The Knicks have reportedly found their new head coach in Mike Brown, who will replace Tom Thibodeau after New York reached its first conference final in 25 years.
The hiring of Brown seemed to be met with mixed reactions from a fanbase starved for a championship, as this group coupled with the current landscape of the Eastern Conference could add up to the franchise’s best chance at reaching an NBA Finals in decades.
So, with the pressure at a fever pitch, let’s take a look at Brown’s resume and see what the experienced head coach is all about. Here are the important things to know when it comes to the Knicks’ new leader:
Brown knows how to handle superstars
The Knicks have a superstar in Jalen Brunson who was never shy about his adoration for Tom Thibodeau, who played a role in bringing Brunson to New York given the point guard’s desire to play for him. Fortunately for Brunson and the Knicks, Brown has a proven track record of coaching some of the brightest stars in the game.
In 2007, Brown coached a young LeBron James to the NBA Finals, with James surrounded by far lesser talent with the Cavaliers. Still, they won 50 games in consecutive seasons (like the Knicks just did with Thibodeau), and won the Eastern Conference with a supporting cast that included Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Eric Snow, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.
Brown also coach Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles during the 2011-12 season, when Bryant earned another first team All-NBA nod. As an assistant, Brown spent time helping coach the likes of Tim Duncan and David Robinson before winning multiple titles as an assistant with the Warriors, where he helped coach Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. Brown’s list of stars he has coached is extensive, which could be helpful as he inherits a Knicks roster that includes Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Like Thibodeau, Brown knows how to elevate an organization
Brown inherited a Kings team before the 2022-23 season that had just posted a 30-52 record, made a coaching change midseason, and was mired in a playoff drought that dated back to 2006.
Enter Brown, who, along with some roster changes, elevated Sacramento to a 48-win team with the best offense in basketball, and lost in the first round of the playoffs in a hard-fought seven games with the Warriors, who escaped thanks to a 50-point masterpiece from Curry in game seven.
Sound familiar? Thibodeau led the Knicks to a surprise run in the 2020-21 campaign to end a long playoff drought, and turned New York into a consistent playoff team.
Brown is still waiting to add a championship to his trophy case, but he boasts a .599 winning percentage across his head coaching career, a mark only seven other coaches in league history have surpassed when coaching more than 700 games. The list includes names like Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach, and Gregg Popovich.
Brown has won two NBA Coach of the Year awards, including unanimously in 2023 after leading that Kings team to the playoffs. He has been fired multiple times during his career, but so has Thibodeau. Some fans have expressed frustration and the opinion that Brown feels like a “lateral” hire, but Brown does have seem to have one key component that Thibodeau did not show, particularly in the playoffs last year:
Brown can unlock an offense with ball movement
The Kings were the best offense in basketball during Brown’s first season, as he reinvented Sacramento’s offensive philosophy to maximize the likes of Damantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox. His offenses ranked among the best in the league in passes per possession, as ball movement was a priority. That could help the Knicks reach a new level and maximize the Brunson/Towns tandem.
The amount of buckets Towns generated off passes from Brunson in the playoffs last season was incredibly scarce. That feels like something that can be addressed and improved quickly under Brown.
One of the bigger Thibodeau critiques in the playoffs was not unlocking Towns on offense, particularly from the 3-point line. Brown seems like a solid candidate to address that issue, while getting more depth involved and generating scoring from more areas.
On the contrary, the Kings were rough on defense under Brown’s watch, but he also has Cavs and Warriors teams on his coaching resume where those teams were tops in the league in defensive rating. So the potential is there.
Brown can handle the New York spotlight
Everyone has seen the “possession after possession after possession….” Clip from Brown during a memorable postgame press conference. It is an example of how Brown has character during interviews with the media, and that will be a welcomed sight in a place like New York, where emotion, character, and rawness are always appreciated.
Jets fans are currently enjoying that refreshing change in the form of Aaron Glenn, and Knicks fans may feel the same way whenever they hear Brown speak for the first time as their head coach. It wouldn’t be the only difference between Brown and Thibodeau, as Brown has been known to put in more work during practices, while Thibodeau was known to save his starters for heavier game workloads. So, while some consider Brown a retread hire, there are plenty of differences that suggest otherwise.