Knicks Coach Already Building COTY Buzz

There's no coach/team situation that fans are more eager to witness the partnership debut of than Mike Brown, who prepares for his newest situation with the New York Knicks this fall.

This is what happens when you pair the league's biggest market, already staffing one of the more talented rosters in the league, with a bombastic head coach with a history of uplifting teams, albeit for generally short stretches. The Knicks needed a new guy after decisively firing Tom Thibodeau mere days after their elimination in last season's Eastern Conference Finals, and took their time in locating a candidate they were comfortable with.

ESPN's assortment of analysts and reporters are certainly eager to see how Brown will fare in his return to the Eastern Conference, throwing a few votes his way in predicting how the Coach of the Year race will shake out.

He'll have plenty of local competition, with two eastern coaches in Jamahl Mosley of the Orlando Magic and Quin Snyder from the Atlanta Hawks each leading the way, but Brown still finished with the fourth-most attention from experts.

With the conference needing several teams to step up and win some of the games that the usual contenders have regularly soaked up, it's no wonder that the young, potential risers are getting in on the attention. The award typically goes to the team that made a jump from good to great in the standings, and with key injuries set to derail the seasons of several recent NBA Finals performers in the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers, it's likely that a new team will feast in the absence of several apex predators.

Brown won't be tasked with making a jump, with the Knicks already coming off of their most successful playoff run in 25 years, but there remains plenty room for improvement. Their offense during this past regular season lacked creativity despite the slew of scorers the front office brought on, and the weight that Jalen Brunson had to bear should get consolidated among new members of the team.

The Knicks' new coach is more than comfortable inviting his own playbook into a new situation, having done so three seasons ago when he took the Sacramento Kings job. He built that offense around his star players in turning the long-time playoff shutouts into the NBA's top scoring machine, winning his second Coach of the Year trophy at season's end.

Taking the award home rarely signifies long-term job security; just ask Thibodeau. But it does favor those who start hot at new destinations, which Brown's been shown to do, and he has all the tools to carry that fresh energy over to New York in 2025-26.