.
“It kind of caught up to them [in 2016]. And from that point on, that’s when [head coach Steve Kerr] was like, ‘I’m not going to chase it anymore,'” Brown said. “If we get it, we get it, but I got to make sure for Steph [Curry], if we want him to only play 35 minutes or average 35 minutes a game, then that’s what he’s going to average.”
Three Knicks players – Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, and OG Anunoby – placed among the NBA’s top six in minutes per game last season, with Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns also in the top 25.
Here’s more on the NBA’s two New York teams:
- Veteran guard Malcolm Brogdon doesn’t just expect to make the Knicks‘ regular season roster — he believes he’ll earn a spot in the rotation as well, he tells Bondy (subscription required). “I view myself as having a skill set and being a versatile enough player to crack any rotation in the league,” Brogdon told Bondy. “So I expect to do that here as well.” A report from The Athletic indicated that New York is leaning toward keeping both Brogdon and Landry Shamet for the regular season, which would require the team to trade a player.
- Hart referred to it as “stupidity” to blame Towns for the Knicks‘ Eastern Conference Finals loss to Indiana last spring, according to Bondy (subscription required). As Bondy notes, Towns received some criticism due to his defense, but Hart doesn’t view that criticism as warranted. “I thought [Towns] played well in the playoffs. I mean, hey, I think the only one who should get blamed is me,” Hart said. “I had a terrible — I think I played well in Detroit, played well in Boston. With Indiana, I just didn’t have nothing left.”
- Nets guard Cam Thomas reported to camp looking leaner this fall, but he said the work he did on his body this offseason wasn’t related to his recurring hamstring issues last season, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscription required). “No, it’s just something I want to do. Just me being me,” Thomas said. “Not really related to the hammies. … If I have the weight on or not, I’ll still be doing the same thing. It doesn’t really change how you play, really. At the end of the day, it’s how you look and how you feel. I feel good. Feel good, look good and you play good.”
- Rookie wing Drake Powell, one of the Nets‘ five first-round picks, has been cleared for full-contact work earlier this week, Lewis writes in a separate story. Powell, selected with the No. 22 pick, missed Summer League due to a left knee injury that surfaced during the pre-draft process.
Finals or bust for Brown and the Knicks. On paper he has a better bench than Thibs ever had in NY.
The move to Mike Brown will save Brunson’s career. Thibs may be a better in-game coach, but he was pushing Brunson beyond safety.
Knicks second rd exit. Brown is trash
Brunson is a ball dominate PG who does very little without the ball. Of course he will get high minutes, the Knicks entire offense is about his ball control.
We will see if getting rid of Thibs will help the Knicks, I have my doubts on the defensive side of the ball. Beating an injured and tired Celtics team may seem like a huge deal when the Knicks had not smelt the ECFs in years, but it showed very little about the team and now you add a new coach and a bunch of old, often injured guys to the bench and bam! Championship? No. Plus KAT is your defensive stopper and primary rebounder. No.
Cavs are better and have a younger, hungrier and better defensive squad. Plus their coach is the same and a guy they respect and listen too.
Mike Brown? Wow, I guess everyone forgets his last job.
Oh bohhh when he was COY …
Brunson was great off the ball in Dallas and Brown says that’ll be a priority
He wasn’t great off the ball in Dallas and he won’t be in the NYKnots
Is this Brown speaking or the Collaborators-? Strange, but I’ve never heard a real HC (in any team sport) characterize trying to win games as chasing wins. It’s a concept generally reserved for things deemed frivolous (individual stats). Then again, the NBA doesn’t have many real HC’s any longer, and I don’t expect that Brown will be that here (even if he might have been that at earlier stops in his career). IMO, this NYK FO wasn’t hiring a real HC this time around. Brown wasn’t on anyone else’s short list so it’s not unreasonable for him to decide that he can stomach parroting the various narratives that the Collaborators want to put out there vs another assistant gig. For 10 mm a year, it’s hard to blame him.
What’s the message to fans in this narrative? Don’t be upset when we’re not as good early in the year, because we’ll make up for it with wins later in the year, due to fewer injuries and worn out players? OK, I can’t wait to see it. Particularly since, over Thibs’ 5 years, the NYK were in the bottom 4 of the league in games missed for injury (and were above the 20’s only once), and Thibs’ teams (throughout his entire career) have had historically good improvement into and through the 2nd half of seasons.
Not sure what the point of the “Don’t blame KAT for the IND loss” campaign is. I hear a bunch of criticisms of KAT regularly, almost all regarding defense. But I’ve never heard anyone single out the IND series loss as his to own. People who’ve followed the NBA for decades knew the series was over after game 1, and KAT was just one of the many culprits (along with fate) there.