Mike Brown draws difficult task as new Knicks coach
Knicks head coach Mike Brown at the Knicks training facility in Tarrytown on July 8. Credit: Newsday/Kendall Rodriguez
Mike Brown is no fool.
He has been around the NBA long enough to see just how hard it is to keep a coaching job at Madison Square Garden. Brown broke into the coaching ranks as an assistant in Washington in 1997. In the intervening years, the Knicks have had 16 head and interim head coaches while Brown has been hired and fired as a head coach four times.
Suffice it to say, Knicks head coach has never been a title you seek if you are interested in job security. Even so, the Knicks job he is taking over from Tom Thibodeau may be the least secure it has been in decades. Considering that Thibodeau was fired in June days after leading the team to its first appearance in the Eastern Conference finals in 25 years, Brown has to have a pretty good idea of the situation he is walking into.
“The first thing, I don’t know if anybody has higher expectations than me,” Brown told reporters as the team opened up the 2025-26 season with media day Tuesday. 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.”
Brown’s job is to get this team to take the next step and get to its first NBA Finals since 1999. Anything less will be considered a failure, which is something he seems to understand. What he may not understand — and what is almost impossible to explain to anyone who has never held the job here — is the multiple constituencies that have to be placated and managed in order to get the job done.
Brown has to juggle and address the needs and wants of a rabid fan base, demanding ownership, engaged front office, talented players and a group of coaches that include some holdovers from Thibodeau’s staff. That’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen, which is something Thibodeau mostly handled by not handling and doing things his own way. (Google Tom Thibodeau and the words “heavy minutes.”)
To succeed here, Brown has to strike the delicate balance of not appearing to be a pushover while also appearing to be a team player who weighs the opinion of others and values collaboration. This is no easy task, especially when introducing a new system to a group of players who were fairly successful playing the way they were playing.
It’s a tough assignment, but Brown — an experienced coach who has worked with superstars — does have two big things working in his favor that Thibodeau did not.
First of all, Brown actually has some talent on his bench. Last year, the Knicks had the lowest scoring bench in the NBA, which is a big reason why Thibodeau’s starting five played 200-plus minutes more than any other starting group in the NBA during the regular season. Brown, by contrast, said he wants to play a nine, 10-man rotation and he might actually have the players that allow him to do so.
The Knicks front office got busy in the offseason, adding two legitimate scoring threats in Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele. The two players combined averaged 27 points per game last year, more than six points more than the entire Knicks bench averaged last season. Both are significant upgrades from Cam Payne and Precious Achiuwa, both of whom remain without a team heading into the season.
Second of all, with Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton having suffered Achilles injuries in the playoffs that likely will keep them out all season, the Eastern Conference is the weakest it’s been in years. Philadelphia could make some noise if Joel Embiid stays healthy — which we all know is a big if — while Detroit, Orlando and Atlanta could take a step forward.
But, it is the Knicks and the Cavaliers who stand head and shoulders above the rest of the rest of the East.
The Knicks have come a long way since Thibodeau took over a 21-win team. In his five years here, the team made the playoffs four times, equaling the number of playoff teams the team had made from 2002 to 2020. As the franchise once again turns the page, multiple players were asked Tuesday about their former coach’s departure.
“It’s sad to see a man I’ve known for a long time part ways with this organization,” Jalen Brunson said. “He’s meant a lot to me. I’ve expressed that to him publicly and personally. He’s meant a lot to my career.”
The Knicks, however, have once again moved on. Insecurity comes with this job, which Brown says helps make it the kind of challenge he wants at this point in his career. It’s the kind of pressure he believes he and his team should welcome.
Brown said: “When you have a target on your back, you have to bring your best every time you step on the floor."
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.
