Mike Brown is just 17 games into his tenure as the New York Knicks' head coach, but he's already following through on some of his biggest promises. After being hired, Brown spoke about the importance of ball movement in his system. The coach spent the preseason having his players hone their read-and-react instincts, teaching them to default to finding open teammates. His Knicks are ranked sixth in the NBA in passes made thus far through Wednesday, making more than 303 passes per game.
The last time the Knicks' offense surpassed 300 passes per game was the 2017-18 season, the tumultuous end of an era in the franchise's history. This season, the Knicks went into the year looking to make more out of a roster quite similar to the one that reached the Eastern Conference Finals. Putting a new head coach in Brown at the helm was the largest offseason adjustment the organization made.
They made improvements on the margins of the roster, bringing in Guerschon Yabusele and ensuring that unlikely 2025 playoff hero Landry Shamet had another roster spot.
Mike Brown follows through on preseason promises
As early on in his coaching tenure as his first 'media day' in Tarrytown, Brown spoke to his desire for the Knicks to play faster. He seemed to believe that some of the 'low-hanging fruit' his Knicks could capitalize on immediately involved their 3-point volume and the extent to which superstar point guard Jalen Brunson dictated their offensive flow.
Brown explained often that he didn't want to take the ball out of Brunson's hands in crunch-time or shy away from him as the team's leading scorer, but that he didn't feel that the team's offense needed to rely so heavily on its captain as a creator.
The Knicks' focus is always on the playoffs
Brunson's ability to create space, no matter how many defenders are draping themselves over him, is arguably the single-most valuable ability any Knick has on the court. Brown just doesn't think the team needs to rely on that ability to win them games throughout the course of an 82-game regular season and then a hopefully-deep playoff run.
Elite ball movement has put far less pressure on individual Knicks to carry offensive weight. They're hoping that when it's time to make a playoff run, their stars like Brunson will be as ready to go as possible.