Full Mike Brown Introduction As Head Coach Of The New York Knicks

Full Mike Brown Introduction As Head Coach Of The New York Knicks

This is the Mike Brown introduction presented by Chase. Great to have you with us from our Delta MSG studios. Bill Pedo along with Walle Zerbiaak as we await the first comments of Mike Brown as a new head coach of the Knicks. While you played for him for the Cavs two years in 0809, you guys won a franchise record for the Cavs 66 games. Brown was coach of the year for the first time. He’s won it twice. He’s been coach of the year two times. What was it like to play for him? What’s he like as a coach? I loved it. very clear, very concise, an outstanding leader, very organized. Uh his film rooms, he gets his message across. He has a knack of just making making decisions clearly and teaching his players how to do what he wants them to do in a clear, concise way. There’s no messing around with him. He is to the point and he is honest as a human being and as a man. That is very important as a coach, especially when you’re coaching professionals that are making a ton of money. And you know what you’re going to get with Mike Brown on a daily basis. If you have a problem, he has an open door. Go into the locker room. Go into his his office and you can work it out immediately. All right, Wally. So, the team you were on in ’09, made the conference finals. Brown was coach of the year and then again in 23, his first year with the Kings was coach of the year. And in that 23 season, he led the Kings to their only playoff birth since 2006. and he’s a four-time NBA champion as an assistant. Once with the Spurs and three times with the Golden State Warriors and now will obviously try to win his first title as an NBA head coach. He’s coached some of the great players in the game. LeBron Kobe was an assistant when Tim Duncan was on the Spurs and of course when Steph Curry uh Brown was with the Warriors. Clay Thomas as well. Uh and he likes expectations championship or bust and that’s where the Knicks are right now and that’s what we were dealing with in 2008 2009. We accomplished everything we needed to in the regular season, winning 66 games. Swept the first round 40, the second round 40. We came up short in the Eastern Conference Finals. And that was just heartbreaking as a franchise. The whole season was a failure because of that. This is the type of expectations that he’s walking through the door with the Knicks here. The Knicks are Eastern Conference finalists last year. They felt like they should have gone maybe a little further and beaten the Indiana Pacers. So, if they don’t get the job done and and win the whole entire thing, win the championship, it’s probably going to be a failed season. And Mike Brown expects those expectations. He likes those expectations. He’s been in locker rooms where that’s what it takes to win a title. And I think he’s a good guy for the job uh taking over this year. What do you think, Wally, we can expect in terms of style of play under Mike Brown? Great defensive mind. Uh that’s the big thing that I remember the organ. We were the best defensive team, defensive field goal percentage back in 0809. just very clear with his rotations, just very very concise and delivers his message very well. That’s his backbone, defense. That’s what he’s known for. I think as he’s moved on, coached under Steve Kerr, he really expanded his offensive uh playbook. Um learned a lot about the offensive end of the floor. We’re also a great offensive team. So, he’s has no weaknesses. All right, let us now listen in to Mike Brown, new head coach. Thank everybody for coming. Uh first of all, I’d like to start by thanking uh Leon uh Mr. Dolan, Leon Rose for this incredible opportunity. I’d also like to acknowledge uh my fiance Ro for her continued support and for for being here. I look forward to working with Leon, forming a great partnership with our shared common goal of winning a championship. I’m honored and excited to be the new head coach of the New York Knicks. You talk about a historic franchise, Madison Square Garden, it’s iconic. our fans. They’re the most knowledgeable and passionate probably in all of sports. There’s a lot of work to be done. We have a outstanding roster. What they did in the playoffs shows their potential. I’ve had great conversations with all of our players and I’m looking forward to growing positive, strong relationships with all of them over time. Our goal starting with Mr. Dolan to Leon to the players all the way down to the fans is to build a sustainable that sustainable winning culture that produces championships. That’s why I’m here. I’m fortunate to know what it takes to create that success, a lot of hard work, a high level of commitment, and a focus on today. Now, a lot of you guys going to say this sounds cliche, and it is, but we can’t we can’t skip any steps. It’s about one day, one practice, one shoot around at a time. The soul of our identity with when it comes to culture, it’s going to be based on a trust. A trust that’s centered around sacrifice, a connectivity, a competitive spirit, and an overall belief in the process and each other. I’m looking forward to getting to know you all, but there’s a lot of work to do and I’m ready to get started. Okay, now we’re going to open up for the questions. Coach, just your your style of play, the way you want to play and just was it that kind of Jon kind of running your team? I the first thing is, you know, everybody knows I like to play fast and like I said, we have an outstanding roster. Um, I’m excited about that. And to have a guy like Jaylen out there gives you the versatility to play all different types of ways, which is what it’s going to take throughout a course of a ball game. my Steve Popper from that. Um, I know you’ve had expectations in other jobs you’ve taken, stepped in behind and stuff. Just kind of what is it for you coming in coming into a team that’s reached the conference finals, the expectations you’re stepping into? Well, you know, there there’s nobody has any bigger expectations first of all than I do. Uh, I mean, my expectations are high. Um, but I mean, this is the Knicks. I talked about Madison Square Garden be being iconic. I talked about our fans. I I love and embrace the expectations that come along with it. So, I’m looking forward to it. When you know when obviously the conference finals questions about why did they fire the last guy and what is the new guy bringing in to elevate it above what the previous guy did. So, in what ways do you plan to kind of just elevate this team in ways that Tom did? Well, first of all, I you know, Tom is a tremendous coach, you know, and and he is a friend of mine. Uh but I don’t want to get into the past. Uh I’m just excited about the roster. I’m excited about the things that we’re going to put in place here and where we can go with the guys that we have. guys are going Christian. Thank you. Um in terms of championship calendar, good basketball, how do you define that? What what is your vision of good basketball particularly with the pieces you have on both sides of the court? Well, it’s a a twofold question. uh you know I what I’ve experienced and I said it in my opening statement you know I’ I’ve been to six finals with three different teams and the commonality that they all had is they all sacrifice for one another. They’re all connected. The connectivity it’s at the highest and it starts with ownership on down. uh they all have a competitive spirit and there’s a high level of belief not just in the process but each other. So those four things are common amongst all the teams that I’ve been with that have participated in the finals. James Edwards. My pleasure. Obviously when you’re going into a job search you want to sell yourself to the team. when you go into those, what do you want to hear from the team in terms of what they want to do to help enhance you and set you up for success, too? Well, first thing, the only person I really had to sell myself to was was Ro, and obviously it worked. That’s why she’s sitting right there. But, uh, you know, I respect Leon’s process. Um, I feel like I’m a detailed guy. I feel like I’m thorough with anything and everything that I try to do. Um, so it’s no different here. Uh, I’m just I was just myself throughout the process. Had great conversations uh with Mr. Dolan, obviously with Leon and his group because, you know, my whole thing is I want to form a partnership with him to do this together. It’s impossible to do on your own. And obviously the outcome is exciting for me because I’m sitting in the seat that I wanted to be in. Mike, how are you? Chris Hering from ESPN. Nice to meet you. My pleasure. Um, one of the things that stands out a lot from from the job you did in Sacramento and just generally is I think you’re seen as a coach who holds this guys account. Um, and I think obviously you you coached under pop and um, what does that look like with for you with star players and your willingness to kind of hold them to account? What does that look like given that so many of the the players had tight relationships with the last coach and then played in the same program in college? Like what does that look like to you to ask for accountability? What does it look like this group? Well, well, in general, I think that is a part of my job. Um, it’s one of my values is accountability, but not just for the players and even for myself. I expect people to hold me accountable. Uh, but at the end of the day, it’s about relationships. It’s about the trust that I trust that I talked about. Um, and once you grow those relationships, then you can you’re going to talk openly about anything uh that you need to in the direction that you need to go. And so I’m going to be open and honest with them. And I’m sure they’re going to be open and honest with me. And like I said, I’m no different. Mike Ian Begley SM. Nice to meet you. A pleasure. Um, I know you said there’s a lot of work to do. I’m sure a lot of that is looking this team and what they can and can’t do and what you may or may not change. I’m just wondering the the starting five particularly late in the year they had a tough time defensively. Do you see areas where they can improve on defense or things that we can get? Do you see that at all? Well, again, I I thought, you know, what they what the group did this past year in the playoffs, it just it just shows their potential and uh not just defensively, but offensively, too. And so, I’m looking forward to putting a plan in place and working with those guys on both ends of the floor. I love their length. I love their versatility. uh and so implementing something or uh my vision is very exciting for me and hopefully it is for everybody else because I think the ceiling is high on both ends for the group from the good to see you. Um I was curious the beginning couple months of the year the Knicks were right there over at the top for possession kind of after January 1st or so they they were around the middle of the back and offensive reading. What what did you see from watching them in the second half versus the first half of the year of kind of stuff that you a little bit more schmatically how you feel like the offense can hit that level where it was when it was it last? I you know, like I said, you know, I I thought Tom Tibet did a great job and the guys did a fantastic job last year, but I’m looking forward. We got, you know, we just added two new additions to the team that are going to bring a a lot of versatility to how we’re going to play. Um, I’m I just can’t wait to get on the court and and start implementing things that we want to do offensively to help us grow and take it to another level. But uh uh you know we still got some time before we do that. How you doing? Um it seemed like over the course of this year there were quite a few culture changes really starting with you went on to Memphis and Denver and finally here that surprised people. The the team had done very well. The guy had a great run there. Took him to places they hadn’t gone in a long time. Um, is it getting harder as a coach to sort of understand what the organization wants or why do you want to keep doing this? Jump right back in and keep going as a coach? I I mean, I’m passionate about coaching. Uh, I I want to win and um, you know, you want to be in a a great place uh, that has like thinking and so I know for me, especially speaking with Mr. Dolan. Uh, speaking with Leon and I have a history with Lyon, knowing who he is as a person, knowing that I’d love to partner with him and then looking at the roster and the reality of it is, uh, Rose said, “We better move to New York cuz I’m a foodie.” So, so when you when you combine all those things, uh, it was a no-brainer for me. You know, the league is the league and uh there’s always going to be es and flows in terms of how the hiring and firing process goes and you just embrace it and you keep moving forward and shar your first year ending the playoff drought. What did you bring from that experience here in your first year? I, you know, I I learned a lot, not just in Sacramento, but throughout my entire career. I’m I’m a firm believer that if you don’t evolve, no matter what profession you’re in, I I’m sure you guys feel it, too. Especially some of some of you guys that have been around for a long time. Okay, I’m not I’m not going to say any names. I’m just pointing out that way. I’m not saying any names. But for some of you guys that’s been around a long time and you feel the Young Bucks, I’m not pointing it or saying it. You feel the Young Bucks clawing at the back of your heels. And so, you know, learning, growing, evolving throughout the course of your time of where you’re at is something that I’m a firm believer in. And and I can’t just pinpoint one thing, but I know I appreciate my time in Sacramento. I appreciate the fans there and I appreciate the opportunity uh that VC gave me to run his team. I want to kind of piggy back in on that idea of evolving. I mean, basketball has obviously evolved from when you first started as a coach to now. Just how are your views on on basketball changed considering how the game is evolving considering your experience? You’re on the bench and holding state, you guys won a bunch of title. How has your view on basketball changed with the game? Oh, it’s it it’s changed in a lot of different ways. I mean, I can I can go far back and my first bench job was with the Washington Bullets. They were still called the Bullets back then. Uh, and we were playing at the Cap Center still in Landover, Maryland. And, uh, you know, we had Chris Weber and Tran Howard and Tracy Murray and all those guys, Tim Leggler, and uh, you know, you learn a lot from not just your experience as a coach with other coaches there, but also from the players. You know, when I was in San Antonio with David and Tim, it was about playing inside out. And now, uh, fast forward to my time with Steve, uh, it’s about pace and space. And that’s where the game is. And like I said, if you can’t evolve, you’re going to get left behind. And so, I feel like I’m trying to do that. And and hopefully, uh, we’ll be able to bring some of that here. Mike Roen from Newsuesday. Pleasure. Um, a question about the the Eastern Conference landscape. Um, some of the high achieving uh teams have suffered crippling injuries uh that could affect them in the coming season. How do you see the Knicks as they stack up in the conference landscape? Well, first of all, you know, you don’t ever want to see anybody um get hurt, you know, especially like um uh the way those guys did. That’s excuse me, that that’s that’s unfortunate, you know, throw basketball out the window. That’s just unfortunate for them as individuals and on top of that for their families and organizations, all that other stuff. But, you know, the there are a lot of good teams out there. Um it it doesn’t matter if those guys are injured or not. At the end of the day, um teams are going to find ways to win. And so we don’t feel like it’s going to be easier any easier just because of the injuries uh going forward. We’re going to have to focus on this thing um one day at a time. uh one practice at a time, one shoot around one shoot around at a time and try to get better each and every day. So when it comes time uh to make our run in the playoffs, we’re ready. Good. And you know, you obviously Sacramento in a short amount of time to places that hadn’t been in a very long time. Yeah. So from this this coast very unclear why they fired you. Did you ever get a clear idea on what happened there? I you know I I don’t even want to get into it cuz that’s that’s behind me. I’m just I’m I’m excited about being here in New York and uh like I said earlier taking her to a couple of restaurants because it probably won’t happen come September or October uh at least for the next six months. But I I I’m again thankful for the opportunity out in Sacramento. Yeah. coaching guys like LeBron, coaching guys like Steph, Kevin, Tim Duncan. What does that experience help you with from job to job? You know, it’s part of my evolution. Uh I I learned a lot from all those guys, from Tim Duncan to LeBron to Steph to KD to Draymond, uh to Foxy. I mean, you you go down the line because they’re all different. Uh that’s what makes uh my my experience, my background uh in my opinion helped me be different or unique just being around those guys. Uh even a guy like Andrea Godala who I I I love to death uh you know just all those guys help me grow in some way, shape or form. And they they all whether they want to admit it or not or whatever they they all have a little bit uh little bit to do of why I’m standing right here. Mike Carol from New York Post. Congratulations. Thank you. Um I’m curious how closely you followed watching these guys last year. Obviously in the moment you didn’t realize you’d be standing, right? You’re just watching assuming you’re watching it as a guy who likes basketball and knows basketball. Interesting. What were your impressions then not realizing just watching him as a basketball person? Well, again, watching them as a fan, which I I did, not just here, but with every team in the league, you know, you you’re excited. Uh I said that they haven’t, you know, we have an outstanding roster. I you know, what they did in the playoffs shows their potential and you know, I’m looking forward to to getting to work with these guys. All right, we’ll do a couple more. James, Mike, what are the first few days of getting a new job like? How soon are you talking to players? How soon are you trying to finalize your step? Can you just take us through that process of the moment you you knew you would come here to to today? I guess yeah, you know, it’s it’s a lot of that you want to reach out to um to all your players. Uh you want to start that line of communication going because at the end at the end of the day, again, I go back to this is what you guys do. It’s it’s about relationships and those relationships are some of the most important relationships that I’m going to have going forward. And uh so so touching base with them, getting that process going. And then, you know, I I want to be collaborative. I want to form that partnership with Leon again. I’m I’m excited to do that with him. And so he and I uh we just started, you know, sitting down and talking about uh different ways to formulate uh a staff. So that’s going to be a process that’s ongoing and uh who knows how long it will take. Uh but those are a couple of things that you really start to dive into as as well as trying to figure out the landscape and all that other stuff when you get a job. Hey Um just your thoughts based on what you saw of Carl Town and Mitchell Dawkins and the idea of those two guys sharing together. Uh you know once once I get my staff together and we dive more into it uh we’ll figure out uh you know all those types of things. I’m I’m excited uh that they’re both on the team obviously because they’re two different players. you know, uh Mitchell is a vertical threat. Cat, as you know, is a space threat, and so to have the versatility that those two guys bring to the table, uh is going to be a lot of fun. Last question. Stops. Is there a Mike Brown way to play or is do you adapt to roster and opportunity? No, that’s a great question. I it you know I I think you you have a philosophy on both ends of the floor but you have to make sure that it fits with your personnel. So uh it’s ever evolving and uh it will be here once our roster is final uh our staff is final. We’ll lay the groundwork or the foundation for what we’re going to do going forward as a unit. Thank you everybody. Thank you guys. I appreciate it.

Mike Brown’s introduction as the 32nd Head Coach of the New York Knicks, his thoughts on the current roster, and his plans of attack heading into the 2025-26 season.

See the full special as well as the Knicks Offseason Special – streaming in full on The Gotham Sports App – gothamsports.tv

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Full Mike Brown Introduction As Head Coach Of The New York Knicks