Mike Brown TAKING OVER in NY 👀 More pressure on Jalen Brunson or KAT for the Knicks? 🤔 | First Take

Mike Brown TAKING OVER in NY 👀 More pressure on Jalen Brunson or KAT for the Knicks? 🤔 | First Take

The New York Knicks are expected to hire two-time NBA Coach of the Year award winner Mike Brown as their next head coach. Source told ESPN Brown’s last stop with the Kings was when he got fired in December after a 13- 18 start to the season despite having led the franchise to its first playoff birth in 16 seasons back in 2023. Now he heads to New York where expectations are high after the team reached its first conference finals since 1999. Tim Bontemps now that the Knicks have made a coaching hire. Which allstar is under more pressure? Carl Anthony Towns or Jaylen Brunson?
I mean I think that really the person under the most pressure is Mike Brown because he was brought in to replace Tom Thibido and get this team to the next level. And I’m not sure either Brunson or Cat is under more pressure than him. But I’m going to say Jaylen Brunson because he is the face of the Knicks. He is the guy that is the leader of the team. He’s the captain of the team. And while he is a made man in New York, he is the guy that’s on every billboard. He has had an unbelievable star turn since coming to the Knicks and frankly has put every foot right since coming here from taking less money, having his friends come play with him, having a whole Villainova connection here, leading the Knicks farther than they had been in a generation. At the end of the day, if they do not win in the playoffs, it is going to fall on Jaylen Brunson as the best player on the team, as the leader of the team, as the face of the team. You even saw that some in this past playoffs when they lost in the conference finals against the Pacers. Jaylen Brunson started getting some criticism when he averaged 30 points a game in the series, right? So, he’s not infallible. He is not immune from criticism. And if the Knicks don’t get deep in the playoffs, if they don’t make the finals, he’s going to definitely get some criticism as being the face of the Knicks. Jaylen Brunson is such a beloved made man figure in New York. This is one of the rare situations where you have a team that is under immense pressure to make it to the finals and the best player is not the guy who’s under the most pressure. I think it’s all about Carl Anthony Towns because like you said when they lose, they lost to the Pacers. Jaylen Brunson is still going to give you 30 a game. He’s still going to for the most part give you a great fourth quarter. You’re going to feel like the Knicks lose in spite of what Jaylen Brunson has done for this team. Carl Anthony Towns, it’s a little different. We’ve seen the inconsistent Carl Anthony Towns. We’ve seen the guy who can go uh dominate a fourth quarter and give you 30 and 15 and then the next game give you eight points. We’ve seen a Carl Anthony Towns who’s been a defensive liability and been a main reason that other offenses can get off and get off to fast starts and close out games because of his defensive inabilities. Right. I just think that when if the if the Knicks end up in a situation where they’re not in the conference finals, they have not made it to the finals, we’ll look at Carl Anthony Towns did not show up, did not do what he needed to do, and there will be talks about should we move on from him. What do we do with him or him and Jaylen Brunson uh the right duo to make this thing work? And if they there’s a conclusion that they are not Brunson ain’t going nowhere. It’ll be Carl and Anthony Towns in the chopping block.
If they don’t make the conference finals, something horrible happened. Let’s start there, right? Like something really bad happened along
for for everybody on that team. You’re both right because it’s going to be both stars. It’s the whole team. It’s OJ Anobi. It’s Male Bridges. It’s everybody on that team. Here’s why. Because the players in their exit interviews are what’s what motivated the decision by upper management to to fire Tom Pibido. That’s what we were told. The players had a list of complaints. They did not have full support of the coach. The things that they said in these meetings motivated the move to fire the coach now rather than if we go into next season and these problems continue now we have to fire a coach mid-season. We don’t want to do that. So just do it now. So that’s to me why it leaves it all on the players now to prove that with a new coach and a new voice and a new system, whatever it is, that they now can reach potential that some people thought they did not reach this past season. So it’s all that yes, Mike Brown is also going to feel it because he has to come in and take a team and the expectation is 50 wins and and at worst the conference finals, but at least the NBA finals. But these players are going to hear it in this market about it because you made a coaching change at a most critical time. And I always refer to the Jenga game. You take the wrong piece out, the whole tower comes down. And that’s what you want to see was the wrong piece taken out.
I want to give an honorable mention to Male Bridges. Also, the multiple picks for him. And he got the kind of got the ball rolling towards the end of the season. The first one to say something. He said, “Hey, look, we’re playing too many minutes, and you got to assume that they’re not going to play as many minutes uh with Mike Brown as they did with Tib.” So, if you have a situation where the guys are healthy, they’re not playing as many minutes. You got what you want. Now, you got to go show.
If we picked the Knicks roster, somebody on the Knicks roster, the answer would be Muel Bridges. But, we didn’t get choice of the Knicks roster. We got Jaylen Brunson or Carl Town. So, the answer was Jaylen Brunson. I just chose the color outside the box. Now that they have a head coach,
they added to their bench with Jordan Clarkson and Gabiselli Gabiselli in the mix. Are they going to win the Eastern Conference? Tim,
I mean, they certainly have a great chance to I would look at them and I’d look at the Cavaliers and they’re co-favorites for a reason, right? They’re both flawed teams. The Cavs have had injury issues deep into the playoffs the last couple years. Donovan Mitchell has not been healthy by the end of the playoffs the last two years. Darius Garland was not healthy in the playoffs this past year. The Cavs have to show they can get out of the second round of the playoffs, something they have not done without LeBron James in over 30 years. Then you have the Knicks who, yes, they got to the conference finals. Yes, they went six games with the Pacers, but you saw the flaws of the team in that series. Carl Towns and Jaylen Brunson are a duo you can pick on defensively. The Pacers had success doing that. Let’s see if the Knicks will use their bench more this year with Mike Brown. Let’s see if they can have some more versatility on offense. if they can get some more variation, some more three-pointers up, something they struggled with in the playoffs. But look, those two teams in a weakened East are above everybody else. We’ll see what happens with Atlanta. We’ll see what happens with Orlando. We’ll see if Philadelphia can manage to stay healthy for a year. We’ll see if somebody else emerges because it is a very depressed conference with Tyresese Halbertton out, with Dame out and now off the board, with Jason Tatum out. It’s a wideopen East, but those two teams and the Knicks especially are sitting there with a golden opportunity to get to the NBA finals right now. Yeah, I I think Cleveland uh I would put Cleveland at at one. Knicks 1A, but the answer is Knicks, you better like like I don’t care how good Cleveland is. This is your shot. Boston’s out the picture. Indiana’s out of the picture. You’ve gotten all the things that you want that you’ve complained about. You got rid of the coach who plays you too many minutes. You got a coach that can get you to the finals. You got your your bench depth. You’ve got all the stuff that you’ve asked for and a depleted Eastern Conference. You had better, you had better get to the finals this year because if you don’t, the year after that, who knows what Boston’s looking like? Who knows what Indiana’s looking like? Who knows what this Easter conference is? You’re a couple years older. We’re talking about maybe figuring something out with this roster. This is your year, Nicks. Everything is lined up for you. If you fail on this one, this will be something that everybody’s talking about for a very long time in New York.
Look at the Boston Celtics. Even though Jason Tatum got hurt, they were not going to keep that team together in the same exact fashion this season almost no matter what happened because it was going to cost them $500 million to do so and they couldn’t afford to. You talk about the Cavaliers. Cavaliers have four players under 30 under contract. They’re also well into the Second Apron. They’re going to cost a billion dollars this year. Not actually, but theoretically. And at some point, they’re going to have to start saving money, too. The Knicks have managed their books pretty well. They’re under the Second Apron. They have their whole team under contract going forward. This is a group that has a chance to have a long runway together. And I I don’t disagree with your point about the pressure that’s on the Knicks, but they’re they would come back to you and say this isn’t our only shot. We do have several years worth of it. We just got to the conference finals and a lot of these other teams are not going to be able to have that same kind of runway.
I think I agree with you though. Here’s what it is. It’s the fact that this like this reminds me of when when Michael Jordan went to go play baseball.
The Knicks had lost to the Bull. running into the same wall in 93 and now he’s out. And that year going in, Pat Riley looked at that team and he said, “We’re going to be the first ones on, we’re going to be the last ones off.” That was the window right there. It didn’t mean that the window to try to win was closed after one year, but the best chance they’ve had maybe since 1993 is next season because of the landscape of these and everything that you said.
I totally agree with that. It’s just they do have they have put together a situation where even in this era where we have shorter runways, they’ve created a longer runway. But the best opportunity they’ll have in front of them is going to be this season.
I just I just don’t unless you’re OKC. I just think that the NBA is a windowless league right now. Things change from year to year so fast that you can’t bank on having three. Think look at what Boston thought they had. Look at what the Pacers thought they had at the beginning of game seven. Look at Wimyama is like is knocking on the door. Like there is so much that can change from year to year with roster to roster. The idea that I have four or five years with this roster, with the age on this guys, with the health, with the durability and all that stuff, you have to say
we thought the Celtics last year were going to be championship. Oh, they’re going to have a bunch here. You all your eggs have to go into this year’s basket if you’re the Knicks, which means last year taught us nothing because the example you gave us, Allan, which is a good one. Hey, this is the Knicks window with MJ. Well, that’s one specific team. You’re saying the Celtics, right? So last year, Tim Bontim, Brian Winhor, Tim McMahon on the Hoop Collective podcast constantly said, “Cav Celtics, Cav Celtics, Cav Celtics.” Everyone did. No one even opened up the door for another team. Indiana was in the finals. Wait, just a few years ago, 2021, well, it’s the Bucks Conference. You’re not taking Giannis down. Look how young he is and he won a championship. Last year clearly taught us nothing. You may be right. The Knicks may have a multi-year window of being competitive, but the concept that something has to go terribly wrong for the Knicks not to be in the Eastern Conference Finals would tell me we are not paying attention to what just happened. If Atlanta and Orlando ended up in the Eastern Conference Finals, while I would be surprised, I’m not going to be shocked. People would be more as surprised about that as it would if if you said a year ago the Pacers and Knicks were in the conference finals this past year.
That’s right. So, so the Knicks window of competitiveness may be great. That doesn’t mean they’re going to be in the conference finals,
but the Knicks are not The Knicks are not about competitiveness. The Knicks. The Knicks is not competitive. That’s not It’s about championship this year. It’s about finals. Competitiveness is sweet. It’s great. A lot of teams would die to be competitive right now. The Knicks are not about competitive. The Knicks went to game six, the Eastern Conference Finals this year, and then everybody else that they saw in their runway that was in their way pretty much is gone. You have to make it to the finals.
Other teams ever replace them. It’s not like nobody nobody in New York is going to look at this and say, “Well, the Hawks just got better.” That’s not going to happen.
David’s on the point. Like there is an urgency in the Nick organization that I have not felt in the 20 years that I’ve covered the team. That’s what next season represents.
That’s also why they fired their coach after making the conference finals for the first time in 25 years. You only do that if your goal and expectation is to make it to the NBA finals. And there that’s why yes, the pressure on the Knicks is unquestionably to do that. And this is the best chance they’re probably going to have. My only point before was I don’t think it’s the only chance. But to your point, David, in a in an NBA where things change all the time, if you have an opportunity, you have to take advantage of it. The Knicks have to take advantage of the opportunity in front of him. Mike Brown hasn’t spent a day as head coach of the Knicks. Is he already on the hot seat? Obviously,

Tim Bontemps, David Dennis Jr. and Alan Hahn join Evan Cohen on First Take to react to the news that the New York Knicks are expected to hire Mike Brown as their new head coach.

0:00 Mike Brown to the Knicks
0:46 Jalen Brunson or Karl-Anthony Towns under more pressure?
4:50 Can the Knicks win the East?
9:02 How the Knicks were doubted

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