Mike Brown's philosophy as Knicks coach: Use whatever system works
Knicks head coach Mike Brown speaks during his introductory press conference at the Knicks' training facility in Tarrytown, N.Y., on Tuesday. Credit: Newsday/Kendall Rodriguez
When Mike Brown began his introduction to his Knicks coaching tenure, he started with the simple things, an enthusiastic treatise on New York City, Madison Square Garden and the history of the team that he was taking over.
But it wasn’t until the final question of the day that he briefly addressed what comes after all of the talk. Brown is stepping into a dream situation that most coaches would pray for. He's taking over a team that reached the Eastern Conference finals and returns not only the top seven players, but already has added two useful bench pieces in free agency.
So the question for Brown was: is there a Mike Brown way to play or does he adapt to the roster of the team he takes over?
“It’s a great question,” Brown said. “I think you have a philosophy on both ends of the floor, but you have to make sure it fits with your personnel. So it’s ever-evolving, and it will be here. Once our roster is final [and] our staff is final, we’ll lay the groundwork, the foundation for what we’re going to do going forward as a unit.”
It wasn’t just the win totals or team achievements that Brown is inheriting. Offensively, he's taking over a team that ranked fifth in offensive rating and did it behind the play of its two All-NBA talents, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. Brown has coached plenty of stars throughout his career of differing skill sets and that meant evolving as he said.
Tim Duncan as the centerpiece of the San Antonio Spurs where he was an assistant was different from the young LeBron James he inherited in his first head coaching job in Cleveland. And that was different from the veteran squad he took over in Los Angeles led by Kobe Bryant late in his career. He watched up close as an assistant in Golden State as Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson led the franchise to three titles. And all of that was different from the smooth-running system he put in place in his last stop with the Sacramento Kings.
“It’s part of my evolution,” Brown said. “I learned a lot from all those guys, from Tim Duncan, to LeBron, Steph, KD, Draymond, to [De'Aaron] Fox, you go down the line because they’re all different. That’s what makes my experience, my background in my opinion, helped me be different or unique just being around those guys.
"Even a guy like Andre Iguodala, who I love to death, all those guys helped me grow in some way, shape, or form. And they all, whether they want to admit it or not, they all have a little bit to do with why I’m standing right here.”
And along that long coaching journey he’s already learned that what works in one place doesn’t necessarily translate to the next roster. When Brown was fired just five games into his second season in Los Angeles, one of the reasons blamed was his efforts to put the Princeton offense in place with a team of players set in their ways. But in Sacramento that same system was a part of the plan that turned that franchise around, giving them the first-ranked offense in the league in his first season.
In almost all of those systems, the Gregg Popovich-led Spurs, the Golden State champions and the Kings led by speedy point guard Fox were smooth passing teams, sharing the ball and doing it with no hesitation.
They all played the game different from Brunson orchestrates an offensive attack. So how does that work now?
“The first thing is, everyone knows I like to play fast,” Brown said. “And like I said, we have an outstanding roster. To have a guy like Jalen out there gives you the versatility to play all different kinds of ways. Which is what it’s going to take over the course of a ballgame.”
Before Brown figures out how to make his fast-moving offense work there is immediate work to do. The Knicks are now on a search for an associate head coach. Rick Brunson, Darren Erman, Mo Cheeks and Mark Bryant are expected to return from last year’s staff and some of the other members of the staff have been working with young players at the team’s training facility. Jordan Brink will coach the Knicks’ Summer League squad in Las Vegas starting Friday.
The coaching staff, introducing himself to the holdover players and newcomers, continuing to work with team president Leon Rose and the front office are all pieces of what Brown is doing now, along with testing out the New York dining scene, before camp opens in little more than two months.
“You want to reach out to all your players,” Brown said. “You want to start that line of communication … It’s about relationships and those relationships are some of the most important relationships I’m going to have going forward. So touching base with them and getting that process going.
"And I want to be collaborative. I want to form that partnership with Leon. I’m excited to do that with him, and so he and I, we’ve just started sitting down and talking about different ways to formulate a staff. So that’s going to be a process that’s ongoing and who knows how long it will take? But those are a couple things that you really start to dive into as well as trying to figure out the landscape, all that other stuff when you get a job.”
He has the job, but it’s just beginning now.
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.
