Knicks' Mike Brown Eager to Coach Franchise Face

Mike Brown's fast-paced system proved for a King, and now he believes it'll suit the New York Knicks' captain.

In his official introduction as the 32nd full-time head coach in the history of the Knicks this week, Brown professed his faith in franchise face Jalen Brunson, eager to see what he can do in a new set-up after three seasons under Tom Thibodeau's watch.

"Everybody knows I like to play fast, and like I said, we have an outstanding roster," Brown said in his first statements, broadcast on MSG Network. "I'm excited about that, and to have a guy like Jalen out there gives you the versatility to play all different types of ways, which is what it's going to take throughout the course of a ball game."

Despite their success under Thibodeau, culminating a long-sought end to the franchise's conference final appearance drought, the Knicks were never well-regarded in pace category by advanced statisticians. With the subgenre primarily defined by the number of possession a team earns in an average game, the Knicks ranked No. 26 in the department last season, a four-spot improvement after they were dead-last the year before.

Conversely, the two Sacramento Kings teams that Brown supervised for a full season were in the upper half of the NBA, and he hinted at employing a similar approach in Manhattan while looking to utilize the massive reaches and wingspans of some of his interior men.

Brown compared the approach to some of his early NBA days with the Washington Bullets-turned-Wizards, where he worked with Juwan Howard, Tim Legler, Tracy Murray and Chris Webber. He later got to work with the concept on a championship level with the San Antonio Spurs, winning a 2003 title with Tim Duncan and David Robinson leading the way. It played to a whole new realm entirely in the Bay Area, where Brown put three more rings on his fingers as an assistant under Steve Kerr.

"You learn a lot from not just your experience as a coach with the other coaches there, but also from the players," Brown noted. "When I was in San Antonio with David and Tim, it was about playing inside out and now fast forward to my time with Steve, it's about pace and space, and that's where the game is. If you can't evolve, you're going to get left behind, and so I feel like I'm trying to do that and and hopefully we'll be able to bring some of that here."