Mike Brown takes over the Knicks, can he save the most impatient team in the NBA

Mike Brown.

"Thibodeau is in a good mood. When you can get $30 million for free, you can't be angry." Not long ago, Ross laughed at the state of his old partner Thibodeau after being fired by the Knicks in an interview.

No one would refuse a buyout contract that would "make three years for one year", but when Mike Brown took office and took over the "hot potato" of the Knicks coach, he obviously did not want to get a "Tipodoux experience card".

On July 8, the Knicks officially announced that the team signed a four-year contract with Mike Brown, officially hiring Mike Brown, who was twice won the NBA coach of the year as the team's head coach. The pressure on Mike Brown has already begun from the moment the Knicks fired Thibodeau. In the official statement of firing Thiboddeau, general manager Leon Ross went straight to the point: "Our only goal is to bring a championship to New York."

Although Mike Brown's coaching style can repair the stubborn problems left by Thiboddeau, although the current lineup is more mature, and even the competition in the Eastern Conference is not as fierce as before in the next season when Tatum and Halliburton are missing, the difficulties in leading the Knicks out of the 52-year "champion drought".

Contrast

When Mike Brown picked up the Knicks' head coach, the first team change mentioned by the American media ESPN was the lineup rotation.

Thibodore's most criticized during his coaching of the Knicks was his "Five Donkeys Tactics" - a set of main lineups that hit from beginning to end. Even if the opponents were thoroughly researched and the players were exhausted, they never rotated easily. Last season, from January 1 to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Knicks' starting fives were always the longest-used combination in the league. Even if the substitutes performed better in space, defense and rebounds, Thibodeau did not waver.

Brown, in contrast, is a "trial" in rotation.

Last December, Kings player Keane Ellis scored a career-high 33 points, but soon lost the victory with an emotional foul in the game against the Spurs. Brown then let him have two consecutive games almost "hidden". In Brown's view, even if you just give a highlight, as long as the details are not processed well, you cannot continue to reuse them.

"Sometimes, change may lead to better results, because different rotations may produce more chemistry." This is Brown's words at the King's last press conference.

Although Brown is a detail control, his office is always spotless, he can draw tactics with different colors of water strokes, and holds a folder full of notes at any time in his hand, the change is Brown's coaching philosophy, and this is the most difficult thing for Thiboddeau to do.

This contrast is also reflected in the attitude towards employment in the public opinion field. Even though Thibodeau has an "iron fist", he rarely criticizes players publicly. Even though Josh Hart gave his opponent three free throws at a critical moment in November last year, he also provided the player with the camera. On the contrary, Brown will angrily criticize the players for his hasty mistakes and criticize the team's core players such as Fox, Sabonis, and even DeRozan.

Brown wants not only technical execution, but also responsibility and discipline in execution details.

The two coaches have completely different coaching styles, which also put a question mark on the Knicks' new season: Can players adapt to such a new coach with "a sharp mouth and many changes"? Can Brown really "control" these players who have already formed habits? Can Brown's tactics be implemented in the Knicks?

Of course, the two coaches are not completely opposite.

As a tactical master who also started with defense, Brown's first thing when he took office as King in 2022 was to "renovate" Fox. He believes Fox has the potential to be a defensive vanguard and builds a defensive system around him.

But when it comes to the Knicks, Brown faces another type of player. For example, Brunson - this defender who was the best in the league in the ball control period last season. Although he was extremely brave on the offensive end, his loopholes were also obvious on the defensive end. In the series with the Pacers, he was "named" 123 times as a pick-and-roll target, four times that of last season against the Pacers.

If Brown can transform Brunson on the defensive end and make him a tacit understanding with Towns, who also has defensive problems, the Knicks' ceiling may be more than the Eastern Conference Finals.

But this is just a question before Brown. He also needs to find a way to make Bridges and Anuno more participate in offensive sharing of firepower, solve the problem that opponents use forward players to restrict Towns, and also build a more efficient offensive system than "running and playing".

During the King's time, Brown established a system with one of the best offensive efficiency in the league's history around Sabonis and Fox. Through the "rhythm + space" style of hand-hand, empty cuts, and strong side-changing, role players such as Murray and Xuert performed beyond expectations.

Under this system, Brown led the team to break the 16-year playoff drought in his first season as the Kings, and the team's offensive efficiency reached the highest 118.6 points in the league at that time.

But New York is different. The public opinion, rhythm, and player composition here are very different from those in the West. Whether or not it can be reshaped to create a tactical system that is both efficient and adaptable is a more challenging task for Brown than bringing the Kings back to the playoffs. The real problem is patience for Knicks fans, perhaps the most anxious thing is not Brown's coaching ability, but whether the management gives Brown time?

In March this year, Knicks boss James Dolan claimed on Brunson and Hart's podcast, "I don't interfere in team affairs, it's Rose who is responsible for building the team, and I only pay for it." Brunson asked without hesitation: "Have you really delegated decision-making power all the time?" Dolan blushed on the spot and smiled awkwardly.

Brunson's rhetorical question is not unreasonable. In the past 20 years, this boss's "airborne order" has greatly influenced the Knicks: toughly advancing Anthony's deal, firing multiple head coaches, expelling Charles Oakley... It is difficult for a boss who is famous for his "intervention" to really become a "hands-off boss". Even Dolan himself admitted, "Sometimes I am attracted by 'shiny things', such as thinking that a player or coach can save the team immediately, but later I find it useless."

Although Dolan said he wanted to "beat at the sight", he still often repeats the same mistakes.

For example, in the Eastern Conference Finals with the Pacers last season, Thibodeau changed his usual routine and gave more substitutes the opportunity to play. But just as Thibodeau began to try to change, the Knicks chose to fire him.

In the coach selection stage, the Knicks also lack a sense of direction - the team does not look for a truly suitable candidate, but instead "poaches" the current coaches of other teams. In the end, after being rejected by Finch, Kidd and Uduka, he picked up a single Brown in a circle.

From 2012 to 2020, the Knicks replaced 6 head coaches. Impatient and impatient are almost engraved in the team's management genes.

The lack of long-term vision of the Knicks management is the consensus of most people in the league. Charles Barkley once commented that the Knicks management was "the stupidest person in the world"; J.B. Bickstaff, who coached the Detroit Pistons and served as assistant coach for the Knicks, was secretly stunning the yin and yang: "Some places do not value the value of coaches."

So, what really determines Brown's fate in the Knicks may not be whether the team rotation is reasonable, nor whether the players agree, but whether this team that is accustomed to "success and instant benefits" can learn "patience" for the first time on the road to championships?