An insider recently unpacked how the New York Knicks’ new head coach, former two-time Coach of the Year Mike Brown, can revamp the team’s offense.
Despite making the Eastern Conference for the first time in 25 years and having established a consistent winning culture under head coach Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks front office fired Thibodeau following five largely successful seasons.
Thibodeau, a two-time Coach of the Year, posted a 226-174 regular season record with New York, and a 24-23 playoff record. He led the club to four playoff series wins, and helped power forward Julius Randle and point guard Jalen Brunson elevate their games to All-Star and even All-NBA levels for the first time.
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New York replaced Thibodeau with former Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown, who himself is also a two-time Coach of the Year honoree.
Long known as a defense-first coach from his tenures leading star-studded Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers squads, Brown flipped his approach when he arrived in Sacramento, catering the club to amplify the talents of offense-first All-Stars De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, his two best players.
So what will Brown look like in New York, armed with one of the best and deepest rosters of his head coaching career?
During a new episode of The Ringer’s must-listen “The Zach Lowe Show”, guest Michael Pina previewed changes Brown might be able to implement in the Knicks’ approach.
New Zach Lowe Show! Tiers of the East — placing all 15 teams in buckets w/ @MichaelVPina. Then @john_jastremski joins for METS CORNER!
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— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) July 24, 2025
“So I liked Thibs’ postseason, and didn’t think there was anything wrong him,” Pina said. “That said, I do like Mike Brown as well. And Mike Brown probably should’ve never been fired by the Sacramento Kings, and that organization is in just total disarray. He was one of the reasons that they kind of were able to look competent for the first time in this era, and I think that there’s some things that he can do that Thibs did not.”
Brown was let go midway through the 2024-25 season, as the Kings on the court struggled to outperform the finite upside of their front office’s own limited roster construction.
“Number one for me is I’m interested to see, Jalen Brunson, will he have the ball as much as he did last season? Will Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby have more opportunity to make stuff happen?” Pina said. “And Jalen Brunson led the league last year in on-ball percentage by a decent amount. That’s how they play [play with Thibodeau]… They’re boring they are predictable in what they do [under Thibodeau].”
Brown is also a beloved longtime assistant coach, and has won four championships with the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors in that capacity. He left Golden State for the Kings job after winning it all as an assistant under Steve Kerr in 2022.
“And I think that Mike Brown is someone going from, when he spent time with the Golden State Warriors to Sacramento, he can diversify the offense a little bit,” Pina added. “You can play through Karl-Anthony Towns from the high post a little bit more. So I’m interested to see that aspect.”
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