The New York Knicks play basketball today.
The New York Knicks are also pristine, boasting an impeccable 2-0 record to lead the League.
Here’s a bunch of quotes before the Knicks embark on a three-game road
trip, starting today in South Beach.
Mike Brown
On Tyler Kolek’s performances:
“He has versatility, toughness on both ends of the floor. He can [make plays] for himself and others. Gets us organized. He had a really good game defensively [Friday] night for the most part, and then during the first stretch, he was really good offensively. In the second half, he wasn’t as good. But he’s a young guy and he’s going to learn and grow from any minutes that he gets. And that’s what I like about him, because you know he’s young, he’s smart, but more importantly, he’s tough-minded. So he can take any type of coaching or any adversity that he goes through at any time and he’ll bounce back the right way.”
On the team’s rotation and lineup decisions:
“Just gut. If I feel that we need to match up, I may go that way. If I feel that we don’t, I may go [the other way]. Again, all our guys should be ready to play, whether it’s the start of the game or finishing the game or playing in the middle of the game. Starting is nice, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter to me. To those guys in the locker room, maybe it does, I don’t know. But I have a lot of confidence in this entire roster, so we can start a lot of different ways.”
On Josh Hart’s outing against Boston:
“Monster game. Monster game. His effort was unbelievable, especially on the glass. Between three guys, we had 15 offensive rebounds, when you talk about KAT, Josh and Yabusele. Josh played 19 minutes, and had six. He was unbelievable.”
On the league’s gambling scandal:
“All that stuff is above my head. That’s something I don’t feel I’m privy or intelligent enough to talk about because it’s a lot of this and that that I don’t know about. I know it’s a league matter. The league has programs for the guys. I think our team does too. Me, Mike Brown, I’m not the teacher of that area.”
Tyler Kolek
On learning from Cam Payne and watching the game:
“Cam Payne actually taught me something. Coming into the game, you want to change it in some way. You want to change the speed of the game or get the ball moving a little big more. You’re there and you have the whole first quarter or seven or eight minutes to really watch and dissect what the other team is doing and what we’re doing as well on offense and defense. I just want to come in and impact the game any way I can.”
On his mindset entering games:
“Just taking it day by day. For me, it is just come into the gym and work hard and show what I can do.”
On his approach to running the offense:
“I’m just trying to set up the offense and do what I’m asked by Coach. Cam Payne last year actually taught me something. He was the backup last year and just kind of learned from him. Coming into this role, when you get into the game, you want to change it in some way. You want to change the speed of the game or get the ball moving a little bit more. You’re there and you have the first — for me I have the whole first quarter or whatever it is seven or eight minutes — to really watch and dissect what the other team is doing and what we’re doing as well on offense and defense. Just trying to come in and impact the game any way I can.”
On earning playing time:
“Just taking it day by day. I wasn’t really too focused on the outside noise of who is going to play. Those are Coach’s decisions at the end of the day. For me, it was just every single day come into the gym and work hard and show what I could do. Hopefully, that would lead to some time on the floor… I had the whole training camp and a lot of the summer with the coaching staff and the preseason to really get a grasp of the offense.”
On studying Brunson from the bench and building chemistry:
“Me and Cam were on the bench a lot last year. So you are watching the game and you are obviously watching Jalen. Learning from him is more kind of by watching. It’s not words back and forth. I can always bounce off questions and ask what he sees. What do you think? But when you are sitting there watching it live, me and Cam were sitting there, and he was like, ‘You see this, this and this.’ That’s the best example of it … I have a great relationship with all the older guys whether on the floor or off the floor. It’s really important for me as a point guard coming off the bench to have synergy with all those guys and knowing where they want the ball, how they want the ball, what plays they like.”
Karl-Anthony Towns
On contributing to wins despite injuries:
“Just different ways to impact the game, and for me, I just want to impact winning whatever it costs, whatever position I’m in. Yeah, I mean today, last game, it’s been a good job of all of us impacting winning and doing a great job as a team coming out with wins.”
On Josh Hart’s performance against the Celtics:
“I am not [surprised]. That’s what he does. He impacts the game with his energy and his competitiveness. It changes the game every time.”
On his passion for collecting sports cards:
“Now you want to touch my soul. I did [always love it]. That was my first job, at Spencer’s sports cards. I did it before the NBA, selling sports cards and memorabilia. Funny enough, I’ll always remember the memorabilia I had to sell was an A-Rod signed bat. Yeah, it’s a passion of mine since I was young… I wasn’t as intense into it as I am now again. I’ve always had such a love for it. It’s amazing to see the market and the hobby so alive. It’s amazing. It’s really fun. My girlfriend is into it. My nephew is into it. It makes it really fun for me to open packs and cards and allow them to live the childhood I had with it.”
On pulling a rare Cooper Flagg rookie card:
“I do. I do and I’m the vet. Shoutout to Cooper Flagg, man. The NBA is in a great spot. I speak out from a fan of the game of basketball and as a vice president standpoint as vice president of the [National Basketball Players Association]. He’s a huge addition for our league and we’re excited to see him blossom. And now he’s a huge addition to the collection. It was cool. It’s always fun when you get one of those chase cards everyone is looking for. For me, the hobby is not even about… it’s just about the chase. The chase is what’s fun about it.”
Josh Hart
On returning from injury:
“It’s one of those things where I’m progressively getting better and starting to take contact and so, yeah, here I am. [It’s been] frustrating. It was something I wanted to be back Wednesday. That was the plan, but my body didn’t respond how I wanted it to. We’re here today. We’re gonna try to give it a go and see how I feel.”
On his first game back:
“I knew the offense was gonna be a little shaky. First game back, so I had to do something to help this team. But I don’t know, man. Felt really good out there. Get up and down. I’m happy we got the win. And then continue building off of it.”
On conditioning and fatigue:
“Hell no [I couldn’t grab another rebound], bruh. You see that last three? My legs was gone, bro. It didn’t even get to the rim. I don’t even know if it got to the paint. My legs was gone today, man, so [I decided] I’ll help y’all and get some rebounds for the team.”
On adjusting to Mike Brown’s new system:
“Just being attentive to what they were doing [in practice]. Obviously, it’s gonna be a little bit of a learning curve not having the game reps. Obviously I can go through practice and all that but game reps are different. So it’s gonna take a little bit of adjusting for everybody, but I felt like it was a solid first game. Unfortunately, in my career, I’ve had a lot of turnover at coach. This is my ninth year. I think Mike is my seventh coach. So I’ve had a lot of experience in adapting to different philosophies and stuff like that. So I’ve come in with my own blank canvass and just kinda let him instill his philosophies and all that and just build off of that.”
On Chauncey Billups’ involvement on the gambling scandal:
“I’m not going to talk too much about it until a lot of the other facts and stuff comes through but I played for Chauncey when I was in Portland. Chauncey was great to me, one of my favorite people in general. He was a genuine person. So I don’t know the facts and all that but Chauncey is a great dude and I’ll talk about it later when all the facts come out.”
OG Anunoby
On his health after Friday’s scare:
“I feel fine.”
On team balance and depth:
“That’s how the good teams are. You can’t win with one person. The whole team is capable, especially on our team, there’s a lot of guys who are capable. So just depending on how the game is going or how we’re being defended, it can be anyone’s night. We’re 2-0 and we’re just gonna get better and better as the year goes on. That’s our main goal, just to keep progressing. … So I think it’s really good. Everyone can play, everyone is talented in the NBA. So we have a lot of guys who can play on the team, and it’s just being ready when your number’s called and producing to help the team win.”
Charles Barkley
On the players involved in the gambling scandal:
“Man, this ain’t got nothing to do with damn gambling addiction. These dudes are stupid. Under no circumstances can you fix basketball games. Rozier makes $26 million a year. How much is he gonna make from betting unders on himself? You take yourself out of games for what — a few thousand? It’s idiotic.”
On the real issue behind it:
“Greed and stupidity, that’s the problem.”
Shaquille O’Neal
On his reaction to the gambling allegations:
“I’m ashamed. There’s an old saying in the hood — all money ain’t good money. You’re making millions and still trying to cheat the system? You can lose your career, your freedom, your reputation, and embarrass your family. It’s not worth it.”
