Knicks ready to take first step with new coach Mike Brown in Abu Dhabi preseason opener
Knicks coach Mike Brown speaks during media day at the MSG Training Facility in Tarrytown, N.Y, on Sept. 23. Credit: Ed Quinn
YAS ISLAND, ABU DHABI — The Knicks team was spread out around the court at Etihad Arena for interviews, the morning taking on an NBA Finals feel with international media crowding around, asking their opinions on Abu Dhabi, on the excursion the night before to the desert for rides on camels.
But it clearly is not the Finals, rather the first step with the preseason opener against the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday. While the Knicks may be thinking about the news conferences and packed stands at Madison Square Garden as the end goal, it starts with a team trying to prove that the offseason changes will get them there.
Just who will be on the floor to start might not matter in the long run but it does to the Knicks as first impressions are important. New head coach Mike Brown is tasked with putting his stamp on this team, taking it to another level after Tom Thibodeau was let go after the best season for the franchise in a quarter century.
Brown was asked by the international media how he respects the legacy of what Thibodeau built while also putting his imprint on his own legacy for the Knicks.
“Well, so, it’s not necessarily my job to respect anybody’s legacy,” Brown said. “I’ve just got to — I was hired to coach this team and that’s what I’m going to do and I’m going to coach the team In the best way I know how to do it going forward.”
While the Knicks have stressed collaboration it is Brown who has to be the face out front and he is set on doing it his way. So the first glimpse of what that looks like will go public about 7,000 miles from home.
Brown wasn’t ready to announce his starting lineup, but he has toyed with lineup combinations, the latest practice session on Wednesday morning including Josh Hart, giving the Knicks the same grouping as last season. But he’s alternated that with Mitchell Robinson in the starting five in place of Hart, shuffling Karl-Anthony Towns to power forward. You might see Deuce McBride inserted at times with the other four starters. And whatever you see, the intent is to see it at high speed.
“I just started trying to put something together,” Brown said of the lineup for the opener. “I have a minutes sheet that I use. I should be done with that or I should have that solidified by tonight.”
But he pointed out a day earlier, “Just because I start somebody now doesn't mean it's gonna be like this game 45.”
Whatever combination starts — the main pieces are expected only to play the first half both Thursday and Saturday — the goal for Brown is to see the team move fast.
“Hopefully, we play fast offensively, we have the right spacing offensively, we touch the paint a lot of times and try to get extra possessions on the offensive glass,” Brown said. “Defensively, we want to be physical without fouling, we want to pressure the ball. We want to make sure we’re in the right position to help. All the little things that we emphasize with what we call our staples. And then everybody is going to play, everybody that made the trip will be able to get out on the court and play.”
Hart has shrugged off the questions about going to the bench, same as he did last season in the playoffs when he became the sixth man.
“Honestly, I mean, when you come off the bench you’re able to get a feel for the game, see what the game needs, read what they’re playing,” he said. “That’s something I’ve done before, something I’m comfortable with, looking forward to doing and keeping it moving from there.”
For now, it is. There are no complaints. There hasn’t been a win or a loss, a turnover or a missed assignment. This is just the first step.
“The preseason is the preseason,” McBride said. “Nobody cares about the preseason when the regular season starts and I just wanted to make sure that what we’ve worked on in camp so far transfers over to the games and get us going.”
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.
