“I love this hire. There were only a few people who could get the Knicks to the Finals that I had in mind. Mike Brown was actually one of them,” said NBA legend Paul Pierce when discussing the Knicks’ recent hire. It was only back in late December 2024 when Mike Brown was fired from the Sacramento Kings after a 3-year long run. Now, he has been given another lifeline by the Knicks. Brown would be coming into the team carrying big expectations. After all, Tom Thibodeau was fired even after he became the first Knicks head coach to lead the team to the Conference Finals since 2000. We don’t know whether he will be up to the task yet, but we do know he will be a less strict coach than Thibodeau.

‘The Hoop Podcast’ crew of Brian Windhorst, Tim McMahon, and Tim Bontemps recently came together to discuss this new hire. When Tim McMahon asked if Brown’s time as a Warriors assistant kind of changed him and altered his approach, Windhorst answered in the affirmative. That certainly wasn’t the case earlier since, as Windhorst recalled, “he was a lot for players. He wore, you know, he wore out the Cavs his first time around a little bit. He wore out the Lakers in his time there. He was kind of known for marathon practices, and marathon, shootarounds, especially”.

The Warriors were different, since “being with that sort of very mature, multi-championship winning team mellowed him out. I think I think it made a big difference in the way he approaches stuff and for a team like the Knicks who has, you know, some pretty self…. you know, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, these are very mature dudes. So, I actually think that kind of, you know, arc in his career probably help him”. 

Being strict with the players wasn’t the only issue with Mike Brown, though.

He was the head coach of 2 different teams between 2005 and 2014, having 2 different stints with the Cavaliers. His time with the Los Angeles Lakers cast a dark cloud over him. Replacing a head coach like Phil Jackson meant he had certain expectations on his shoulders. This led him to introduce a version of the Princeton offense and acquire All-Stars Steve Nash and Dwight Howard. Unfortunately, the Lakers struggled to adjust to the changes in both system and personnel, causing them to lose eight preseason games and four of their first five regular-season games. Mike Brown was dismissed after just five games, making it the third-fastest coaching change in NBA history.

Another stint with the Cavaliers could not fix things. Brown did not see the NBA court again as an instructor for two years before he was hired to be the associate HC for the Golden State Warriors.

For starters, Mike Brown grew under the influence of Steve Kerr. As Golden State of Mind reporter Daniel Hardee highlighted, the associate HC found himself in an environment of stability and success. His talents especially came to the forefront when Steve Kerr was sidelined due to complications from back surgery, and Brown had to take over. He was credited for sticking with the philosophies Kerr and the team had established as the key to the smooth transition. Mike reportedly respected the system that was in place and did not shake things up. And as luck would have it, Brown took the lessons he learned from his time with the Warriors to his next franchise.

During his tenure with the Sacramento Kings, Mike Brown turned around the narrative of a dysfunctional team suffering from a record-setting playoff drought. One thing that he especially fixed was the passing between players. As a result, the Kings under Mike Brown ranked 4th in passing during the 2022-23 season, and 2nd during the 2023-24 season. This, hopefully, is one thing the new coach can change for the Knicks, too. After all, they ranked 18th in passes per game last year.

What acquiring Mike Brown for the New York Knicks means, we can’t say for certain. However, given his track record, players are excited.

Mitchell Robinson approves of Mike Brown being named the Knicks Head Coach: “Great pick up!”

A few hours ago, Mitchell Robinson gave his fans some updates through his Snapchat series ‘Keeping up with Mitch’. He highlighted a fan question in one of his posts, which said, “What do you think about Mike Brown?” The player wrote “Great Pick Up” in response. Well, having the confidence of the players early on does say something.

The Knicks are no strangers to playing under strict coaches, so someone like Mike Brown, who has been eased by his time with the Warriors, shouldn’t be a problem.

At the same time, the squad will continue getting hints of some of Thibodeau’s coaching style, too, once they come across Brown’s organizational skills. According to reports, the head coach is known for color coding his plays, often carrying various pens — a red one, a blue one, a black one, etc. — so that he can diagram them as clearly as possible. During his time with the Warriors, Brown categorized pens in his locker by their colors. Just to mess with him, other coaches would switch them around. It wouldn’t take long for Brown to take notice and restore order.

Well, the Knicks can continue the tradition of switching stuff up. As long as they work under Mike Brown to ensure that the NBA championship title comes to Madison Square Garden for the first time since 1973.