Mike Brown Bluntly Addresses New Legacy for Knicks

“It’s not necessarily my job to respect anybody’s legacy,” Brown said, per Steve Popper of Newsday. “I was hired to coach this team and that’s what I’m going to do and I’m going to coach the team In the best way I know how to do it going forward.”

The Thibodeau era has frequently been spoken about in respectful tones and it's hard not to keep that pace considering the brutal depths the team sank to prior to his arrival in 2022.

But Brown's comments, surely indirectly and keeping that brand of politeness, are perhaps the first acknowledgement that some sort of change was necessary after the team fell short in the final four against the Indiana Pacers despite carrying a perceived edge in talent on paper.

The winds of change may already be blowing in Manhattan, or at least at the Knicks' training facility in Tarrytown: while keeping some cards close to the chest, Brown has expressed a desire to see the Knicks play with a wider rotation, even if it comes with some of the starters sidelined from the massive workloads they faced during the Thibodeau era.

Few, if any, of the Association's coaches, both old and new, face larger challenges than Brown, who will likely have to provide the Knicks their first NBA Finals showing since 1999 for his maiden metropolitan voyage to be considered a success. The first glimpse of what Brown's trying to build will be on display in the Middle East, where the Knicks will get a couple against a dire division rival.

“Hopefully, we play fast offensively, we have the right spacing offensively, we touch the paint a lot of times and try to get extra possessions on the offensive glass,” Brown said of what he's expecting from the opening couple, per Popper.. “Defensively, we want to be physical without fouling, we want to pressure the ball. We want to make sure we’re in the right position to help. All the little things that we emphasize with what we call our staples."