00:00Finally, after a long and drawn-out process, the New York Knicks have a new head coach,
00:05a familiar name, Mike Brown, that will take over the reins inside Madison Square Garden.
00:12Given the context of the dismissal of Tom Thibodeau after New York reached the Eastern
00:17Conference Finals for the first time in two and a half decades, we all thought that that hire made
00:23by the Knicks would be big and splashy and can live on the marquee here in the Big Apple. So on
00:29a scale of one to 10, after they hire Mike Brown, Fonseca, how do you rate the decision?
00:37It's cool. You know, it's just nice, you know, it's probably, probably a seven, something like
00:46that. Like, I don't know. And that's the thing. We just don't know. Like, I think Mike Brown's a
00:50good coach. I think Tom Thibodeau's a good coach. I'm not sure Mike Brown's a better coach, but the
00:55whole point is maybe he's a better coach for this roster. There's no way of knowing that's
00:59the case. What I can say about Mike Brown is he is the coach who brought the Sacramento Kings
01:07to the playoffs, that miserable franchise, after over 15 years of not getting to the postseason,
01:13somehow, some way, turned them into the best offense in the league. Now they had the Aaron Fox,
01:18the Montes Sabonis. He had some pieces to work with, and he got the most out of them.
01:21And then the next year, they were a pretty good team too, though. They didn't make the playoffs.
01:25And then he just got fired this past year because they didn't get off to a great start. And then the
01:29Kings are the Kings. And despite having the best coach that they've had in a decade and a half,
01:32they just let him go. So it was what it was. They also let Mike Malone go funny enough before he went
01:38to Denver and later won a championship, although he had the best player in the world. This is going to be
01:42a very talented team that Mike Brown coaches. I don't know if they go together perfectly,
01:48and I'm curious to see how he sort of tries to get the most out of this Knicks roster. But
01:53this is the weird situation, guys. And I was saying this yesterday when we did a live stream
01:57on the Post channel and on my own YouTube channel at night. He's kind of walking into a situation
02:03where he's on the hot seat right away. And you don't see this very often in sports where somebody
02:09walks into a job and it's like, yo, you're immediately on the hot seat. Like, if this is sideways by
02:16Christmas, like if they're 500 by Christmas, we're going to hear a lot of rumblings, especially in
02:20this city of all places. It's a great segue, Brian, too, because you look at the New York
02:25Knicks where it's usually like, yeah, the Knicks are good, but there's four or five teams ahead of
02:29them. We look at the FanDuel Sportsbook right now, the New York Knicks are the favorite in the Eastern
02:33Conference. So you're right. There is no grace period. Now tell me what the pluses would be for Mike
02:38Brown on this roster because they clearly think he should be the choice to get them over the hump,
02:43which means winning a conference championship and competing for an NBA championship. What can
02:47he do better than Tibbs did last year as a positive that Knicks fans can look forward to?
02:53Well, ideally, they want him to be more adaptable to situations, be more malleable, so to speak.
02:59I would say Tom Thibodeau is a better version of the coach he was previously, whereas Mike Brown is
03:06slightly different because he doesn't coach. He didn't coach the Kings the same way he coached the
03:10Cavs and obviously the same way he coached the Lakers, but it was impossible coaching that team
03:14apparently because that didn't last very long. But at the same time, he had his time as an assistant
03:19in Golden State. And I do think, for example, Kenny Atkinson benefited from that because look at what
03:24happened in Cleveland this past year. Say what you want about the playoffs. And they were a little
03:27bit broken down at that point, but look at them going into next season. They're the favorites along
03:32with the Knicks in the Eastern Conference. So look at the Kenny Atkinson and Steve Kerr coaching tree,
03:38rather. But I think with Mike Brown, it's like, yeah, the adaptability, the willingness to play
03:44the young guys. Now, the young guys still have to earn it, but I think that's part of it too. And
03:49the willingness to play deeper rotations, I think that's what they're sort of looking for here.
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