00:00Giants won, Knicks won. All is right in the city, right?
00:03I know it was just a preseason game for the Knicks, but it was the home opener,
00:07so the good folks in New York who weren't at MetLife Stadium Thursday night
00:12could get their first look at the 2025 Knicks.
00:14Let's get some early thoughts about Mike Brown's offense
00:17from Jonathan Macri of Knicks Film School.
00:19Jay Mack, what's going on, my man? Welcome back!
00:23I tell you, man, it didn't feel like a preseason game to me.
00:26I mean, the team went on, what was it, a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter?
00:30It felt like the middle of May, the way the garden was popping. Crazy stuff.
00:34Yeah, 100 points on the night. They needed overtime to do it,
00:38but at the end of the day, a win's a win, preseason or not.
00:41Life is always better with a dub, so thoughts on this whole,
00:44what they're calling Mike Brown's revamped offense?
00:49I think there's two different things to talk about.
00:52There's the process and there's the execution.
00:54Obviously, at this point, the execution is not quite there.
00:57We saw a lot of turnovers throughout this game that were a little sloppy,
01:01especially in transition.
01:03The team could not buy a three-point bucket there.
01:05I think third from the bottom of the league in terms of three-point percentage
01:09so far in the preseason.
01:11But if you look at the process, if you look at the intention behind what they're doing,
01:14their top 10 and three-point attempts for the preseason,
01:17the pace is a lot faster than we've seen them play in many years.
01:20And more than anything else, I would say the ball movement,
01:24you see the intentionality.
01:26And as I think we're going to talk about in a bit,
01:28they're not out there running set plays right now.
01:31He's just sending the guys out there to run, as he says, concepts
01:35and to get them used to playing with each other
01:37and playing with a certain style where there's a lot of cutting,
01:40a lot of player movement, and yes, a lot of ball movement
01:42to open things up for the offense.
01:43All right, so that process, that tweet or him saying that he's not calling plays
01:49for these guys, learning how to develop that chemistry
01:52where guys are going to be hurt or help in the long run.
01:58In the long run, I think it's going to help a lot.
02:00In the short run, and I think fans should be prepared for the fact that
02:05the first couple weeks of the season may not go great,
02:10at least from an offensive standpoint, because this is going to take
02:14a little bit of getting used to it because the offense looks very different
02:17than what we've seen for five years under Tom Thibodeau.
02:20But the thing about an unpredictable offense in which you're not
02:23maybe calling a ton of plays is that if you don't know
02:26what you're going to do ahead of time, well, the defense can't possibly
02:28know what you're going to do.
02:30And I think one of the biggest knocks correctly on the Knicks offense
02:33the last few years was that they were incredibly predictable,
02:36not always easy to stop, but predictable.
02:38And you contrasted that with an offense like the Indiana Pacers,
02:42who, of course, eliminated them in the last two postseasons.
02:45And that's the most unpredictable offense in the sport.
02:48And they're not going to be the Pacers anytime soon because, again,
02:53Halliburton's a certain type of player, and Rick Carlisle certainly
02:57has been doing this a long time.
02:58But I think if they could get to like 75% to 80% of a Pacers-style offense
03:05in that unpredictability, it's going to benefit them immensely
03:08in April, May, and hopefully June.
03:11So with that type of style of play, getting Josh Hart back
03:16or getting his back back to 100%, how do you think he fits into this offense
03:22and the concepts within this team?
03:24Well, it's going to be interesting because the one thing that you saw
03:28the last few games is a lot of five-out offense.
03:32Other than when Mitchell Robinson is on the floor
03:34and Mitch brings a certain level of gravity in his own right,
03:38they're putting five shooters out there.
03:40We even saw a lineup last night where Rudy Gobert,
03:44the four-time defense player of the year winning center for the Timberwolves,
03:49was forced to guard O.G. Ananobi, or they tried to hide him on O.G. Ananobi,
03:54I guess would be the better way to say it,
03:56and they tried to guard Cat with the power forward.
03:58The Knicks were able to exploit that, again,
04:01because Gobert has to honor O.G.'s shooting possibility.
04:06Josh Hart, we know, is not the proficient shooter
04:08that some of these other guys are.
04:10All that being said, in this sort of offense, where, again,
04:14it values smart players making good, quick decisions,
04:18I do think Josh Hart is going to be able to thrive.
04:21It might, again, take a little bit of time, a little bit of an adjustment,
04:25but, you know, in the right sample size,
04:27which is to say maybe not leading the league in minutes again,
04:30I think Josh Hart could be a big help,
04:32maybe just going to have to be careful with some of the lineups
04:35they put him in in terms of the spacing.
04:36So it sounds like you've bought in to Mike Brown and his approach,
04:41and you're trusting the process.
04:43For me, I was a big Tibbs guy.
04:45I thought this guy turned the whole city around.
04:48Forget the franchise.
04:49He turned the city around,
04:50and the way people looked at New York basketball,
04:53obviously he didn't use his depth, the bench.
04:57There are any guys so far, again, small sample size,
05:02the lesser knowns, the role players,
05:04anybody standing out to you who you're looking at it like,
05:08okay, this guy, he's playing for extra minutes,
05:13or this guy is playing well enough to make this team,
05:16and we'll see what happens throughout the course of the season.
05:20Well, let me just say I was a big Tibbs guy too.
05:22I think other than Jalen Brunson,
05:23he's the most important figure that this franchise has had
05:27in the last five-plus years,
05:30but we know how coaching works,
05:31and there's a reason that five years is a long time in the NBA
05:36for a coach to keep his job,
05:38and I think part of that has to do with the question you're asking now
05:41in that we really didn't get to see deep into the bench
05:46over the last five years because Tibbs,
05:48if he doesn't completely trust you, he's not going to play you.
05:50I think Mike Brown has a little bit more flexibility,
05:52and I think he is going to be someone that is going to be more amenable
05:57to letting players go out there
05:59and maybe actually make some mistakes
06:01in favor of some long-term growth,
06:04and I don't know if this quite hits the question you're asking,
06:09but the honest answer that I had when you first like a player
06:11to keep an eye on, my answer is Mitchell Robinson,
06:14and look, we all know Mitch here.
06:16He's not in any danger of getting traded or anything like that,
06:20but I think we've been waiting now for seven years
06:23for Mitchell Robinson to put it all together in one NBA season,
06:27and yes, that means staying healthy, but also it means adding a little bit
06:32of, you know, it doesn't have to be a lot,
06:34but little components of offensive skill
06:36so that it's not just the offensive rebounding,
06:39then obviously the defense.
06:41I think you've seen little signs of that here in the preseason.
06:43Mike Brown entrusting Mitchell Robinson to do a little bit more,
06:47and I think that's going to go a long way
06:49in allowing him to stay on the floor for a longer time,
06:53obviously play with Carl Anthony Towns,
06:55and really open up the Knicks to reach a higher ceiling
06:59because, look, let's face it,
07:01the Knicks defensively by far are at their best
07:04with Mitch's on the floor,
07:05so it's a matter of can they hit that offensive ceiling
07:09with Mitch out there as well,
07:10and I think this is the year you're going to see him make,
07:13you know, maybe a step forward or two in that department,
07:17little ways, nothing big here.
07:18We're not getting Mitch out there shooting threes
07:20or anything like that,
07:21but a little bit will go a long way with him.
07:23Sounds like the process has a process.
07:26Mike Brown definitely has his hands full
07:28with this team and this franchise,
07:31but, hey, either way,
07:32two wins to start the preseason.
07:34It's always a good thing.
07:35We're always smiling after W's around this city.
07:38J-Mac, appreciate you hopping on with you, man.
07:40It's a long season, so we'll be wrapping a lot.
07:43Well, listen, I'll be here for the whole thing.
07:45Looking forward to talking to you,
07:46and, yes, when the games start to count,
07:48you know it's going to get interesting then.
07:53Magical of the world
08:14Magical of the world
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