James Dolan says Knicks are built to win the NBA title
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, left, drives against Detroit Pistons guard Ausar Thompson, front right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Detroit. Credit: AP/Ryan Sun
DETROIT — Shortly before Mike Brown led the Knicks out onto the floor at Little Caesars Arena to face the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons, maybe the biggest test of his tenure to this point, Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan broke his silence on the expectations Brown faces.
Dolan spoke on WFAN on Monday and set the bar high, as you might expect, given that he made the decision to move on from the coach who won a playoff series against Detroit last season and brought the Knicks to the Eastern Conference finals.
“I would say yeah, we want to get to the Finals,” Dolan said when asked if anything short of that would be a disappointment. “And we should win the Finals. This is sports and anything can happen. But getting to the Finals we absolutely got to do. Winning the Finals, we should win.”
Brown has spoken often of the high expectations facing the Knicks. “I don’t know if anybody has higher expectations than me,” he said on media day in September. “I love being in a position where you feel expectations. To me, that means there is something of importance that you’re doing and you enjoy. We know what our job is at hand.”
Dolan had high praise for Tom Thibodeau and how far he brought the Knicks from the time he took over until they lost to Indiana in last season’s conference finals. But he emphasized that in hiring Brown, he was seeking something more in terms of player development and collaboration.
“The team is really built on the shoulders of Tom Thibodeau,” Dolan said. “He built that core. We went as far as we did last year. So you really got to take your hat off to Tom and the job that he did.
“But we did come to the conclusion that we had an idea how we wanted to organize the team. That goes for both teams. And that meant we needed to evolve. Actually beyond the old traditional coaching formulas. And we tried to work that with Tom. It really wasn’t his thing.
“That’s some of it. Much more about style of leadership. Collaboration versus [lone wolf]. Thanks for giving me the word. That’s better than the one I was thinking of.”
When Dolan appeared on The Roommates Show in March, he spoke about patience, noting, “There were times when we sort of have reached for that shiny, sparkly object. Maybe this is what we need. Especially when things weren’t going well. Let’s bring in this guy and maybe he’ll turn it all around for us. Sometimes it’s players, sometimes it’s a coach. What I learned over time is that doesn’t work.”
So it may have been surprising that a team that already had legitimate championship aspirations opted to change coaches. But Dolan said the change on the bench is the only one he sees — even as the Knicks find themselves in trade rumors surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Dolan said. “We love our team right now. They have chemistry, they all like each other. I’ve never seen a locker room more copacetic. There’s a lot of energy in there. Leon [Rose] can always overrule me. But I don’t see us making a big change. Because we got to keep building up this group. This group can win a championship. I believe that.
“. . . I talk to Leon every day. Nothing’s impossible. I wouldn’t rule anything out. But who do you want to lose? You don’t get anything without giving up.”
The Knicks fell short of the goal last season, and one of the things that the front office and ownership sought even during the season was more use of the bench pieces and, maybe more specifically, the development of those players.
The front office boosted the bench talent this season, adding Jordan Clarkson to provide explosive scoring, and with Mitchell Robinson able to play more than he did last season, there is depth at center.
Dolan stressed that the development was something that they felt was lacking. “Because of the way particularly basketball — but also hockey — the way the sport is evolving, how much more complicated it is, we’re very, very big on development on both clubs,” he said. “It’s not like the old days, the old Yankees where you get Reggie Jackson and this guy and this guy. And put together a team. It’s almost impossible to do that in the NBA.
“You have to home-grow some of your talent, and that also builds up trade currency, but it’s a development thing, and that’s a team of people. There’s literally 20 people who are specifically dedicated to developing the players to getting their skill levels up, getting the strategy on the court.”
While he is confident the pieces are in place now, Dolan said he was the dissenting voice on the subject of raising a banner when the Knicks won the NBA Cup last month. He also said a banner will come, just not that one.
“No. At least I never had that thought,” he said. “We want an NBA championship. We don’t want a consolation prize.
”We are going to raise the banner. We’re going to raise the NBA championship banner. That’s the banner we want to raise.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
