Despite reaching the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in a quarter-century this spring, the New York Knicks opted to can now-former head coach Tom Thibodeau after five largely productive seasons.
Thibodeau was named Coach of the Year during his inaugural season with New York, 2020-21, and ultimately led the Knicks to their most sustained success since the 1990s.
More news: Knicks Star Wants to Win Major End of Season Award This Year
But New York wanted a leadership change to help lead it to its first NBA Finals since 1999. The Knicks brought in another former two-time Coach of the Year, Mike Brown.
Brown is already looking to make changes from Thibodeau’s approach to the franchise, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post.
“The biggest thing is trying to make sure you watch everybody’s minutes instead of trying to chase games,” Brown said earlier this week, following a team practice. “There might be some games where maybe you throw the towel in early.”
The Knicks are bringing back all of their top players from 2024-25, but have augmented that group with some appetizing veteran depth to shore up their bench.
Now, All-NBA stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, All-Defensive forwards Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby, guards Josh Hart and Miles McBride and center Mitchell Robinson will be joined by power forward Guerschon Yabusele and guard Jordan Clarkson. Non-guaranteed signings Malcolm Brogdon, Landry Shamet (who played on New York last year), and Garrison Mathews are all competing for roster spots, too.
“It’s important to win, but you also have to understand, ‘Hey, I want to keep this guy’s minutes here, this guy’s minutes here, this guy’s minutes here, instead of trying to extend everybody’s minutes,'” Brown said. “Because if the season is long, we don’t want anybody worn out by the end.”
Bondy notes that Brown’s perspective on player minute allocations was changed radically when he joined the Golden State Warriors as the team’s lead assistant for the 2016-17 season. The Warriors were fresh off a record 73-win regular season… where they fell apart in the NBA Finals, despite having a 3-1 series advantage over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr adjusted the way he played his veterans, leading to three more championships during Brown’s tenure on the team.
More news: Knicks Guard Takes Shot at Fired Coach Tom Thibodeau
“It kind of caught up to them [in 2016]. And from that point on, that’s when [Kerr] was like, ‘I’m not going to chase it anymore,’” Brown said. “If we get it, we get it, but I got to make sure for Steph, if we want him to only play 35 minutes or average 35 minutes a game, then that’s what he’s going to average.”
Brown noted that the NBA regular season and playoffs are more of a marathon than a sprint, and suggested that he wants to pace New York’s top players more than Thibodeau had.
“I’ve got to help, too,” Brown observed. “That’s one when I was fortunate, blessed and lucky to be in back-to-back Finals, go a couple of times where you had long seasons and you feel that the next season is right there on you.”
More news: Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns Sends Message to Critics
For all the latest NBA news and rumors, head over to Newsweek Sports.
