Knicks coach Mike Brown's early challenge: Sell, sell, sell his style of play
Knicks head coach Mike Brown gestures in the first half of an NBA game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
It is hard not to like Mike Brown, or at least like talking to Mike Brown.
The Knicks' new head coach has an unbridled passion for his job and an evangelistic-like belief in his high-octane offense. This was on full display just two days before the Knicks' season opener when a reporter asked a fairly technical question about why Jalen Brunson pitches the ball to Miles McBride in a particular situation.
It is the type of question that would have made Brown’s predecessor, Tom Thibodeau, roll his eyes and issue a short, fairly dismissive response. Instead, Brown leapt from his chair and launched into a five-minute explanation that involved him physically moving around the news conference room as if he was actually out on the court teaching NBA players instead of a bunch of sportswriters.
One has to admire this sort of enthusiasm from a coach who opened the season Wednesday night under almost unimaginable pressure. Brown was brought here to get his team to the NBA Finals. This year. Anything short of doing so will be considered a failure. The East has rarely been this wide-open with Boston and Indiana having lost their best players to injuries and Detroit and Orlando not quite ready to be labeled a contender.
Notice we said "almost." The Knicks opened the season Wednesday against Cleveland, the team most likely to stop them from getting to the next level. This is a team that won 64 games last year, including all four against the Knicks. The Knicks dodged a bullet in the postseason when the Cavaliers collapsed in the second round, but there is no reason to believe they will be that lucky this year.
In some respects, the Cavaliers were the worst possible opponent that the Knicks could have drawn for their season opener, considering the fact that the Knicks were missing two of their top players as Josh Hart was out with lumbar spasm and Mitchell Robinson was out as part of load management for his left ankle. Yet, it’s not just injuries or how the team performs early against a strong opponent that should worry Brown and Knicks fans as the team looks to adapt to a new, faster style of play.
Rather, it’s the “I just don’t know” comment made two days ago by Karl Anthony-Towns when asked how he fit into Brown’s system.
Brown’s offense has produced big-time before. In his first year in Sacramento in 2022-23, the Kings averaged 120.7 points per game and returned to the playoffs for the first time in 16 years. Yet, it doesn’t matter how innovative your offense is if you can’t get your best players to buy into it.
“We’re the ultimate salesmen,” said Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson Wednesday when asked how he got his team to buy into his system when he took over at the beginning of last year. “That’s what NBA coaches do. If you’re going to get by, you have to sell it.
“I know the first couple of days I walked in and I was saying 'do this and this differently on offense,' there were a lot of raised eyebrows and questions. And it was like we’re going to be cutting all the time now. We’re going to the offensive boards every time? We’re all attacking the boards? That was a great mind shift. This works, when you have great leadership.It makes it so much easier. When your best players buy in, it trickles down and makes it so much easier.”
You can say what you want about Thibodeau having over-used his starters, but in the playoffs his players always seemed willing to run through a wall for him. Brown entered Wednesday’s game possibly having some work to do before that happens.
NBA history is littered with the remains of coaches who couldn’t get their superstars to buy into what they were trying to do. Older Knicks fans may remember that Don Nelson, a Hall of Fame coach, lasted just 59 games after he decided to make Anthony Mason a point-forward and then alienated John Starks and then Starks’ close friend, Patrick Ewing.
Of course, the best way to sell yourself to your players is by showing that your methods work.
Early Wednesday, the Knicks not only hung right in with Cleveland, a team that was missing three rotation players, they utilized diverse weapons offensively, which was a significant change from the isolation-heavy offense centered around Brunson. Perhaps even more impressive was their defense as in the first quarter they held the Cavaliers, a team that averaged 30.4 per quarter last season, to 23 points.
It wasn’t the kind of Knicks basketball fans were used to watching. Nor was it the type the players were used to playing. Yet, if Brown can get everyone on board, it could be exactly what this team needed.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
