You and a buddy are watching the Knicks game at home when the refs make an egregiously erroneous call. The two of you hurl obscenities and whatever’s handy at the TV. Meanwhile, on the sideline, coach Mike Brown flaps his arms as if trying to fly, but he’s unsure of whether to call a challenge. He cranes his neck toward someone in the second row behind his bench. Your buddy asks, “Who’s the dork with the iPad?”
Dork? No. That’s a hero.
In Game 2 of the Finals, the eagle eyes of assistant coach Jordan
Brink led to a challenge that became three OG Anunoby free throws with 2:37 remaining in the Knicks’ 105-104 victory over San Antonio. One assistant coach watching an iPad helped alter an NBA Finals game. I didn’t spot Brink at the victory parade—frankly, I couldn’t pick him out of a lineup—but he deserved a prominent spot among the celebration.
Brink’s official title was a lot to fit on a business card: Assistant Coach / Director of Video Services and Player Development. Unfortunately, his contract expired after last season, and he accepted an assistant-coaching position on Tiago Splitter’s Chicago staff. Seems like a nice promotion.
According to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post, the Knicks have hired Ed Flynn to fill the job. He was formerly the head video coordinator for New Orleans, as an assistant coach/special situations. Like Brink, Flynn will serve as Brown’s primary “challenge guy,” monitoring replay and advising Brown in real time on whether to challenge officials’ calls.
Before his three seasons with the Pelicans organization, he did video work with Charlotte and a graduate-assistant stint at Miami.
Don’t sleep on these video guys. Many prominent NBA head coaches and assistants began their careers chewing up film in dark backrooms as video coordinators or video interns. Spoelstra, Vogel, Malone, Budenholzer, Clifford all spring to mind. And even Mike Brown started as an unpaid video intern with the Nuggets.
One day you’re eating stale pizza way past midnight to get a series of clips ready for the coach in the morning. A few years later, you’re getting showered with confetti in the Canyon of Heroes.
After the addition of Flynn, the Knicks’ primary assistants otherwise remain intact: Chris Jent, Rick Brunson, Brendan O’Connor, Maurice Cheeks, and Darren Erman are returning, as are development coaches Kwadzo Ahelegbe and Peter Patton.
Welcome Ed! You’ll never be just a dork with an iPad to us.
Go Knicks!
