標籤: plaguing

New York – The New York Knicks conducted a coaching search last season to improve their approach to individual games, the season as a whole, and the playoffs. Despite the results delivered by former head coach Tom Thibodeau, Mike Brown received the reins because the organization felt he could both identify and implement needed improvements.

The Knicks defeated the Golden State Warriors 110-107 on Sunday night, and sent their fans home victorious from Madison Square Garden. But, regardless of the results, Brown was clearly frustrated with the team’s process throughout the game. While not named “Defensive Player of the Game”, he told reporters that the focus and physicality of his group was unacceptable for starting four of their last five games.

“One thing I tell them is that on an experienced team that has won and has a very high level of experience, I should not be calling two timeouts in the first six minutes of a ball game,” Brown shared in disappointment after the only-score win. “And I’m not talking about the X’s and O’s. So, this group knows it. They understand it. Now we have to do it.”

Last season, despite discouraging lineup data, the Knicks took their starting five of Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart to the Eastern Conference Finals. Once the Indiana Pacers took a 2–0 lead, New York insisted on starting Mitchell Robinson instead of Hart.

Brown began his first season with Robinson, but reinstated Hart in late December. The coach told reporters on Sunday that he was not considering a change at the moment, but that “it’s not too late to do anything” at this point in the season.

“If I felt the need, I would do it. I’m not thinking of it right now,” Brown said. “I’m not focused on each individual because, like you said, we started different guys at different times. … We can play better. I know about myself and every guy in that locker room, every person in that locker room, expects more. And somehow, some way, we’ve got to figure it out.”

Does it make sense to trade Mikal Bridges if the Knicks are winning?

Leaving Mikal Bridges on the bench in crunch time has become a trend for the Browns. The starting wing spent the final seven minutes of the game against the Warriors on the sidelines. Veteran sharpshooter Landry Shamet once again took the fifth spot in the lineup. This is at least the seventh game this season the Browns have finished without Bridges, testing the Knicks’ locker room ethos that sacrifice is necessary to win.

It was not Brown or any other Knicks player who decided to trade five picks in the first round for Bridges. Or to offer him the four-year, $150 million extension he signed last offseason. But even if Bridges is performing better than average for his career, it’s still difficult to evaluate those decisions objectively.

New York’s front office transformed a laughing stock into a contender in four seasons, without ever losing. They essentially just traded two first-round picks in three transactions that brought them Brunson, Towns, and Anunoby.

It makes sense that the team took an unprecedented gamble and traded five picks for Bridges. The rest of their roster was also assembled in an unconventional manner. This is the same braintrust that was ridiculed for making Brunson the first player without an All-Star appearance to receive $100 million from a team that did not draft him.

Bridges needs to improve his aggression on both ends of the floor. But this is to help the Knicks win games, not the previous trades.