If you’re like me, you still can’t believe it.
The regular season that will see Larry O’B come back home is finally here.
Here’s what we’ve heard of late around and about the New York Knicks as he anxiously
wait for tip-off later today.
Mike Brown
On long-term development and staying patient:
“The good thing about it is the finals or the championship round doesn’t happen until June, so we’ve got a long time to get there. So it starts on the daily. We can’t skip any steps. Every time you’re on the floor together, every day off, you just want to keep taking steps because it’s gonna be a process knowing that you may take one or two steps backwards, but hopefully we can regroup and take three, four, five [steps] forward. And it’s not just about me doing that or me being the catalyst because I was hired. It’s about the entire group. We have to be connected as a group and believe in each other. And if we do that, and we truly understand that it’s a marathon and it’s one day, one game, one shootaround, one practice at a time, then the path will lead us where we need to go.”
On the preseason progress and building habits:
“First thing, the good part about it is, the Finals or the championship round doesn’t happen until June, so we’ve got a long time to get there. It starts on the first day. We can’t skip any steps. It starts with the first day in training camp, even before that, in the summertime. Going to training camp. Going to the preseason. Going to Abu Dhabi. Every time we’re on the floor together, every day off, we just want to keep taking steps because it’s going to be a process. Knowing that we may take one or two steps backward, but hopefully we can regroup and take three, four, five more forward. It’s not just about me doing that, or me being the catalyst because I was hired. It’s about the entire group. We have to be connected as a group and believe in each other. If we do that and we truly understand it’s a marathon and it’s one day, one game, one shootaround, one practice at a time, then the path will bring us to where we need to go.”
On managing Mitchell Robinson’s workload:
“With Mitch we have to be smart, and that’s what’s part of load management. Just because he may be able to play tonight, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m gonna play him or I’m gonna practice him. It’s load management, which means that if we deemed it necessary, could he possibly go? Yeah, he could possibly go. But it’s a decision that myself, led by Casey [Smith], makes on a daily basis, and it’ll be like this the whole year.”
On managing Robinson’s workload:
“I’ve been in different situations where you sit a guy, you manage his workload and he does certain things, whether it’s sometimes shooting free throws, sometimes it’s watching, sometimes it’s walking through this, walking through that. I’ve been with a lot of guys that have done that throughout the course of my career, starting back in the early 2000s with the Spurs. We had a couple of older guys on the team, so to me it’s not odd.”
On media scrutiny and transparency on the Robinson situation:
“I know you guys want more, but it’s going to be like this all year.”
On Josh Hart’s recovery and health:
“[Mitch] missed a lot of games last year, and we just want to be cautious going forward with him, that’s about the extent of it right there. Josh is a little different than Mitch. You saw in Abu Dhabi when he went down, he didn’t get touched. So we’re trying to figure out his back, which is a tricky situation. So we have to be careful with it. We don’t want to rush him, but we’ll be patient and figure it out as we go along. Casey and those guys do a great job. We believe in them so we’ll be sticking to their plan.”
On dealing with adversity and accountability:
“It’s a great question ‘cause that’s the tricky part, and hopefully I can help them as best as possible. This was gonna be a process anyway. Now you factor it in with time being missed, and it’s gonna be a little bit longer because of the time being missed. … You’ve gotta find your way, and it’s gonna take a little bit more time than what it would take if you were there the whole time. Everybody’s human and guys are gonna get frustrated and when guys are frustrated, you usually hit some adversity, because they’re human. So they could go this way or that way, so early on, it’s gonna be — starting with me — all of our jobs to hold each other accountable while embracing the process. The process isn’t gonna happen overnight. It’s gonna take some time. So if a guy does go this way or that way, just trying to pull him back in and keep everybody together while we figure out what needs to happen on the floor on both ends.”
On team adaptability and identity:
“We’d like to establish or have an identity, but it’s not just strictly ‘Hey, we’re a defensive team’, or ‘We’re an offensive team.’ In my opinion, you have to be able to do a lot of things in order to win. You can’t just be a good defensive team, because if you look at the NBA champions of the past, everybody who has won a championship wasn’t [just] a top three defensive team. Everybody who’s won a championship wasn’t just a top three offensive team. So you have to have belief in what you think this team can do and grow from that.”
Jalen Brunson
On keeping perspective and staying grounded:
“I want us to take one day at a time and not jump forward, not speculate, not wish. Just continue to grind and just get better every single day and just control what we can control. It’s an opportunity to see where we are. Regardless of who it is. … Obviously, everything is new and we’re learning. We’re learning every single day. Like I said, see where we are. It’s the regular season now. It’s for good now. We’re going to go into the game and we’re obviously playing to win. We’re going to learn regardless and continue from there.”
Mikal Bridges
On facing the Cavaliers and debuting Brown’s new system:
“Obviously we have a new coach and new staff and learning everything, so they have that advantage. But that still don’t mean nothing when the game starts and we have that competitive nature out there for all of us just competing trying to win. Yeah, we’re excited.”
On Cleveland’s established core:
“They’ve been together. Obviously we’ve been together for about a year, some guys a year and a half. But [Cleveland’s] coaching staff, I’m pretty sure they came into camp knowing exactly from Day 1 what they’ve been doing.”
On defending Donovan Mitchell:
“Just how skillful he is, everything’s so deliberate. I think even how he works [in practice] is how he plays in a game. I think that’s been a big growth out of his game. He could always score, even when he was in Utah … but as he’s grown into the player he is, he’s been able to score and play-make as well. So just knowing that: three-level scorer, about 5-foot-10 with a size 17 shoe that can jump 50 inches in the air, so he’s just unorthodox a little bit.”
On embracing the early challenge of facing the strongest Eastern Conference opponent on Day 1:
“I honestly think there’s no easy game. It’s the NBA and a lot of teams are really good and there’s teams that might not have enough wins that are really good teams. But a team like Cleveland who’s on top of the East, who wouldn’t want that challenge? That’s what you want. You want to see where you’re at Game 1. Obviously so many months to the end of the season, but it’s a good test to see a couple of the top teams that’ve been in the East what they look like to begin the season.”
On Mike Brown’s leadership:
“I think it’s tough to get 15 to 17 guys to all follow one voice, and especially nowadays where a lot of guys are getting paid a lot of money and they can tend to act like they don’t need a coach or anything like that. We can be prima donnas and divas a little bit, but for him to be able to get a whole group to follow him. He’s done a great job.”
On Brown’s communication and authority:
“He has that voice and it makes you not wanna mess up. It makes you wanna play as hard as you can, and he gets on you, but in a respectful way. He’s gonna get on you as he should, that’s how I look at it. I had some tough coaches growing up… some guys that’ll let you know what you’re doing where you fear of not doing the right thing. So I think he’s doing a great job and every time he talks and every time he’s explaining something, he does it to the highest level and for our understanding and making sure we know what we’re doing.”
On Tom Thibodeau visiting the Celtics practice:
“No issue at all.”
Ariel Hukporti
On following Mike Brown’s direction:
“Whatever coach says stands. I’ll go with his word.”
On improving his finishing and decision-making:
“I feel like my floater, I’ve got great touch around the rim, trying to use it more this season. And just being more patient around the dunker’s spot and when I get the ball atop the key to make plays.”
On fitting in Brown’s up-tempo offense:
“I mean, I play fast, too, so that’s a perfect match right here. Nah, nah it’s a good team. Y’all see it on paper. It’s a great team. Everybody good. Everybody ready. What do I think about the depth of this team? Personally I think it’s one of the best teams in the league roster wise and on paper.”
On the Knicks’ improved team culture:
“Just the ball movement. I feel like we’re more together as a team, we’re doing more activities. I’m not even speaking on the court. I’m speaking off the court, as well. We just do more stuff off the court together just to build more team chemistry.”
Donovan Mitchell
On facing the Knicks and expectations:
“They’re Eastern Conference and championship contenders. They’re a team that if we get to where we want to get to, we’re going to have to go through them. They got the head of the snake in Jalen. They got great defenders, they got size at the rim. Great shooters. For us, it’s continuing to have respect for who they are and understand this is who we are. Come out there and hit first and be ready for a crazy environment at the Garden.”
Kenny Atkinson
On the excitement of opening night:
“What’s better than this? Game 1 against the Knicks in the Garden. When the schedule came out, we all circled this one.”
Joe Mazzulla
On inviting Tom Thibodeau to Celtics practice:
“I think it’s more about, he’s been a friend for me for a long time. He coached here, he won a championship here. His presence is more about coming to learn the game and paying respect to a coach that has been here for a long time and has been in this organization and hung a banner here. Anything we can learn from him. It just so happened that he happened to be the coach that knocked us out of the playoffs the year before. There wasn’t that much there, from that standpoint.”
