Remember when the Knicks won the NBA championship?
Yeah, that was more than four months ago, so maybe it’s about time someone starts getting back down to earth and hooping again.
Here’s the latest from the latest embarrassing loss in an early season full of them.
Mike Brown
On evaluating the season in five-game segments for his own sanity:
“We break the season into five-game segments. There are marks that we like to hit in those five games and it kind of gives us a good feel of where you were, in a fair amount of games, and to see if you can make progress in the next five.
“Obviously you want to go 5-0, you’ll take 4-1, and then maybe you have to take 3-2. But if you’re doing anything less than that, you know that nobody is reaching their potential.”
On coaching the Knicks through their 0-3 start and holding players accountable:
“The biggest thing is to coach them and to continue to tell them the truth. When I talked to them, I said, ‘Hey, we were great in transition in the second half.’ We were. But now, we have to continue to try and embrace the little things. We have to make sure we’re doing it in practice so that it carries over into the game. I’ll really jump their a– if I see the effort is not there. To me, that’s a whole different thing. If we’re trying, and trying the right way, sometimes you have to fight through stuff like this to get yourself on track.
“But games like this will tell us, and I’ve said it before, our crap stinks. It does. We’re the only ones who can do something about it.”
On the Knicks’ excrement:
“Games like this will tell us, our crap stinks. It does. And we’re the only ones who can do anything about it. There’s no light switch we can just turn on and go and win the ballgame. Nobody’s giving us anything, so we have to be better with the little things until we start shooting the ball.”
On the Knicks allowing a nonsensical fourth-quarter offensive explosion to Orlando:
“Giving up 40 points in the fourth quarter is way too much.”
On benching Andre Drummond for James Wiseman:
“I felt our transition defense wasn’t good during that time, not just because of [Drummond], but I wanted to go with a change. Wiseman’s been playing well in practice. I wanted to give him an opportunity and I thought he was pretty good in his first stint [in the first half]. And so I decided to go with him for a second stint. But Andre will go out there as a backup in the next game.”
On the open competition for minutes among the Knicks’ reserves:
“First thing I wanna make clear is we have our starting five. Other than that, anybody can play. When you’re a backup in this league, that doesn’t mean you’re always gonna be the seventh man or you’re always gonna be the eighth man.
“No, no, no, no, no, no. It’s competitive. And it’s less so with the starting group if your starting group is established, which ours is, but everybody else after that starting five, I can throw in front of the next guy in a heartbeat.”
On the Knicks not yet reaching their expected level of play in the early season:
“We’re not quite there yet.”
On Dalton Knecht’s two-way contract and plans to give him playing time in Westchester:
“Right now he obviously is a two-way [player], and we want him to play as much as he can, so he’s gonna play some games with Westchester. If we need him to play games with us, we’ll do that. I’d rather him play than be around us too much and sit.”
On helping Knecht learn the Knicks’ system and potentially giving him NBA minutes:
“So trying to get him caught up to speed sooner than later with what we like to do would be one of the reasons why we want him around. But with him, we’ll take it day-by-day to see how quickly he picks up on the offense and the defense, and then if there’s a need to throw him out there, I won’t hesitate to throw him out there.”
On waiving Kevin McCullar Jr. to sign Knecht:
“Kevin, first of all, he’s a fantastic young man, and we’re gonna miss him, obviously, but he’s been here two seasons as a two-way. Being able to try to get to know a guy like Dalton Knecht at this point of the year, it’s something that we need to take a look at.
“So it wasn’t anything that Kevin didn’t do. He was great, and he is an NBA player. And I think he’s gonna get a shot, someday and it could be with us, who knows down the road? I don’t know. But it was more so having the opportunity to bring a guy like Dalton on just to get to know him a little bit better is why we did it.”
Jalen Brunson
On defending Miles McBride’s play against the Celtics:
“[McBride] played great. He’s one of the reasons we were still in the game. Without him doing what he was doing, it might’ve been a worse outcome. He came in ready to go and helped us.”
On the Knicks getting comfortable during strong stretches of play:
“Everyone can say it’s early in the season — we can use that as an excuse — but the one thing I see is that when we get on those runs and look like the team we were in the past, we get a little comfortable. We have to continue to put our foot on the gas and execute things like we did last year.
“We’re not going to be the same. We’re not going to play how we were playing last year; that’s just human nature. But we have to accept this part of the journey, find a way to get better, and hopefully after a couple of games, we can look back and say, ‘We grew from that.’”
On taking responsibility for the Knicks’ offensive struggles on Sunday:
“Organization on my part and making sure we’re in the right place to execute what we need to do. Everything falls on my shoulders. I just got to be a better leader in making sure our guys are ready to go and are in the right spots. There are a lot of little things but that’s the main thing. Organization on my part.”
On the message he delivered to teammates after the Knicks’ 0-3 start:
“Control what you can control; focus on the little details that may seem small but are going to impact winning. Most importantly, let’s do it together.”
On his frustration after the Knicks’ third consecutive loss:
“Not happy. Plain and simple.”
On early-season adversity revealing the Knicks’ character:
“One thing I’ve said during training camp and to this day is we’re going to see who we are within the first couple weeks of the season. And we’re seeing adversity. So how are we going to respond?”
On not wanting championship praise anymore:
“Everyone has been telling us what a great job we did, how fun it was, what we did for the city, the constant praise (for winning the title). So now we need the opposite.”
Andre Drummond
On being benched against the Magic without receiving an explanation:
“Control what I can control. I can’t do s–t about not playing. All I can do is cheer my teammates on and hope for the best.”
On not knowing why Mike Brown removed him from the rotation:
“You can make the guess for me”
On whether or not Brown told him about his expected role with the Knicks:
“Nope. I’m just here to work, when my number’s called I’m prepared to play.”
Dalton Knecht
On leaving the Lakers and getting a fresh opportunity with the Knicks:
“I thought [Los Angeles] was a great opportunity. Next thing was coming. So it was kind of exciting [to] get a new opportunity, a new start somewhere. So I think this is gonna be great.”
On what changed between his rookie and sophomore seasons with the Lakers:
“I don’t think nothing changed, I think it’s just — the team got changed, and that was it. I don’t have no hard feelings, but on to better things.”
On learning the Knicks’ system and preparing for his new role:
“I think it’s gonna be great [in New York]. Learn the system, learn the new schemes and stuff like that. And you know, just be ready for the new opportunity. I’m excited to just start learning from everybody.”
