Knicks Weekly: Coaching Staff Change Up – Potential Starting Unit? – Remaining Free Agent Veterans

Knicks Weekly: Coaching Staff Change Up – Potential Starting Unit? – Remaining Free Agent Veterans

Yo, what up Knicks Nation? Welcome, welcome back. You know, we had to take a little break, man. We were away. We’re out in summer league, you know, out in Vegas doing the damn thing, you know, but we’re back here. We’re here to talk about the New York Knicks and the off season that’s here during the dog days of the NBA offseason. Everybody is on break. Even the captain himself, he’s in King’s Landing, you know, going to practice with the trainer game ready for the next Knicks Twitter day. You see him breathing heavily like he just climbed up, you know, to get up there. But hey, he’s going to get ready. Don’t worry, people. Don’t worry. Nick’s Chick will make sure that he gets home safe and sound. But we’re going to cover the Knicks tonight. That’s what we’re here to do with me on the other side is my guy Dexter Henry. Make sure you hit that thumbs up button for your boy. Subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already done so. Okay, we got some topics for you tonight. So, let’s get into all this stuff. Dexter, how you feeling, man? It’s been a minute. Yeah, man. It’s been a minute. Um, I feel good. It’s hot outside. Humid. Listen, I I tell people all the time I’ll take that over the cold. I don’t do the cold. My Caribbean self does not do the cold at all whatsoever. But, uh, I’m good, man. It’s just, it’s interesting time. You and I were talking about this because, you know, everybody’s, we’re at this point. We’re almost at August. We’re like, ah, training camp’s not here. That’s about, you know, eight weeks away. We’re just we’re just waiting to get back into full basketball mode, man. But I’m good. I’m good. How you doing? You good? I’m doing all right, man. You know, as we were talking about uh offstage, it’s that the dog days of summer, so we’re just trying to, you know, we’re just waiting at this point. And it’s I’ll say this, I enjoy the Knicks being good because when we had to worry about draft coverage, that was really some dog days, man. It took a long time. And now, next thing you know, look, we got August, it’s about to be August 1st this week. September’s right there. Training camp starts up. Before you know it, we get preseason basketball on October. End of September, beginning of October, and then we’re right back into the thick of things. So, look, man. Yeah. Going to enjoy the summer as it is, while it’s quiet. Okay. But quiet is good. Sometimes it is good, man. Look, you know, when it was it was sometimes it was too quiet being a Knicks fan, you know, and sometimes it was too active, too loud. We don’t need or or the fans were too stressed cuz it’s like, you know, this year kind of got to chill with with the draft and even summer league was, you know, you’re like, “All right, maybe I see a little bit from Dier, see a little bit from Kak.” You know, it wasn’t it wasn’t you weren’t stressed out like I needed somebody to really show out. It’d be nice, but it wasn’t that stressful. So, look, the team is mostly set. Now, you’re just praying for good health and uh see what they could do with the new head coach. For sure, man. See what we can do with the new head coach, which is Mike Brown. And hey, let’s get into the first topic of tonight, bro. We’re going to talk about the coaching staff update. And there was quite a bit of updates for the coaching staff. you know, as we all know, uh, if you were there at summer league, if you’re just tapped in, the entire Tom Tibido coaching staff was out there and you’re like, “Okay, so is everyone just returning with Mike Brown? What’s going on here?” But uh shout out to uh Stefan Bondi, colleague of yours over at the New York Post. You know, he said uh with Mike Brown assembling his staff and restructuring the bench, league sources told the post that Andy Greer, Dice, Yoshimoto, Daniel Brady, and Oella Harrington will not be returning to the Knicks next season. Uh even Tibido’s uh son will not be returning as well. And so this is Mike Brown assembling his new coaching staff. you know, he wants to feel comfortable with the guys who he believes can help the Knicks get to the promised land. Uh, so not interesting that at after summer league, you’re now seeing the exodus of some of the, you know, Tom Tibido coaching staff like mainstays. And then uh according to Steve Pauper of News Day, hold overs expected to be back on Mike Brown staff, Rick Brunson, Darren Man, Mark Bryant, and Mo Cheeks, and Jordan Brink. So those guys will be returning. So we know that some of the Tibido coaching staff will be returning. Some of them will be gone. And then to add on to that, we have uh uh we have M uh Michael Scott of Hoops Hype reporting that the New York Knicks are expected to add Charles Allen to their coaching staff. Uh league sources told Hoops Hype Knicks head coach Mike Brown and Allen worked together previously on the Sacramento Kings. Brown is also expected to add Ricardo Foyers whom he worked with in Sacramento as well. So there’s two new names right there that will be added to the coaching staff. as we mentioned, the guys who are leaving, some of the main stays. So, it looks like we have Mike Brown doing his own due diligence to see who he wants to uh, you know, fill out the the bench, man, for the coaching staff and how he’s, like I said, going to take this team to the promised land. What are your thoughts on on all these changes so far? Yeah, I mean, some of these changes, I I expected this. Um, you know, you kind of knew the names that would stay. I think Mark Bryant was one I thought would stay. He obviously being the big man’s coach, he did a lot of work with Towns. If you’ve been around the Knicks early before these games, Towns was always on the floor working with him a lot and has credited him a lot. So, I expected that. Some of the other staff members, you know, Dashimoto, you know, ran the summer league team the last couple of years. I mean, young players talked uh glowingly about working with him, but want to bring in their guys. That’s just that’s just how it goes. They’re going to want to bring in their guys, their voices. I you know I think this a lot of the the couple of guys that have come in um some of them will be on the you know on the the front bench not on the back bench. I think the real question I think a lot of Knicks fans will know is who’s going to be the lead assistant um on on this team? Who’s who’s going to be the lead assistant associate head coach? Uh we know Rick Brunson is as much in this staff as he did. I think that only made sense for Mike Brown. um you couldn’t have somebody I think that was that close Tom Tibido. Not saying you can’t have him on the staff, but also I think that that the optics of him being Jaylen’s dad and all that. I don’t think that plays the same way. I think Mike Brown has to do the right thing. He has to get his guys in here. I’m just really intrigued as to who he brings in associate head coach um or the person that’s really going to lead things on offense to help him with that. I think that’s the the most intriguing thing for me here. Look, I know the Knicks went after the names, Alex, um, James Burggo. They they they tried to get, um, some other names they had interest in, and I know people are like, “Oh man, they struck out again.” Look, some of these guys, it was going to be hard to get. Pablo Pion obviously another one it was going to be hard to get with some of these guys um, under contact and coaches like that generally are not going to make lateral moves. Pidgei wouldn’t have been a lateral move so he’d have up but you know he cited and Ian Begley reported this for SNY that it’s a lot of was family reasons and you know probably didn’t want to uproot his family and stuff at this time which you can understand but I listen I think Mike Brown will get a right guy um I don’t think it matters whether you get the first guy or whatever I think it matters you get the right person and I I think Mike Brown will get the person that fits him and is going through the list and um I would have loved Bargo. I think Burggo’s a good coach. Um I think he would have fit in nicely for the Knicks, but you know, it wasn’t it wasn’t going to happen coming from New Orleans as a lateral move. So, we’ll see. We’ll see what they do. But I think that’s the biggest thing for me. Who do they hire? Um as as their associate head coach or lead head coach that’s going to be lead assistant under Brown. Um but I think he’s going to want somebody with a also shares a lot of his offensive vision um in there and I think think we’ll see that. For me, you know, last thing I’ll say, Alex, is I am most excited about what Mike Brown can do for this offense. I do think it’s his job here is to try to maximize this offense. I think the Knicks have talent on offense, a lot of talent. We saw they were top five offense last year, but never really maximize. I think the other thing I should say is how do they modernize the offense? Because I think a lot of criticisms you saw from fans and people like myself even in the media, offense looked really archaic under Tibs. it needed to modernize and I’m really intrigued to see how Brown does that with the talent that he has on his roster. Absolutely. I’m very curious to see how he does that as well. And I mean that’s it’s like what you see in football, right? Where you go from a defensive-minded head coach to an offensive minded head coach. Like as a Jets fan, I’ve seen that multiple times. Go from, you know, Rex Ryan to, you know, you try you bring in well they went to Todd B. Adam Gase was the is the example. You go from top you go from Todd BS to Adam Gase and you’re like all right guys and then you go back to Salah now it’s it look man I get it but you know what at the end of the day you’re trying to look for the right guy that’s what we’re trying to do we’re trying to look for the right guy and even with you know some people being uneven and look I’m trying to be indifferent to the Mike Brown hire just because look I I know that he has a winning record I know he’s been fired from a lot of places we’ve seen him be coach high you uh superstars I should say in this league and so he has the resume where he is for the job. Now it wasn’t the Knicks he wasn’t the Knicks first choice but you never know just because you weren’t the first choice doesn’t mean you can’t come through and succeed. So that’s a in the middle. I’m not like I’m not over the top for the Mike Brown hire but I’m also not like you know oh he’s the worst hire ever. I’m I’m more of a wait and see at this point and that’s how I’m trying to take the approach with the rounding out of the coaching staff. it. I mean, for the most part, do we really know all these coaches philosophies that’s joined the staff? For the most part, no. We can only know as much as what is reported on them and the little bit that they’ve done on other throughout all their journeys from potentially from college to the pros, all that stuff. So, look, it didn’t work out for the guys that you want to get. Berago, we know uh Darvin Ham, his name was thrown out there, too. Now you talk about Pablo Pione as uh was brought up uh by Ian Begley and I have it right here just so that we can get it out there and everyone knows said uh according to Ian Begley amid interest from the Knicks Minnesota assistant Pablo Pion decided to stay with the Timberwolves citing family reasons league sources told SNY one coach squarely on near Nick Knicks radar for assistant job under Mike Brown. Uh Clippers assistant coach Brendan Okconor. League sources told SNY Okconor has strong defensive acumen, has worked for uh the Clippers under Tyoo and Doc Rivers. Knicks had previously targeted uh James Burggo as you mentioned. Dallas’s uh Jay Triano uh Pion and others for assistant position under Brown. They will presumably continue to look for an assistant to help on offense even if they add Okconor to help guide the defense. And look, I know we’re talking about offense and trying to modernize it. The defense also has to be good, too, because prior to uh Mitchell Robinson getting back. We know the defense was middling wasn’t great. But then with Mitchell Robinson’s return during the postseason, we did see it start to tick up and saw the impact that Mitchell Robinson has as being that last line of defense. So, I’m not, you know, upset with the idea of uh going after O’Connor. I know there’s some conversation out there saying why are we going for a defensive guy, but it’s only to add to the staff while they’re still looking for someone offensively, too. Yeah. Then it’s not even like that report says that they’re the that Okconor would be like the lead assistant. I you know, he I think you you’re going to see uh somebody from under Brown is going to be like the defensive coordinator and he’ll probably go get an offensive guy as well too. Maybe one of them will be the lead assistant or associate head coach. But I think having both what I’m a fan of when you’re building out your staff is I think a lot of coaches I know this they want comfortability with guys that they know and they trust to especially when you’re getting to the lower end of the bench I should say in terms of player development and that kind of stuff. That’s what they want. The other thing is you know do can you get guys that come from good systems? Okconor’s coached under Doc Rivers and Tailoo. Uh, Tailoo I think many people will consider a top coach in this league. He is a fantastic coach. He’s done a great job. So, I would absolutely I absolutely like guys that come from good systems. It’s part of the reason I will say I’m kind of with you, Alex. I wasn’t like over the moon about Mike Brown. I like the hire. I do think he’s because I think he’s a balanced coach. He came in as a defensive coach. He learned a lot in Golden State offensively. You saw what he did to maximize the Kings offense. They that team does not have even the defensive talent. I would say the Knicks have, even though the Knicks have some defenders that are not necessarily the strongest, I think he’s working with more defense here. He’s a balanced coached. He’s coached top defenses. He’s coached the top offense. I think he’s got good versatility that can help this Knicks roster. Was I over the moon about the hiring? No. But I think it’s a good one. I don’t think it’s bad. And I think anybody who tells you they know where they’re going to bet, they don’t know that. Like you there’s no lock or guarantee with coaches, right? Like this isn’t you’re getting Kerr or Pop or you know a pops out pop’s done now. You’re against PRAA. There’s no guarantees with this stuff. A lot of it is fit and what can they get for the roster and we’ll see. And you know if you were if you think there was a better coach you could have got out there, you could say say that but you don’t know that. Um, I think a lot of people spoken as though they know I think it’s a fine hire. I don’t think you were going to get any hire that was really sexy or was going to really excite the fan base. Maybe if you went with Johnny Bryant, maybe if you went that route, but I also understand with the expectations for this team and where they are next season, why the Knicks were not going to go that route with a young head coach, uh, rookie head coach in his first year with the expectation for this team in New York. Well, you have to be the mouthpiece because Leon Rose and company, they don’t talk to the media. that I don’t you know are you going to put Johnny Bryan out there? And I I listen I like the possibility of Johnny Bryant. I like going with a with a young and new voice, but I also understand the reasons why that didn’t happen. Um look, I think Mike Brown is suited for is suited to coach the Knicks. Um I don’t know how it’s going to play out. Here’s the thing. It I’ve been saying this on my show over and over again. it. You could you can’t get crazy about the regular season. M the how we judge Mike Brown fairly is going to be what happens in the postseason. That’s what it’s going to come down to. Does he get the job done? Does he get this team over the hump? Does he get him to the finals? Is there a lot of pressure on him? Yeah, absolutely. But we’ll see. We’ll see what There’s a lot of pressure on the team. It’s not just Mike Brown. But the Knicks have damn the Knicks have a damn good team. they can absolutely get to the finals. And if you’re a Knicks fan, you want to say, “Hey, there’s nobody in the East that I fear right now.” I feel you. You should feel that way. Hey, after all the injuries that we saw unfold this postseason run to the Pacers, you don’t have Hallebertton for the Celtics. You saw they just dismantled their team. They traded Drew Holiday, Christos Porzingis. You have Tatum for essentially the entire season, so he’s going to miss time. Um, and then you start looking down who it’s going to be the Cavs. Yeah, the Magic made some moves. They’re an intriguing team. I don’t expect them to make such a massive leap that they will be in the top four of the East. And then what the Atlanta Hawks, they’re intriguing as well, but you’re talking about relying on KP’s health as well as Jaylen Johnson coming back healthy. There’s a lot of whatifs. And so I think Knicks fans have every right to be confident entering this season, considering, look, your team ended last year being healthy. They’re going to be one of the healthiest teams entering the season while getting some rest. You’re not doing any Olympic runs or anything like that. So guys get to strictly relax, do some training during the offseason, get to, you know, just relax their bodies. Not a lot, nothing taxing out there, right? And I’m looking forward to what they can do once the season starts. So I think they’re in a really good position and that’s why I believe Knicks fans should have every right to be, you know, a little bit bold and brash right now while going into this year saying, “Hey, you know what? If it’s us and Cleveland, that’s probably the last two it should be based on how everything unfolded. we were not too far away from making the NBA finals. We’re talking about two wins away, right? So, I think there’s a lot to be confident in. And to your point, that’s why there’s a lot of pressure for Mike Brown. And look, I don’t like I I would have I would have been cool with a young hire like a Johnny Bryant uh you know, um I can’t remember the name right now, but uh uh Nory from uh the Timberwolves. I’ been with that. Yep. I I wouldn’t fight with the young hire because I think at the end of the day, anyone who takes this job is going to have a lot of pressure. Um whether you’re a season coach, whether you’re a new coach, the expectation is can you get them back next year? If you don’t, what’s the reason for why you didn’t get back to the Eastern Conference next year? But you’re going to be looked at to get to the NBA Finals regardless. And I think why they went with the season head coach is because they want someone who has that experience who can who won’t buckle under pressure, which you may get that from a young head coach. Maybe. You never know, right? There’s a lot of unknowns. So, we’ll see, man. But I’m looking forward just to get back to it because I know this is about the assistant coaches and like who they’re looking for. Like what do you like offensively things got to change like I want to see that happen that goes to the lineups, right? Talk about the lineups. We’re going to talk about that in a second. But offensively, this team has to be better than last year. Um, they started out hot, but they got cold, man. And so, if you’re looking for the assistant head coach and you’re going through this process, what’s the one thing you’d have to say if you’re making that hire? What’s the one thing you want to see? I know Mike Brown talks about playing fast and we saw we did out at Sacramento, but is there anything in particular that you’re looking for that you would say you want to look for in that next associate head coach? Yeah, I mean I think for the next associate head coach, a guy that’s going to come in in terms of the offense, what I want to see and what I would like to see Mike Brown implement particularly a lot of what he did that was good in Sacramento to me was a lot of what he was able to do with the actions with De’ar Fox and Damont Sabon Sabonis. Now I think Jaylen Brunson and Carly Towns are much better offensive players than those guys, but I love the actions that he put him in. a lot of dribble handoff action, a lot of, you know, one five pick and roll, a lot of letting Sabonis operate out the high post. Now, Sabonis is a brilliant passer. Cat, I think, is a better passer out the high post and some people give him credit for. I think he’s an underrated passer, but can you utilize that a little bit more? And then the other thing for me is cuz I’m we’re talking about a situation with some of the dribble handoffs and some of the five pick and roll situations. That’s where Jaylen Brunson’s probably gonna have the ball a lot in his hands. But I want to see some offball action for Jaylen Brunson. I want to see some minutes where Muel Bridges is, you know, whether it’s leading the second unit, whether you’re running some of the offense through him, getting Jaylen Brunson involved in some movement off the ball. So, the offense just isn’t as predictable. Everybody here, I know the fans in the chat, you, Alex, you’ve watched the Knicks offense was very, very predictable over the last couple of years. In fact, late in games, you knew exactly what was coming. You and I could have said what was coming, right? And I I I think it’s got to be more diverse. I think there’s got to be more offball action. I think we got to see a lot of more, you know, your pin down action. I think you’re going to see some of that. So, I want somebody that’s got a sharp offensive mind that is going to be creative, that’s going to put guys in the right position to succeed. And look, the part of that is like all that stuff sounds cool. What you got to do is you got to get guys willing to buy into that because it is a change and some guys whether it’s Jaylen Brunson whether it’s whoever you want to say on the team that’s been here for a little bit Josh Hart some guys have been playing a certain way for a long time so now you’re going to change some of that but I think once those guys buy into and winning and gets easier shots and touches and this things this can open up stuff for other guys whether it’s like Deuce McBride whether it is for OG anobi I think things can open up for them is there just more fluidity more creativity. But those are the things I really want to see. Some dribble handoff action, especially in the one and five. I feel like we didn’t get enough of that. Enough five action with Brunson and Cat. You know, the numbers when you looked at their pick and roll numbers, uh it was fantastic. I’m forgetting it off top of my head. I had a glass of which I pulled it up, but they their numbers were fantastic in the pick and roll, but it wasn’t used that often. It wasn’t something that Tom Tibido used a lot. We didn’t see a lot of five action. So, I think we’ll see a lot more of that. I think if you guys, you know, talking to the fans, if you look back at some stuff with Demanis Sabotus, with De’Aran Fox, again, I do not think those players are as good offensively as Cat and Brunson, but they did great things out in Sacramento. You wonder, wow, there could be a world of possibility of what we could see here with some of that five action with Cat and Brunson. So, I’m looking for, you got to maximize that, especially because we know both of those guys are the weak links on defense in terms of the starting lineup. you got to maximize them offensively. And if you can get a good rate, whether it’s over one point per possession when you’re using those pick and rolls with them, that’s going to bode well for the Knicks, man. So, that’s that’s really what I want to see is just fluidity for other guys off the ball. Let other guys get involved. Take some stress off of Jaylen Brunson. He can’t be worn down, you know, by the end of the game or the end of the season. I think that’s thing that’s the biggest thing. We talk a lot about a little bit about minutes and I know that’s been a huge hot button topic throughout the Knicks and we talked about the minutes police, but I think about how players are playing those minutes, how stressful they are, are they, you know, are they just standing around? Are they frustrated? Is it just way too much iso ball? I think in today’s game, you have to have more fluidity. You got to have more motion. You got to get other people involved. And you got to keep the defenses guessing as to what’s happening. You can’t be as predictable. So that’s what I want to see. Sorry that was a lot. That was a long answer, but that’s what I’d like to see out of the offense. Took the words right out of my mouth, Dexter. So I I agree with you on everything that you said. And well, I mean, we can even see what’s funny is that we we saw a lot of that at the beginning of the season with the Knicks, right? And then it just after the turn of after the turn of the calendar, literally the turn of the calendar year, like January 1st to the end of the regular season, Knicks offense just fell off a cliff. And for people to know where the Knicks offense was beginning of last season from October 22nd from when the season started to December 31st. So that was October 22nd, 2024 to December 31st, 2024. Knicks were second in the league with an offensive rating just behind the Cavs. Uh Cavs had 121.3. Knicks had 120.1. for the new year to finish off the NBA regular season from January 1st 2025 till April 2025. The Knicks dropped from being second averaging 120.1 offensive rating to being 16th averaging 115.4. Now yes, one can point out that for about a month to six weeks you didn’t have Jaylen Brunson, right? But regardless, you still had enough offensive firepower on this team with Macau Bridges, Carl Anthony Towns that you should have been able to, you know, hold your own and still put up enough points even without Jaylen Brunson, right? That’s the whole point why you go get Bridges. And even what you saw during the beginning of the season, you say, “Hey, OG can, you know, explode for 40 points. Josh Hart’s 20 points feel like 40 point games.” Like this team is more than capable of doing that. How come that couldn’t be sustained even after losing Jaylen Brunson? So, this is where I’m asking for the same thing that you were talking about, Dexter. I wanted to see a little bit more creativity, keep everybody involved. And I think the biggest thing for me is how do you get Cat to shoot more threes this year? That was a that’s a that was a massive drop off from averaging eight three-point attempts to four under Tibs. You didn’t really utilize the stretch big that you went out and got to open up the four for everybody. It seemed like it was a constant battle even in the postseason. Just watching all those games going up against the Indian paces. I know like it’s like yo, we just made the Eastern Conference Finals. Why do we care about this? Like because it wasn’t easy, man. It was not easy. When you watch those playoffs, you’re like, why are we putting why are we in these these games where it’s like one two points and like we had to come back from being down to go win them. Like that’s not how you win championships, man. But great hell hell of a storyline to say this team was able to overcome such deficits, but at some point you get exhausted when you have to play from behind. And then the other thing for me, man, is just get Bridges involved. Like I just felt like Bridges was like an afterthought in so many ways under Tom Tibido, which you can’t invest this much into a guy and then have such an up and down where the guy can average 40 on Christmas Day and then next thing you know, he if we if he gets seven points, it’s like, wow, how do you even get seven points? How many shots did he take? And you see it’s like three attempts. It’s like, why is he only taking three attempts? Why why are we letting Jaylen Brunson have to do all all the work? can put up like 30 30 attempts just to help us win a game, right? So, that’s the stuff that um I want to see. That’s the stuff I definitely want to see. I love I love that you mentioned the CAD threes, man. I love because I thought that’s something that needs to increase. Um I would say I think that was a huge part of the decline of the offense. I think also Josh Hart’s unwillingness to shoot um didn’t help the offense a lot too. Um he’s got to be better. Muel Bridges. One thing I will say, I’ve been saying this. I think I feel very good about Mikuel Bridges having a good season this year offensively. I feel really good about that. Now, look, he shot the ball efficiently still in mid-range. I think he needs to be more aggressive at times on offense. His defense came along as the season got went further, and we saw it in the playoffs. He was good defensively. I think Mike Brown’s going to utilize him differently, a lot better. He’s not just going to be standing in corners. Um, I think he’ll be a lot better, but I do agree with the two points you made. I think those things are key to unlocking the offense. Cats got to shoot more threes. You got stretch big. You got to put more pressure on the defense. Um, especially against good defensive teams. Um, he has to be a weapon. And yeah, Mikuel Bridges has to be more fluid in offense, better utilized, and I think he’s got the skill set to do it. I think Mike Brown can get a lot out of him. I I’m actually very confident Muel Brid going to have a good season. I don’t know why per se, but I think he’s going to thrive under Mike Brown. There we go. Dex is saying give the most improved award this this year Bridges. That’s early. Yeah, let’s go. Do it. Let’s do it. But hey, but hey, you know, season’s got to come around first. You know, we’ll see what happens. But it’s all going to start with what does the lineup look like? And we’re about to get into that. But salute to Nick Nation. Thank you all for tuning for another Knicks Weekly with me on this is my guy Dexter Henry. You can go catch him over at Got New YorkGame. All right. through the New York Post does phenomenal work over there. I know you people know him, but make sure to give him a follow. Make sure to subscribe to his channels. Make sure to support him and everything that he does. And shout out to everybody for tuning in today, catching this show live. All right, I see we got some of the regulars in here. We got KG7. We got William J. Bowman in here. Shout out to you for being a franchise channel member. Who else we got? We got Mr. Catch22. Shout out to you for being a franchise channel member. Oh, there’s my guy TM, the chief modern operation. Always around. You know, he’s always doing a damn thing. We got Jack City in here. Shout out to you for being a franchise channel number two. We got John Tento Junior Koma. These guys are always here. Never miss a Never miss a show. Shout out to all you guys. We got Eric O. Beats the resident DJ for KV. Shout out to you, man. Shout out to you, too, my man. Thank you for all being here. And hey, today’s show is SP is brought to you by Wayfair people. Look, we still got summer left. 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That’s wayfair, wy fir.com. Wayfair, every style, every home. All right. Make sure to go support our sponsor, Wayfair. Okay, let’s get back into it. And hey, for everyone out there, make sure to call in through the Discord today because we do want to hear some of your takes on what you think about the coaching lineup changes. Yuri, I see you on the line, man. We got you. We’re going to go through another segment before we take your call. But if you do want to talk to Dexter and me, make sure to come through through the Discord. TM, if you could be oh so humble and grateful and drop the link in the chat so that people can get through, that’d be much appreciated. Um, all right, Dexter, let’s talk about uh let’s talk about these lineups, man. You know, uh Oh, man. Our guy Christian Winfield, Ian Begley, you know, talking about uh lineup changes. All right, Christian Winfield wrote a a wonderful article through the Daily News talking about lineup changes and uh you know cited Ian Begley and so let me pull up the quote and make sure we uh we get it right. Uh so he says that there’s already internal support to keep the same starters uh according to one SNY’s Ian Begley and the whole article is talking about the ex the looming extension for Muel Bridges and Mitchell Robinson and the lineup that they’re talking about is the one that we saw in the postseason with the double big Carl Anthony Towns Mitchell Robinson Ojanobi Macau Bridges and Jaylen Brunson that is the lineup that we’re talking about that’s a good amount of internal support. All right, Dexter, what do you think about that? Do are you looking forward to that? Do you want to see that lineup or would you like to see uh the same starting lineup that we had at the beginning of season last year with instead of Mitchell Robinson is Josh Hart? I would like to see Josh Hart go to the bench. I think he’ll be better with the second unit uh playing with Clarkson. I think the question it comes down to is do you want to play with Mitch? Do you want to play McBride? I I’ve been I’ve been really on the fence about this, Alex. I’ve thought about it a lot. Part of me wants to see more of the lineup with McBride because the data was so good. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz the data was so good. But my concern with that, to be very clear and transparent, is you’re a little bit too small in the back court. We know McBride is a tremendous defender, but you’re giving up a lot of size in the back court. You go with Mitch. You saw how that helped the team in the playoffs. You saw this lineup work pretty well. I think the reason I’m more comfortable going with Mitch is because of the additions they made in Yaboselli and Clarkson. We know the bench is not as weak as it was last year. The bench, they had no bench last year and you saw it in the playoffs. Some games they were in single digits bench scoring. It was not positive. No, it was ugly. So because of that, I’m more inclined to start Mitch. I think the other thing about starting Mitch that I will say to that is that tells me if there there’s internal support for that, that also tells me that they trust Hawkport to get those back play some backup minutes and they think that he’s ready to do so. And I think that’s huge for them if he is ready to do so. Um I like Hawkport. Um I think I think there’s a lot of value in that. But I also this is especially if Hawkporty plays well and Mitch is extension eligible. Are you maybe thinking about moving on from Mitch? Do you want to extend him? There’s a lot to think about with that. I’m fine with the double big lineup because I think what the Knicks have to do this year and I I’ve I’ve seen some people in the chat talking about it. I see you’ve talked about it. They got to be better defensively. We can talk all we want about maximizing the offense and they need to maximize the offense. I want to be clear, but what it’s going to come down to in the playoffs, and you know this, Alex, the Knicks two best offensive players in terms of the starting lineup are their worst defensive players. And the numbers with Cat and Brunson on the floor at the same time are not good. Right. So, one of the big challenges for Mike Brown is how does he hide that? Mitchell Robinson does atone for a lot of those mistakes that you have there. can’t cover everything, but Cat against some of the fours he might go up against in the East should be able to hold his own, right? Should be able to for the most part. We’re talking about the teams he’s going up against should be able to hold his own. Jaylen Brunson with a better backline defender and Mitchell Robinson that does help him. So, it’s Mitchell Robinson being in starting lineup helps cover those guys a little bit. can’t do it all, but it does help them from being worse defensively. Now, the thing is, when you do that, what are you losing offensively? Well, you’re not able to play true five out. Now, you never really did that cuz Josh Hart did not have the willingness to shoot. But with Cat there, it gives him a little bit better spacing. Um, the reason I don’t the reason I don’t love it if Josh Hart’s in the lineup is cuz I do not love having two I’m going to call Josh Hart a non-shooter because of his hesitancy to shoot. I will say he’s not not willing to shoot to like a Ben Simmons, right? But his hesitancy to shoot. So, I don’t like I don’t generally like that with Mitch out there. That’s not something I love offensively. Now, defensively, I do think you’re a little bit better, but I do think the Knicks are going to try to be a much better offensive team. So, but here’s the thing. I think we all do this. I’m guilty of this. We get way too caught up in who starts. What really matters is who’s going to finish the games. That’s what really matters. Like, Mits could start, but it’s like, what’s your closing lineup going to be in a tight game? That’s what I really want to know. And I do think that Mike Brown is the kind of coach that would tinker with and probably play some lineups where you have McBride playing down the stretch with some of the starters. We saw some great games last season. I think the Miami comeback was one of them that I that I that I think about down in South Beach that they had where where Duce played some really pivotal minutes down the down the stretch of that game. I I think you can see that and I just it’s for me it’s about forget who starts it’s about who closes and how much lineup versatility are you willing to show and go with not necessarily like okay this is the lineup I’m sticking to it just how versatile you going to be with it. So that’s the thing for me I’m look if myth starts I’m fine I’m I’m not terribly opposed to that. So shout out to our producer Daniel for putting up this uh this multiple choice questionnaire on the big screen on the jumbotron from Nick Muse. Shout out to Nicks Muse. Uh, and it says, “Which lineup would the Knicks start with? Which lineup should the Knicks start with? A is Brunson, Bridges, Hart, OG, Cat, the original lineup that we saw. Uh B, which is uh Brunson, Bridges, OG, Cat, Mitch, the lineup that has uh support, internal support. And then the last one, C, which is the one that you’re talking about that you’re intrigued of. Uh Brunson, Deuce, Bridges, OG, Cat, and I see in the chat right now, we are getting uh some love for C. So, some people are intrigued by seeing Deuce McBride out there in the starting rotation. Now, I get it. McBride, I know he had a little up and down of a regular season here being in and out due to injury, but his three-point shooting uh did come has come around in a massive way for this team. And we’ve seen that in the postseason, especially last year when we played against the Sixers and in some spot moments against the Pacers. For me, I is it a copout to say that I just want like I I’m actually kind of indifferent to how they they start the season, man. I think for me the way I look I think for me the way that it I look at this thing is that find the best thing that makes it work. All right. To what you want to do. What’s the And I think it al for me starts what’s the identity of the team. Like I like I’m cool with Mitch because under Tibs it’s a defensive identity that he likes to bolster and we didn’t like I trying to go offensive under him that’s not really his thing. I know in the past even at his stop as a head coach with the Bulls like he’s implemented parts of the triangle offense. He’s had some success implementing that and having some good offens good offensive runs, especially with uh Joe Cumno who could run a good high post and knows how to pass. He had Derrick Rose on that team, Jimmy Butler, too. Like, he had a lot of guys who could score and just knew how to work the ball around. Not saying he didn’t have it on this team, but I don’t think with the way that the game has evolved to today’s game that he was well equipped to actually adapt to today’s game, which is why we saw, as you point out, a lot of the stagnant offense that we saw. But to me, what Mike Brown should go with is whatever his philosophy is. If you’re telling me that you want to see the, you know, high octane offense, right? And that’s with either Josh Hart cutting being in that starting rotation, Duce Bry putting a lot a lot of threes or saying, “Hey, we’re going to work some pick and rolls to get Mitchell Robinson some lobs and really work him as a lob threat.” Whatever you think you can get the the m however you believe you can maximize the offense of this team and create that identity that you believe can take you to the promised land go with that. That’s how I feel about it. And some may say, Alex, that’s a copout answer. But I think at the end of the day, like Tibs went with that starting rotation one because he didn’t have Mitchell Robinson and we know he talked about Mitch was the true starting center, but he’s been a defensive coach and so like it didn’t match the that’s why the team like it was for the most part, I don’t know if you felt it. I’ve certainly felt it being up here. It’s like it was a lot of hate watching of this team. It’s like all right man, we all know how this thing’s going to end even though we all didn’t know how it was going to end. we went to the ECF. If you asked anyone, hey, could we make it to the ECF with this roster after how the regular season started to unfold? Every like, man, we had people talking about losing to the Detroit Pistons in round one, getting waxed by the Celtics in the second round after we beat the Pistons. So, no one knew how it was going to go, man. But to me, it’s like how how do you what’s the identity of this team that will and what are you trying to maximize? So, if you’re trying to run like a very fast offense that um that Mike Brown’s talking about, I that might not be Mitchell Robinson in the starting five. That might be more of a Deuce McBride thing. That could even be more of a Josh Hart thing, right? And so for me, I’m like go with whatever you think is best to maximize what you want to do with this team. Yeah. I don’t think that’s a copout answer. I think it’s I think it’s a fine answer because we don’t know what the identity of this team is. And part of that is it’s going to take some time. We’re going to watch this through the first 15 to 20 games. What’s the identity of this team? How do they come out? How do they respond to certain challenges? What happens when they get punched in the mouth? All that kind of stuff. You’re going to tell where the thing I’m I feel good about with this team, and I said this a lot of times on my show last year, is I thought this year’s Knicks team, obviously, I didn’t know they were going to fire the coach and all this other stuff. I thought this season would the Knicks team would be better than they were last season. So, I thought it was going to take some time for them to go through some stuff last year and get more of that chemistry together. I think they’re going to have the chemistry, but now it’s they’re changing the system. So, it’s still going to be an adjustment period for that. But, I think because these guys have been around each other a little bit more, they’ve played together. Second year for Cat, second year for Bridges, I think they’re I think they’re going to be okay as long as they buy into whatever the system is that Mike Brown uh is selling here. But you’re right. You’re 100% right. We don’t know and we’ll see once we see this identity as team. But Mike Brown should I think it’s any coach. You look at your team and you have to adjust. You look at this team and say, “Hey, how do I It’s not just my philosophy, but how do I get the most out of this team?” That’s your job as a coach to me. Even as the roster changes, you come into a new roster, all that stuff, you got to say, “Okay, how do I get the most out of this team?” And listen, if it’s Mitchell Robinson, cool. If it’s Deuce McBride, cool. I tend to lean C and I saw a lot of support with C in the chat. I think some people are looking at some of the numbers. I saw the on onoff numbers with Duce McBride in the starting lineup. It was good. I will caution and say it was a small sample. Now you could sit here and say Tib should have used it a little more. So you could have had more of a sample size to decide off of that and I think that’s absolutely fair. But like here’s my thing to for me with Mike Brown. Like I said, lineup versatility, Alex. That’s what I want to see. Lineup versatility and maximization. If it this maximizes this, if you think it’s good to start with this, but it’s better to close with this depending on the matchup, that’s cool. I just want to see adjustments made when the time calls for it and use the data you have in front of you. Um, which all these coaches look at to make informed decisions about your lineups. Yeah. And I think even too with, you know, as you brought up, it’s five out spacing defense and it’s each team is different. Each game is going to be different. And look, I think the one thing I agree with Tibs and how he ran the team last year is that you want to make sure guys know when they get into games, they get into like a rhythm. I do agree with that. And so I think who you start with should be somewhat set unless you know you go through 20 games, you’re like, “Hey, this is not working.” And then you want to change it up. I agree with that. But I think for the most part, like the game’s going to tell you, like quote tips, the game tells you what to do. Tells the coach what to do, too, man. with like lineup changes, right? And so if you’re playing a team that’s very that you can’t like let’s say the Knicks are having an off shooting night. All right, maybe tonight’s the night to play more of a defensive lineup and play with more of a defensive edge, right? I think the versatility and like styles also is very important for this team, too. Um, but I think that’s the other flexibility that I’m looking for for this team. So, we could talk about who starts, who closes, but at the end of the day, is the coach, does the coach know how to maximize all the talent at the right time and just read how the games unfolds, too. And so, that’s the trickiest part. I feel like it it comes down to coaching. Um, and that’s where, you know, if we’re going to keep it real, and I’m going to throw a curveball for for this one. I we didn’t have it on the docket, but are you worried about the offense a little bit? Because look, you got Brunson, you got Cat, you know, he need they those guys need to score. Uh you got OG who he left Toronto because he wanted a larger offensive role, right? And he’s shown some, you know, growth being an offensive player. Bridges, we’re asking for more out of Bridges. Jordan Clarkson is going to ask for the Rock, man. Like that that’s that’s his game, right? Is there enough to go around? I mean, and Duce McBride just is there enough to go around for this team? If we thinking offensively, I think there is. If you’re playing what we talked about like a pretty diverse offense and look, Jordan Clarkson, I think we’ve seen him on some bad teams in Utah. And the man likes to shoot. There’s no doubt about that, right? There’s no doubt about that. The man likes to shoot, but he is a highly efficient halfcourt scorer. I think he doesn’t get enough credit for that. He’s in one of the high I think it’s like 96 percentile in terms of half court scoring efficiency. The thing about him is this ain’t Utah for a variety of reasons and he’s going to have to adjust his game. He’s going to have to adjust his game. Alex, I’m actually not worried about him because I think in the structure of this team and what he’s going to be asked to do in the second unit, I don’t think he’s going to be jacking like crazy. Um I I really don’t. I think he’s going to understand that he has to play in the in the flow of the game, the structure. Now, we’re going to ask him to score. You needed somebody off the bench who you could put the ball in his hands um and go get some buckets. And I think even some situations you could play him alongside Brunson and that could be that can be be good. And I’m intrigued to see how some of that looks. But yeah, I’m not I’m actually the offense is not my worry on this team. It’s the defense I’m more concerned about with the Knicks. I’m not really worried about the offense because I think the offense is going I’m hoping so, but I also think the offense is going to look very different than the offense that we have watched the last 5 years. I really do. I think it’s going to be more dynamic. I think there’s going to be more opportunities for people to eat. And I think that’s going to be better. That’s why I’m not worried if there’s enough to go around. Um I think you can see some players, this could even apply to Brunson. I see you think you could see some players their numbers drop a little bit in terms of like points but be way more efficient and that’s what I would be looking for. I think people focus way too much on points sometimes. Efficiency efficiency efficiency. I want to see our guys efficient is Duce McBride put in a good situation to be efficient and shoot the ball well off the bench. Same for Jordan Clarkson. Gershan Yaboselli who’s fantastic with above the break threes. The Knicks identified some needs they have on offense, particularly off the bench, and I do think they have upgraded in terms of their coach on offense. So, now it just comes down to execution. I’m really not worried about they’re being enough to go around. I’m more worried about when Cat and Brunson are on the floor together, can they get stops? That’s that’s more my worry with this team. That is going to be a big question entering the season. and Mike Brown who you know likes to focus on defense. Can he get the most out of this team defensively and not be a turn style especially when you got Brunson and Cat sharing the floor? We’ll see. We’ll learn a lot man when October comes around. Salute to Nick Station. Thank you all for tuning for another Knicks Weekly with me on this side my guy Dexter Henry. Make sure you hit that thumbs up button for your boy. Subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already done so. All right. Salute to Nick Nation for being in the chat. Shout shout out to all of our franchise channel members. All right, Dexter, let’s get to a call. We got a call on the line. We got Yuri with us. Yuri, what’s going on, man? See you here. Please unmute your mic. What’s happening? Yo, what’s up? Nice to see everyone again. Nice. Nice to hear your voice, man. Nice to hear Nice to hear from you, Yuri. How you feeling today, man? What What are you thinking? Good, good, good. Long day. Long day. Good. Good. Uh, how I feel about the team so far, I’m not really worried about the assisting coaching. I trust in Leon Rose and the Knicks fun office to get the coaching staff that they need before training camp and I’m have faith in Mike Brown into unlocking JB and Cat defensively. I place my faith in Mike Brown just like I placed my faith in Tibs. Even though we got to give like we gave Tibs five years, you know, we got to give Mike Brown the same respect even if it’s finals and bust. And I fully emphasize the finals and bust. Matter of fact, I’ve embraced the finals and bust. I do think we have to get to the finals this year. And I hate saying that. I hate saying that, but if you look at how the East is no Halle Burden, no Tatum, the East is weak, but not too weak. You have the opportunity to get to the finals. This is a finals contender. And guys, let’s admit, we’re a second apron team. We’re nearing that second apron. Yeah. If the Knicks don’t make the finals this year, this team will get blown up. I feel like so there’s a lot riding on this season. A lot unless Mikuel Bridges takes a friendly pay cut, you know, that we also got that worry about that as well. You know, talks of the Giannis trade, you know, we don’t know what’s really happening with Giannis. I think it’s bull crap to tell you the truth. I don’t think we’re getting Giannis on his team. I’ve said that. I think that’s a far stretch as well. I’ve said we were going to get Cat on this team, but I got surprised with us being traded with that trade because the Knicks fun office likes to keep stuff quiet. Overall, I’ve watched Mike Brown over the years in his stunt with Cleveland. We do have a lot of big players on his team, but I did point out the one thing that Yaboo Sully said on a roommates podcast. There’s no egos on this team. So, it might work out in favor of Mike Brown, right? I’ve noticed Mike Brown usually likes to run zone as well. So, I think that would solve the Cat and JB dynamic. If anything, I would like to see some five out this year. Okay, there you go. There you have it, Yuri. Appreciate you for calling in, man. Appreciate the call and uh thank you for always tapping in, my man. Oh, of course. Of course. Thanks. Thanks, Yuri. Sorry. I got a little distracted. Uh Mark Vento hit a home run for the Mets. Big grand slam. So like that. Sorry, man. It’s it’s it’s that season trade season. Got my some Mets, too. So, you know, I’m a Yankee fan, man. So, uh struggling over here, man. Struggling. Yeah. I’m not I’m I’m going to leave you I’m going to leave you alone on that. That’s all I talk about, man. I won’t even text you or CP about that. We won’t talk about No, you can leave me alone, man. And let me tell you, it was about to go all south after g day day two of of practice with the New York Jets when you know uh you get you see a timeline where you have Justin Fields says he’s going down goes down with a contact injury and then next thing you know you see carded off in in the retweet and I’m like two days in can’t faster than Aaron Rogers. You you had you have to you had to have felt and I had a couple of Jets fans friends text me you had to know like you had to be like man this some Jets stuff right here like this is the most Jets thing you every Jet fan I knew thought it was going to end badly. I mean look luckily Justin Fields is looking looking okay. Uh but yeah man I I think your Yankees will be fine. I really do. It’s it’s it’s it’s it’s part for the course, right? They go through they go through a swamp. They come back during the end. They they do whatever they do and then God knows what you get. God God knows what you get in in September and October from these guys. So, who knows, man. It’s always a wild ride being a Yankee fan at this point uh throughout the year, man. And uh TM is saying we should have ended the show after Dex got came through with the Mets Mets talk. All right. Oh, man. Damn. Damn. Tough tough crowd there, man. Tough crowd. You got too many Yankee fans in the chat. Okay. Hey, man. Well, you got some you got some Mets fans in here. Okay. KG74 is with you on on that site. He is a Mets fan. All right. He He’s thrilled as well. All right, KG. All right, so we’ll see. We deserve some happiness, too. We deserve some. But shout out to Yuri and his call. Rate that call in the chat, man. One being trash, five being facts. How do you feel? He he talked a lot, man. There was a lot that he he dropped in there. Especially said that the Knicks got to get to the NBA finals this year. That’s scorching hot take saying they got to do it this year or it’s bust because to his point they are getting close to that second apron if if they extend both he and Mitchell Robinson are just one look they’re going to be a second apron team right and before you invest all that money you want to make sure that you can actually sustain sustain some success by making a run for a chip so is he far off Dexter I’m going to ask you and the and the good people in the chat is Yuri far off saying that it is finals or bust this season. So, my thing with that is, and it’s crazy cuz I I think it was after the Mike Brown press conference, I was talking with my colleague Stephan Bondi about this and I said, you know, we were talking, we was like, well, what does finals are bust mean and what’s the consequences if the Knicks don’t make the finals, right? Like, like what happens? Are we is Mike Brown done? Is he are we firing Mike Brown? Like, are they blowing up the team? I think the latter is more likely because like you just said, Yuri made a good point though with them being right at the second apron. There’s some tough decisions they have to make and it might be some tough decisions they have to make very soon. Do you extend Muel Bridges now? I would say yes, but it’s really less about Bridges to me than more it is about Mitch because are you going to pay him? You could extend him through the 2029 2030 season. Is that something you want to do? You don’t want to commit to that if you don’t know the team is going to be able to commit for ch compete for championships, excuse me, and these windows right now with these aprons the way the way this new CBA is and everything. The windows are short and you seeing you’re an injury or two away from doing what Boston had to do and stripping things down and the rightfully they did that. Um because you they’re they’re they were going to be a very expensive team that can’t compete. That’s the thing. What you don’t want to be now is you don’t want to be in the second apron when you don’t have a championship team. And so this is why I would say this is a big year for the Knicks. I push back a little bit. I do think it’s it’s finals or bust and the organization stated that even in the statement they put out when they fired Tom Tibido and they were like, “Look, we think we have a championship team.” All right. Well, now you got to go win a championship. The thing about that though is I I’ll push this and I’m curious to see what you think and other people think. Let’s say the Knicks lose in game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals. And I’m not trying to put bad juju out there on anybody or anything like that. Let’s say it’s on a buzzing buzzer beating shot or some something crazy like what happened in game one. I’m not even going to ask the team that you’re thinking of that the Knicks are playing against because I don’t even want to hear it. So, all right. No, I I’m not going to say the team. I’m not going to put any of that out there. What? Insert team X, whatever team you want to think it is. They lose on a heartbreaker on some lucky shot. Let’s say it’s some crazy bounce like we saw in game one with Hallebertton or what Kawhi Leonard hit on the Sixers years back. Mhm. Is that season a failure? Like I always feel like there’s got to be nuance and context and stuff. If something crazy h Now I also add this. If in the game seven they blow like a 14-point lead with like three minutes to go, that’s another bit of because it’s like how do they lose? I think all that stuff matters. I felt I said the same thing when it came to the Knicks in the playoffs last year. I said if they how they played against Boston would mean a lot towards Tom Tibido keeping his job. Now I was wrong cuz they played good enough and beat Boston and Tom Tibido still lost his job. But the reason Tom Tibido lost his job wasn’t really about them winning or losing Boston. It was about his inability to be flexible with the lineups. That’s really the reason that cost him his job. So to me it’s it’s I’m not trying to give a cop out answer here. It’s just that I think yes, it is finals or bus, but if they do lose before that, it’s about how they lose when they lose. Listen, if the I’m I’m going to keep it a buck. If the Knicks lose in the first round, it is a massive failure. Massive failure. Failure of epic proportions. If the Knicks lose in the second round, it’s an absolute disappointment. No doubt about it. If the Knicks lose in the conference finals and let’s say they get swept, also an absolute disappointment, right? They lose on some buzzer beater. No, I don’t think so. Disappointing, but not absolute disappointment, right? They, you know, they blow a lead in the game seven or something. Very disappointing. Coaching probably will be questioned, although I think people do too much with that sometimes. Players have agency. They got to go out and execute. They got to get the job done. Coaches do have to try to put them in the best positions to succeed. So, I really think it’s about how the season goes, but I’m going to come back to what the front office said in that statement. They are the ones who said we have a chance. I’m paring and I I hope I hope I didn’t mess up quote there, but if they said we believe you have a chance your team, that sounds like the mandate is we expect to get to the finals. Now, I also will add this as a Knicks fan or if you’re covering the team or whatever it may be, you have to respect that. I like that the Knicks are saying that. I also like that the Knicks made a move and said, “Hey, we think this had got us as far as we can go. We think this roster is more talent than that. We need somebody to take us to the next level.” I respect that they did that. It would have been easy for them to stand pat and run it back. Been to real easy for them to do that. They didn’t do that. And when you’re rooting for a team, you want your team to go for it and say, “Hey, the expectation right now is to win a championship.” Because Knicks fans out here, you remember what it was like six years ago. Was not good. Not pretty. So now you can’t you got to embrace everything that’s with it. Now it’s go time. They’re saying championship or bust. Embrace it. This is what you wanted as a fan. You don’t want the 17 win season. You want the time where it’s like, yo, we expect to compete for a title and get to the NBA finals. Is it a little more stressful? Sure, I get that. I get that. But would you rather the stress or be at the bottom of the league? The stress of saying, “Hey, we got to make it to the finals.” Or be like, “We’re not playing for anything but the lottery.” Nah, it’s a no-brainer. So, but I think it’s about what is what happens if they don’t make the finals. That’s the big thing for me. I tend to agree with Yuri. I think the team would get blown up because it would start to become too expensive. And I have to say in today’s NBA probably would be the right move. You probably have to blow it up, restructure around Brunson and keep things moving. Probably the right move. Hey, look, I think they look when they assembled this team, it was always a team for four years, really three in my opinion. You know, you got to see like this is going to be a very important year and then next year depending on how this year goes would be the final year because then it’s like all right everyone like we’re talking about end of the deals. We’re talking about people being in their 30s. How far can they go back now? We got to think about how does the future actually look. There’s a lot more in question to how this team is actually constructed for uh the fourth year like the fourth year of the iteration of this team with Cat Brunson Hart Bridges and OG because look you’re paying guys a lot of money man and if they’re underperforming those prior two years why do you continue to keep these guys you got to get you got to trade them get them for their max value that they are so I agree with that and to to the quote just so that we have it out there it’s our organization is singularly focused on winning a championship for the fans this p uh this pursuit led us to the difficult decision to inform Tom Tibido that we’ve decided to move in another direction. So to your point, it’s saying, “Hey, we believe that we can win a championship.” Point it’s it’s it’s word salad, but that’s essentially what they’re saying. They said, “Hey, we got very close with this coach. We should have gone even further. We’re going to find somebody that could take us even further.” And so that’s why it’s even interesting with Yuri when he said Mike Brown should get the same five. I don’t even think he gets five years, man. Personally, all right. I think some of y’all ain’t gonna give him five days. Five minutes is not even gonna be enough for some. Yeah. Yeah, he can. No, because because that’s that’s my point though, Alex, right? Like there’s context to everything, right? Like in a ideal world, you want to give every coach five years. But where Tom Tibido started at the beginning of a rebuilding process and getting this team to where it were is very different than where Mike Brown is starting from. So both things are not the same. It’s not the same situation. Mike Brown is coming in with a roster that is expected to go to the NBA finals that thinks they’re a championship contender. Tom Tibido did not start with that. So if Mike Brown and I don’t think it’ll be a year for him because I think that’s a bit one year, but I think if two years like you said, I do think next year depending on what happens this year. I think this year is a very important moment in Nick’s history and what happens this year. Right. And I I feel like I’m not being overly dramatic by saying that, but you’re not. But I think I think I think he get Yeah, I think he only gets two years, man. Personally, I think how this year goes and next year goes, Mike Brown only gets two years. I don’t care how I don’t even care how long the the length of the contract is, it’s two years. It it’s going to be shut up or put up these next two years and that’s it. If he gets to the finals this year and loses, I think that might even buy him another year on top of that. That gets him one more year for sure. It gets him one more year. I think if he loses, and again, I always like context how he loses if they get to Easter fin and loses on a heartbreaker, I think he’ll be fine, but the uh I don’t want to call it the hot seat, but you know, you’re turning on the grill a little. the this I mean honestly man the grill’s already on. Let’s be let’s be real. Like the coals are the coals are starting to be lit for Mike Brown. Um well I I think this is a two-year thing. I’m with you on that. I think what happens this year is so important to how because if he if he gets to the finals and loses it will not be a hot seat but people are going to be looking like all right what does this team got to do to like now win it all? Can he get back there and win it all? And I always try to say this in sports. I think I understand this more and more as I cover sports and do all stuff. And and the fans know this too that are watching. You know this, Alex. It is hard to win. I don’t think people understand how hard it is to win. It is hard to get to a conference finals. It is hard to get to an NBA finals. Sometimes you get there and you never get back. Knicks ain’t Knicks hadn’t been there in 25 years to the conference finals or the NBA finals. You don’t know. There’s no guarantee. You don’t know that the Knicks are going to be back in the conference finals. I think they should based on what the how things are breaking broken out in the East, but there’s a long way between now and June and May. May and June. There’s a long next May and June. There’s a long way to go. You got to hope things break your way. You got to hope guys are healthy. You got to hope there’s there’s depth. Maybe some other things break your way. I look I I think that just there’s so much nuance to this. Mike Brown is going to be on the hot seat. There’s going to be some fans if he loses three games in January that are going to be like, “Get him out of here.” But I’m going to say what I said at the top. It the regular season stuff, man. It’s going to be about what he does in the playoffs. What this team does in the playoffs. That’s all that matters right now for the Knicks. and and that’ll make the regular season boring for some Knicks fans. And I understand that. But this is where we are. It’s about what this team does in the playoffs, man. It’s the expectation, man. That’s when you get to this level, it’s all about the expectations. I agree with you, man. I agree with you. And look, it’s it’s tough to to even say that for a coach who just got a job. You know, all smiles said the right things, but that’s just the unfortunate part of the situation is that these guys are locked in and it’s it’s going to be tough, man. It is. It is going to be tough. The pressure for this postseason is going to be interesting. And I I’m just going to reference a team that we saw do it in 2024 with the Boston Celtics, right? Think about how they get roster that they had in 2022, lose to the Warriors, you don’t make it back the next year, you then make it the year after that. And now look, you dismantle the thing. They thought they were going to have a dynasty that it everything changes in the blink of an eye. And that’s the one thing too. Everything changes in the blink of the in of the eye in sports. And we have no idea how it’s going to unfold. We know the expectations. Obviously, that comes with is everyone healthy. We’ll be see man. The season ends. See, I’m going to be I’m going to have so much I’m going to have so much fun watching the post games with you guys. Oh man. or or hopping on or hopping on with you guys because the fan base, you know, and I I I love the, you know, obviously I do a lot of fan base. Um, grew up a Nick fan, so I understand the passion, but y’all going to be so stressed, man. Like, I’m going to need I’m going to need another KFTV postgame show for myself to go watch. That’s what I’m going to call into. That’s what I need. I want to try I want to tell like I’m trying to tell fans, man, like you got to enjoy this ride because of what you just said, Alex. You don’t know how long it’s going to last. You have to enjoy this. You have to find some ways to enjoy the process of the team build of them trying to get to the top of the mountain. I hope there’s not more heartbreak. Look, I understand game one, that was a heartbreaker against this against the Pacers. Heartbreaker. It’s one of the most heartbreaking losses in Nick Knick’s history, but you got to enjoy the ride and and and try to enjoy as much of it as you can and and watch this team try to develop during the regular season and and build good habits and put it together and hopefully stay healthy, you know. But I think Knicks fans want it so bad and they could taste it and it’s so close, Alex. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s right there, man. I mean, come on, bro. It It’s We haven’t seen I I haven’t seen a title at all in my life. I haven’t seen a title. You haven’t seen a title. My pops, God rest saw both of them in the 70s. Yeah. All right. He He was there for 73. All right. He was there for when the Jets won, the Knicks won. All right. He was a Yankees fan. He saw all the Yankees chips. My dad was there for that. I I don’t got any of that stuff, man. Outside of Yankees wins some World Series. I need to see this. I know we’re that close now. The fan cap is coming on. I need to see it, man. We’re right there. We’re right. And if you That’s what I’m saying. You could be bowling a bash. You looking at the Pacers right now and seeing how they’re not there, man. They’re the injuries. Celtics. Once again, we talk about all the injuries. It’s right there, bro. It’s right there. And then if you want to even say, “Hey, you want to go to the even the utmost optimistic route?” You got the medical staff that kept OG Anobi healthy. All right. What could they do with Mitchell Robinson for a full season? I’m just saying, man. Look, it’s right there. I get it. It’s right there. They were six wins away last year, two wins away from the finals. I get it. There’s nothing I want to see more. Trust me. I I’m I’m I’m with you. But you gota you I’m I’m imploring this for people. You got to let the process be the process. No Sixers, but you got to let the process be the process here and try to see the beauty in this season and where they’re going. I think the Knicks, when you look at where they were six years ago, Alex, I think that Leon Rose and company has done a really good job of building this team and making some shrewd moves. I think they do deserve a lot lot of credit. Um, but but but I’m saying all this with a caveat. This is the hardest part, especially because of the fact that you changed the coach. And look, they knew when they made that move that was going to come with a lot of I’m not I’m not saying that. I’m not I think there should be ways we praise them for having the guts to make that move. Mhm. But here’s when you do it, you got to be right. You got to be right, man. You got to be right. You got to You got to be right because if they’re not and it’s wrong, and I’m not saying that it will be, you got to be right in these players. You got to be right. It’s not just the coach, it’s the players. Players got to execute. How’s Cat better in the postseason? How’s Brunson better in the postseason? Can those guys be any better defensively? Do they have a better coach to put him in? All these questions be answered. I get why the Nick fan is nervous, but you wanted these nervous days. This is what you wanted. You talked about you’ve been waiting to see him win the championship. Rest in peace to your pops. I know he felt nervous since 70 and 73. I’m sure he did. But you want that. You want that chance to win, to feel what you’re feeling. It was so fun to watch him in the playoffs last year and see g high stakes games that matter like but this this I will say this probably will be the first year since 1994. So I’m going back. This is probably the most pressure a Nick team has had since 94 95 because you can say the teams after that had pressure when Jordan came back and then even 99 the Knicks were playing with house money as a eight seed. That’s not the same. This is like 94.95 where it’s like yo we we we expect you to win and but you want that. Got to want you got to love it. But I know why you why it’s so nerve-wracking cuz like you said it’s so close bro. So it’s right there. It’s right there. Right there. We’re talking about now we’re talking about really on the margins. As mentioned, front offices now put themselves in the light when you fire the head coach because you got to say, “Hey, it’s not this guy. Players are fine. We just need a new guy. He’ll he’ll get us there.” And if it’s not, there’s just so many whatifs, man. There’s so many whatifs. We can go down the rabbit hole of like, “What if what if this, what if this could be on the front office, players game traded, all this, that, and the third.” There’s a lot to talk about. All right? There’s a lot to talk about. But that’s why I love it, man. This is the pressure. This is where you want to be at. This is where you want to be at. I wouldn’t trade this for anything, man. This is where you want to be at. But it’s right there, Dexter. It’s like close. It’s so close. Oh man. Salute to Nick Nation. Thank you for tuning in for another Knicks Weekly with me on the other side. It’s my guy Dexter Henry. Make sure hit that thumbs up button for your boy. Subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already done so. Make sure to support our other sponsor, SeatGeek. People, let me tell you something about SeatGeek. You’re looking for tickets. You’re trying to go to any venue, trying to watch a concert, trying to go to a Knicks game. Hey Nick, trying to get to Madison Square Garden, man. It is pricey. All right, it is pricey. So, you know what you got to do? You got to go to SeatGeek. And what do they do? They give you the green light if it’s good to go. And they give you the red light saying, “Hey, don’t buy this. Look in another direction.” So, SeatGeek is here to help make the ticket ticket buying experience that much easier. So, that’s why you got to support our sponsor and use that promo code KFTV10 to get 10% off your tickets. Remember, green means good to go, red means bad. Stop going a different direction. So, use a number one rated app when it comes to purchasing your tickets as SeatGeek. Make sure to use the promo code KFTV10 to get 10% off your tickets. All right, man. Trying to get to Master Square Garden. Expensive, man. I need you to be back. But yo, hey, Mr. Dolan, can we just, you know, knock it down a little bit? Just just a little bit. Take it. Just a little bit. That ain’t happen though. You know, daycare’s expensive, car insurance, my rent’s exp. Come on, man. Can I Can I just go out and enjoy the night? Can I please just a little bit? It’s no mask. It’s tough. It’s tough, man. Nick’s tough out in the streets. Just think of prices. It’s tough. Especially when they’re good. Especially when they’re good. Especially when they’re good. All right, Dexter, we got one more topic to discuss. Let’s do it. And we’re going to wrap this show up. Get on out of here. And you know what the topic is? It’s It’s everyone’s favorite character, man. If you told me this like I don’t know what, 10 years ago, maybe somewhere between 7 to 10 years ago, people would probably be thrilled if this guy was mentioning free agency talks and what this that and the third. We’re back. We’re back again. Talked about with CP last week. We’re back talking about Ben Simmons, man. Ben Simmons. Do I know some of y’all out there want him on the team talking about the playmaking, the versatility defensively? I personally don’t want him on this team just because I don’t want the drama and the uncertainty of injury. Uh will he be there? Will be bought in? I’m good on all I don’t need Ben Simmon on this team. But to paraphrase paraphrase uh and shout out to uh was it Sean Devney of uh heavy.com and uh Athlon Sports. All right. Essentially saying that Ben Simmons has the Knicks as like the last option of where he wants to go. And partially due to that is because of the pressure of playing in New York City, man. playing for the New York Knicks and I get it. You got to be you got to be willing to be scrutinized every single night uh playing in New York. And Sean Devney uh of the Athlon says that uh of the places he spoke to a GM and this is what the GM said uh that uh Devon spoke. He said of the places uh he he being Ben Simmons could win. They’d be uh the Knicks would be at the bottom of his list. They’re the long shot. He does not want the scrutiny and they want to have room to use the whole roster. That’s one reason they got rid of uh Tom Tibido. If you’re bringing in a veteran who is hurt half the season, it’s going to prevent you from seeing what you’ve got with your young guys. So, uh that’s what uh Sean Devany uh reported based on the gym that he spoke to. I’m fine with not getting Ben Simmons. Shout out to CP. He reported that there was a long shot in the New York Knicks going out there and getting Ben Simmons. This is just, you know, GM talking and essentially emphasizing what CP already reported last week and the unlikeliness of Ben Simmons joining the Knicks. Um, even Steve Pa came out and said there’s a there’s not a high likelihood of Ben Simmons joining the Knicks as well. I’m fine with it, man. I don’t need Ben Simmons on this team. I get the intangibles that we’re talking about 10 years ago. It’s it’s it’s too much, man. Too much. I I not with this team. This team, you got to make sure that locker room is right. There’s so much here, man. Do you know how mad I would be if I I mean, Leon Rose and company could be mad if Ben Simmons is the one telling me that he doesn’t want me to play here? You couldn’t cut it in Philly. You didn’t cut it in Brooklyn. You’re afraid to shoot. You don’t shoot. you don’t shoot, you can’t shoot, you won’t shoot, you don’t want any contact, and you’re out here saying the Knicks are at the bottom of your list. I like I understand Ben Simmons could still play defense solidly. He is not like an AllNBA defender. I understand he can help rebound and pass the ball, but he’s a non-shooter. The Knicks don’t need a third non-shooter on this roster. Fourth, if you count Herty, they don’t need that. Why? I never like the idea of Ben Simmons coming next. I thought it was terrible. I don’t like it. Don’t think he’s a good fit. And I don’t think he’s built to play in New York. Point blank. Period. Like I just don’t think he’s built to play in New York. I don’t know why there are even some fans that want him. I think they like the idea of Ben Simmons. The idea is exactly right. The idea of Ben Simmons or what he was is so long gone. And if you watch any of him him with the Clippers last year, this is a guy who was not getting into the paint when he had the ball, would not shoot the ball. You can play off him. He won’t shoot. He’s afraid of contact. I know Muel Bridges had issues with that, too, but not quite the same. And no, just an absolute stone cold no. But I would be mad if Ben Simmons is the one telling me that he doesn’t want to come here. As if we don’t know who he is. You’re Ben Simmons. Like, what are we what what are we talking about? Like Oh, man. Come on. It is Come on. I can’t I can’t, man. I just like it’s it’s hilarious when you even say that. And I know that’s I know that the GM said, but to even s to even have the words out there be like New York is the last place. It’s like you’re telling me you wouldn’t want to join a championship type roster. Who are you? You made it out of the second round. Yeah. All right. Like I I mean I I mean the better question is what should the Knicks do with the final roster spot with the veterans minimum? I think that’s interesting. you know, um, my colleague Stephan Bondi had reported that they would likely be interested in another ball handler. I thought that was interesting. So, a guy like a Malcolm Brogden, I think, could have been really interesting for them. Um, I just wonder how Brogden feels about what his role would be and what his minutes might be in that situation. I do think Landry Shamut is somebody else who deserves consideration for that spot. Um because I think there’s ways Mike Brown could utilize him, whether it’s at a specialist off some curls and dribble handoff actions I think could work actually really well for him as a shooter. So those are some guys I think about. I mean the ball handler market, man, your cat is active, Alex. He is he or she. Sorry. Yeah, he likes to be part of the action, man. Yeah, he likes to be part of the action. Um there’s, you know, I mean Marcus Smart is now off the market. there was some other ball handlers that were there. I wouldn’t be mad if the Knicks I I think there’s also a world in which they could look at uh maybe another big um Thomas Bryant I believe is still out there. You know, I know Amir Coffee was a guy I had talked about them possibly using the taxpayer mid-level on um at the start of the offseason and now he’s probably to get that minimum. I wouldn’t be opposed to that. Um, you know, I think ideally the Knicks need a another ball handler or they might want to invest in some size. I think this would be very interesting to see what they do. I thought they would have signed somebody, but this may take a little bit more time into August. Brogden, I think, would be a nice option. I wouldn’t mind having Brogden. The thing with him is he’s always hurt. He has heard a ton, but this is where we are in the offseason. There’s not a lot of great options and great teams out there. Um, I also wonder if the Knicks maybe don’t sign somebody and just keep that spot open. Start to see. It’ll be interesting what they what they do. Um, I’ve been asking for I’ve been asking for Malcolm Brogden uh this offseason just for, you know, needing another guy who can create for himself, another guy who can be a playmaker. We’ve seen that throughout his career, whether it be in Milwaukee, in Indiana. Um, he’s more than capable of doing that. Even in Boston, we saw he did that when he won six man of the year. We know he’s capable of doing that. Obviously, he’s has an injury history. Um I the sell if I were to be the in the front office and sell Malcolm Brog why he should join this roster, it’s that when you look at the depth of this team, he would surely get the 10th spot. um he wouldn’t have to play, you know, every single night potentially risking injury, but there would be nights that he would get extensive run and I think he would have a good strong veteran presence based on what he’s seen. I mean, he’s was part of that Celtics team, too. So, being part of a, you know, a great roster is also a great experience to have on the team. So, I think for him, you could sell him in that aspect. Whereas as of right now, he’s just hopped around from bad team to bad team. Been in Portland, now he’s been in DC. Like, who’s the next team that’s going to take him? And I think for him, he should want to be part of a roster that is capable of getting to the potentially to the NBA finals, right? Uh going after a ring at this point of his career. Um, I know Fred Katz was on the show with CP and he said some people around the league believe that he has still has some juice left in him and I I don’t disagree with that, but it’s also what team is willing to utilize him in that role and say, “Hey, we healthy for all the regular season and postseason on you.” Um, maybe that’s what he wants. But I think there’s a reality check that he may have to check saying at this po point of my career. Do I need to be that guy or should I just be a guy that, you know, offers a lot to a team that needs a veteran and needs voice and needs a presence that when I come off the bench, I can just organize and keep everything afloat. even when if Brunson has to miss some time if Clarkson is not playing on a certain night or somebody else like he will go out go out and get his and I think the another thing that should be sold for this that it’s not Tom Tibido we’re not looking at guys playing you know 80 minutes I know I’m being hyperbolic right I I’m being a little hyperbolic here but I’m saying like they’re not no one’s gonna be playing every single night no one’s gonna be playing you know the the heavy minutes that Talon Tibido did winning. You’re not trying to win the regular season. You’re thinking about the postseason. And so to do that, it’s not the ultra load management that’s constantly promoted throughout the league or where guys are, you know, missing like marquee games. But I think the team could take a little step back where saying, “Okay, you know what? You’re why don’t you heal up tonight? We got somebody else that can go out there. They should get a little more extended run because, you know, we are playing a Charlotte Horns tonight. know we are playing uh insert another bad team. You know, maybe the Pelicans, right? We are playing the Pelicans. You don’t got to go We don’t have to go that hard tonight. All right. We can take a breather. And I think that’s another way that you can sell to Malcolm Brogden to join the So, I’m I would be for Malcolm Brogden. Ke Benimman’s far away from this team far as possible. Don’t need no drama. Don’t need no question. Is he going to play tonight? Does he feel like playing? And like I just don’t need that, man. Do not need that whatsoever. Um, is there anybody else? Because I know you brought up Shaman and he he’d be a fine Yeah, I’d be fine with Shamid. I’d be fine. I mentioned Air Coffee. Um, who I’d be fine with as well. Um, again, I wouldn’t be fine if they wanted to add to some big man depth, especially if they start the double bigs. I I think a lot will tell you two things like what they plan to do with the starting lineup. Might they might say, “Okay, we have Hop Porty, but do we need to add like another veteran big man on this team and they could get somebody like a Thomas Bryan who could come in and he might be fine being the big man behind Porty just for some insurance because they only have three and if you start two and Mitch, we know Mitch is prone to get hurt.” Um or maybe the training staff will be able to keep him healthy. We’ll see. Um, any other names? I’m trying to think that that come to mind right now. I see people are talking about Kevin Web in the chat. We got Westbrook out there. Um, any of those names? No. Gary Payton. That’s a name. That’s a name I like. Thanks someone brought it up cuz I actually brought Gary M Gary Payton the second up um early another offseason video I did. I like him. I think he’s good. I know he’s a 6’4 guard. Got some bounce. Fantastic defender. I like a little defensive sparkle off the bench, which he shot the ball a little bit better from three. Um, but I wouldn’t be mad at Gary Peyton second. I see the role he can fulfill off the bench to help. I I’m not mad I wouldn’t be mad at that at all either. Um, someone said Trey Ly here. Mhm. I don’t that that I don’t mind. Another big place on four five can stretch the floor. Not a good defender. But familiarity with Mike Brown as well out in Sacramento. Yep. I wouldn’t be mad at that. Trey Lzo wouldn’t be mad at it either. Listen, I think with this guy’s going to be a lot of what you said, Alex. It’s a guy could come in, can roll, will be comfortable being the 10th man. Um, is going to come in and play some nights and give somebody a rest because if you have Trey LS, you can now give some more looks. You could play him at the five. You could play him next to Yaboscelli. I do not love that defensively, but you can do that. You can mix and match in some ways. I’m not opposed. I think it really comes down to a lot of it. What they sign is going to tell you if they sign a guard. I don’t know. Maybe that tells me they’re not going with McBride in the starting lineup. Maybe they are. Um if they sign I think if they if they sign another big, it definitely tells me they’re going two bigs in starting lineup and no McBride. Um so it’ll be very interesting to see what they do. But I like some of the names that people have put put out there. Trey L is one I thought about. Gary Payton I like. Um, but I think it was me. If I was do if I was running the show, I think I’d go Malcolm Brogden. Now, my only thing is you go and sign Brogden, does that block any opportunities for when it comes for Tyler Kolk to get some more of his development? And I know people are down on what they saw from Kohic in summer league. I get it. But I mean, I think the Knicks young players have the best pathway to getting some minutes next year. Dier and Hakorti anyway. I think it still was going to be a long shot for Koh. Um he needs a little bit more seasoning and time down in G-League, but you know, maybe you would have liked Koh to grab that 10th spot, but yeah, we’ll see. Or maybe the Knicks stand pat. They might stand pat here. I don’t think they will. I think they will add a roster, add one last guy cuz you always need some depth. But I think I think they’ll add I think they’ll add somebody and I think I think they will go with a lead another guard who can handle the ball. um and provide some scoring. Brogden feels like a good fit. It’s just does he get it done and does he or does he want more playing time elsewhere? That’s that’s the key. That’s the big question, man. Those are the big questions. But hey, I think it’s a good place to end, Dexter. I think this is a good place to end our conversation for Nicks Weekly. And uh appreciate you coming through, my man. Appreciate you helping me break down this uh Knicks off seasonason. I know it’s a little quiet right now, but you know, we still get some revelments here and there that we got to discuss, you know. So yeah, it’s always always good to talk Nicks, man. Any any time of the any time of the year, man. Especially with you. So I appreciate you for having me on, you know, to the KFT family. Always salute to you and CP and JD and, you know, everybody involved. Um, you know, behind the scenes. Appreciate y’all all the time. Appreciate the fans. Um, cuz so much of the community is still here. We all do share content and do stuff together and it’s dope. So thank you, bro. Appreciate you for having me. Of course, man. And please let the listeners know where they can find you. If you got any work up and coming, we should be on the lookout for as well. Yeah, you can find me at on all platforms at DH Henry TV. Uh catch me hosting New York.Game. We usually drop days drop dropping a new episode tomorrow. Uh Leavido of Nick Time Show is on with me. We’re talking about what the Knicks should do with extensions for Mikuel Bridges, Mitchell Robinson, uh and Cary Towns who’s also extension eligible added him. We talk a little bit about that along with some of the stuff we talked about there. So, check out that episode that drops at noon tomorrow. And then we’ll have some other stuff coming up uh through the off season. Uh some more fan mailbag questions, some more deep dives into I’ll be doing some stuff looking at how Brunson and Cat can be used in Mike Brown’s offense and how the how it might look uh compared to what we saw with Fox’s bonus. I have some stuff coming around there and then also how they could possibly utilize some of the young players. We’ll have something coming on that later. We got some good stuff. Um, and then something else I’m think I’m working on with a little bit fun for the fans where we’re going through some of the best Knicks players of all time. I got some stuff working on that. We got Hey, we got to do what we got to do to get through the these dog days of summer, man. We got to do what we got to do. So, uh, check it out. And oh, for the Mets fans out there, if you’re watching, I know you’re a Yankee fan, but Straight Out of Flushing also drops every Monday. Mets show. Check that out as well, too. It’s pretty good. Straight out of Flushing. Wow. Here we go. All right. Yeah. Yeah. You don’t like the title? Hey, the title is cool, man. I get I get where you’re coming. I get where you’re coming from with it. All right. I get it. It’s just, you know, I’m not a Mets fan, so Understood. Understood. Could have been straight out of the Bronx for all to make it a little more appealing to me. I I’ll I’ll try maybe I’ll get them to change the name of my Yankee show on on New York Post Sports Channel. I mean, I’ll see what they could do. All right. Appreciate you, man. Appreciate you. See, this this is why we got to have some pool with with the New York Post over here. We get Dexter in here, you know. D, you got to make some title changes. Yeah, man. Might we we might do some things. I’m have to talk to the people over there. Like Alex needs straight out of the Bronx for the Yankee show. We’ll see what we could do. That’s what I need, man. That’s what that’s what I need. But appreciate you as always, Dexter. Appreciate you as always. And Swiss Nick Nation for tapping in once again. All right. Appreciate Nick Nation for being here on a Monday night, midnight on the East Coast, man. So for some of you that got to go to work the next day, appreciate you for staying up late and tapping in with us. All right, we got the franchise channel members in here. Salute to all you as always. I saw Hey JJ, there’s a regular that came out of nowhere. I see he’s talking uh trash to Yankee fans in the chat, you know. And I appreciate that, JJ. Uh you my guy, man. We’re Jets fans. We’re Nick Knicks fans. I appreciate you. Come on, man. What are we doing over here? What are you doing over here, man? Appreciate you, though. Appreciate you. Shout out to everybody, man. Shout out to K dot in here as well. Shout out to everyone for coming through. Remember, support our sponsors. Wayfair. Make sure to go to wayfair.com, go buy your uh outdoor furniture, lawn games, grills, whatever you need just to spruce up the backyard and make sure to support our other sponsor, SeatGeek. All right, use that promo code KFTV10 to get 10% off your next ticket purchase. Well, Master Square Garden expensive as is. Try to, you know, reduce the cost any way possible. So, make sure to support our sponsors. You already know what to do. Make sure to tap into the newsletter. Shout out to all the writers. We got KTV, Jaylen, Jeff, Remy. All right, Chris, LeBron, all right, we got uh Omar out there doing the damn thing as well. So, make sure to go support those guys and what they do over at the newsletter. Shout out to our producer Daniel for tonight. Shout out to Gamba. Shout out to Tyler for doing the damn thing as well. Appreciate everyone for coming through as always and for the hard work we do to put this to to Yeah, lose my words here at this moment, man. But shout out to everyone that comes through to help put this show together. And shout out to TM as well, man. Chief Modern Operation doing the damn thing in the chat to keep you all engaged and active. Shout out to T as well, my guy. So, you already know what it is. Make sure to stay tapped in. Hit that thumbs up button for your boys. Subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already done so. And we out. Peace.

Knicks Weekly: Coaching Staff Change Up – Potential Starting Unit? – Remaining Free Agent Veterans. Join us on the latest Knicks Weekly as we break down the hottest offseason developments for the New York Knicks! Hosted by Alex with guest co-host Dexter Henry from NewYork.Game, we dig into:

Major coaching staff shakeup under new head coach Mike Brown

Lineup debates: Double-big with Mitchell Robinson vs. Deuce McBride’s sparks

Offensive identity: Modernization, more fluid motion, pick‑and‑roll schemes

Finals‑or‑bust expectations and the stakes for this pivotal season

Ben Simmons rumors: Why Knicks may be moving on

Potential 10th‑man free‑agent targets like Malcolm Brogdon, Landry Shamet, and more

Hit Subscribe, leave a thumbs up, and join the conversation on Discord—make your Knicks voice heard!
🔔 More offseason analysis, mailbags, and player deep dives dropping soon.

Salute to Knicks Nation! 🟠🔵 In this late-night edition of Knicks Weekly, Alex Trataros, and Dexter Henry discuss shifts in the Knicks Coaching Staff, Potential Starting Line-Up Reports and Look at the landscape of remaining veteran free agents after Ben Simmons report.

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