As Friday came, Friday went. Best news? It’s weekend time!
The Knicks also held their first players-on-players, offense-vs-defense, five-on-five scrimmage of the preseason and the results, according to
the man leading the sessions, couldn’t have been better. Oh boy, color me excited.
Here’s what we heard from Coach Brown, Hoodie Brunson, KAT, and Ogugua as New York slowly-but-surely starts to pack its collective bag on the way to Abu Dhabi to face the 76ers next Thursday.
Mike Brown
On the team’s early progress in training camp:
“I tell you what, the team is probably a little bit ahead on both sides of the ball than what I expected we’d be at this point. They’ve been working hard. They’ve been trying to pick up stuff on both ends of the floor as quickly as possible.”
On how the team looked during the first preseason scrimmage, held on Friday:
“Their attentiveness has been great. Today was the first time where we really had a chance to bump heads and scrimmage. So when you go against a different color jersey instead of just going through it 5-on-0 or against the coaches, it’s a little different. But our guys did a good job. It’ll be even more different when we go against Philly in Abu Dhabi. I like our progress so far — but we’ve still got a long way to go.”
On what to expect from the Knicks’ transition defense and team rules:
“If we can follow those rules, we know we’ll have a pretty good chance of being a good defensive transition team.”
On what ‘next-play-speed’ means and bringing it to New York:
“If we turn the ball over, or somebody misses a shot that we hoped they wouldn’t take, and the other team is breaking the other way, we go from offense to defense just like that. Now we’re sprinting back. Having that next play speed ability at a very high level is something, in my opinion, that separates really good teams from great teams.”
On OG Anunoby’s defensive potential:
“First-team All-Defense. He is more than capable. Really it’s up to him. That’s how good he is. He’s a first-team — and I’ve been around those guys. Bruce Bowen. Tim Duncan. I’ve been around a few of them, and he’s right there.”
On his relationship with OG:
“Many people don’t know this, but OG and I have a previous relationship and I reached out to OG in 2020 [when he coached the Nigerian national team]. I reached out to most of my Nigerians in the league because there are a ton of them. And we were in conversation. He was close to playing on that team, but we sparked a relationship back then, and we even had lunch to talk about it during the course of the season when I was in Golden State. I think he might’ve been in Toronto and they came to town. We grabbed lunch, but we’ve been in contact via text and on the phone a couple times. He’s a really great guy, a fantastic guy, and he does have some personality. Sometimes he lets it out. Sometimes he doesn’t.”
On raising the team’s 3-point attempts:
“I mean, if we get 40 I’m cool with it. If we get 40-plus, I’m cool with it, but they’ve gotta be good 3s.”
On the need for quality-shot attempts:
“We’ve got a couple of guys that we’ll allow to dance with it and let it go, and they know who they are, but if we play like we’re capable of — with pace, especially spacing, and the paint touches — we should generate a lot of catch-and-shoot 3s. If you’re open and your feet are set, especially if that ball hits the paint or we’ve got a cut or roll and it pulls the defense in and now we get a spray to a 3, we better let it fly. We better let it fly.”
On Landry Shamet’s impact:
“Offensively, his pace in the full court — he does a great job of sprinting the floor.”
On Karl-Anthony Towns’ role and versatility:
“They’re different players, but their skill set is at an extremely high level. So there are gonna be some things that Sabonis did do that for sure KAT can do when he’s at the five, and then vice-versa [when he’s at the four]. KAT, we’re gonna move him around a lot. He’s not gonna just play the five. So he’ll be all over the floor and his ability to shoot the basketball will show because we’re gonna move him around.”
Karl-Anthony Towns
On having frontcourt flexibility with Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart:
“With Josh, I step into my traditional center role, which is something I’ve been known for early in my career and recent in my career I’ve been playing as four, too. With Mitch, it allows me to kind of tap into that experience and [at the four], I’ve found ways to be successful. Just different ways of attacking and different ways we could play our game and be playing Knicks basketball. So regardless of if it’s Josh in the game or it is Mitch in the game, I feel very confident with either one of them, that we have a great chance of winning.”
OG Anunoby
On his defensive focus and personal goals:
“For sure, defense, that’s what wins games, championships. So it’s very important to me. Defensive player of the year, first-team All-Defense, those are always my goals.”
On embracing Mike Brown’s system:
“Mainly defense is all the same. Just getting into the ball more. Every team wants to get into the ball. But getting into the ball, a lot of talk early and often. It’s communication.”
On improving daily under coach Brown:
“We’re learning each and every day. It’s getting better and better.”
On the Knicks roster depth:
“We’ve always had a great team. Every player on the roster is capable of playing and make an impact.”
On the ECF loss to the Pacers:
“It stays with you as motivation…you never forget what happened, how close we were.”
Jalen Brunson
On adjusting to Mike Brown’s system:
“I don’t how long it’s going to take me, but hopefully relatively fast. I’ll continue to get better off of it. Even with Thibs the past couple years, we were still learning how to do certain things, getting better at certain things. I don’t want to say I’m going to ‘master’ it at any point, I’m just going to continue getting better and better and be more fluent at it. It’s going to be a process, for sure.”
On the changes brought by Brown:
“Things are different obviously, but certain things are definitely different than what we’ve done in the past couple of years. But we knew that coming in. It’s all about how we adapt, how we adjust, and how quickly we do so. Making sure we help each other learn.”
On his offseason body transformation:
“A little lighter, more toned. It’s important for me to get my body in the best shape possible.”
On summer rest:
“It’s all about adapting. I truly needed it.”
On early impressions of Mike Brown:
“Most importantly, just communicating on both sides of ball and putting each other in places we need to be.”
On receiving the Kobe PE shoes:
“It means the world to me. To be able to wear his shoe and have a little input on it, as well. I’m really excited to have this opportunity. His family is amazing. We’ll see what comes down the line.”
On Mikal Bridges’ decision to leave money on the table to re-sign with the Knicks:
“He left $6 million. I’m not counting, though.”
