Mike Brown Could Be One-and-Done with Knicks

Before the New York Knicks landed on Mike Brown over the summer, Leon Rose got as many rejections as the drunk guy at the bar when seemingly asking every other team to interview their head coach.

There were flirtations with Jason Kidd, Chris Finch, Ime Udoka, Quinn Snyder, Billy Donovan and Quin Snyder. Even Jay Wright got a phone call.

So it's fair to argue that Rose fired Tom Thibodeau without a plan. Two things can be true, however. There’s no denying that Thibs was a good coach, just perhaps not the right man for this group. There's also no denying that Brown has been very uninspiring as his replacement through a topsy-turvy 59 games.

This isn't an overreaction to the no-show loss in Cleveland the other night. After all, the Cavs beat the Knicks in all three meetings last season by a combined score of 62 points. But during the five-year Thibodeau era, his squads rarely mailed it in and we've seen that a few times this season.

Brown And His Group Have Been Unspiring At Times

Brown wasn't handed a ragtag bunch. There is plenty of talent in that room. The group he inherited was two wins away from the NBA Finals. His rotations haven’t been great. He was supposed to maximize Karl-Anthony Towns and that has not been the case. There is still some confusion about his system and if the players don't understand the inner workings by now, when will they?

The minutes for the starters this year compared to last are down across the board. The bench scoring is up ten points. The young guys are getting more of an opportunity. Brown said he would sacrifice some regular season wins to experiment during the regular season, as opposed to Thibodeau's game-by-game desperation. So there is all that.

In many ways, Brown is the "Anti-Thibs." He's an affable guy, always smiling and is very media-friendly. There's a good chance that he's exactly who many thought Brown was, both for good and bad. A good coach, but a rethread.