Of the many things Mike Brown has changed in the early going for the New York Knicks, his most recent one is perhaps the most telltale, an ostensibly innocent, totally logical tweak that sends a statement to fanbase just as much as the rest of the league: These Knicks, his Knicks, are not bent on winning through stubborn principles. Adaptability is their guiding principle.
You can point to any number of instances, both big and small, as proof of New York’s flexibility under Brown. So far, though, his approach to the starting five, as well as lineups in general, stands in loudest contrast to the previous, Tom Thibodeau-led regime.
Brown, it seems, is going to tinker. From the opening tip, in the middle of the game, crunch time—it doesn’t matter. If his decisions aren’t based entirely on matchups at the other end, his view of the rotation is at the very least fungible.
“If I feel that we need to match up, I may go [with a specific lineup],” Brown told reporters after Friday’s win over the Boston Celtics, per SNY’s Ian Begley. “If I feel that we don’t, I may go [the other way]. Again, all our guys should be ready to play, whether it’s the start of the game or finishing the game or playing in the middle of the game.”
Brown’s words speak volumes. His actions are even louder.
Mike Brown is basing starting five decisions off matchups
With the Knicks navigating an increasingly fraught Mitchell Robinson situation to open the season, Brown started Ariel Hukporti alongside Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The implication? He wants to preserve the dual-big setup he intends to lean on when the team is a full strength.
If Hukporti getting the nod didn’t convince you, two-way-player Trey Jemison III receiving rotation minutes absolutely did. That’s why, as the Knicks prepared to face the Celtics, prevailing consensus was that they’d start Hukporti.
So much for that.
Not only did Brown opt against starting Hukporti, neither he nor Jemion even played. The Knicks instead turned to five-out combinations, featuring the more frequently used and increasingly important Deuce McBride-plus-the-starters combination, as well as plenty of Guerschon Yabusele-at-the-5.
This approach makes sense against the Celtics, who skew toward one-big units, and will often have what amounts to four guards on the court. Staying big against the Cavs, meanwhile, aligns with battling their frontcourt, which is headlined by both Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen.
This really is a new Knicks era
Brown’s futzing and fiddling stands out even more when looking at the midgame adjustments. He is already proving to be more reactive than Thibodeau, who was notorious for either not altering his approach, or doing so too late, without preparing his players for it.
In the game against Cleveland, Brown didn’t roll with two bigs all night. When the Cavs went to Mobley-at-the-5 arrangements, he busted out his own one-big looks. Heck, he even played OG Anunoby at the 5 for a beat. (By the way, he did it again versus the Celtics, too. This might be a thing now.)
During the win over Boston, Brown was not inextricably tied to his five-out looks. He closed the second half with last year’s starting five of Anunoby, Brunson, Bridges, Towns, and Josh Hart. It just so happens that fivesome isn’t a lost cause. They played faster, and ended up posting New York’s highest plus-minus of the evening, outscoring Boston by a total of nine points in just over three minutes.
To be sure, a couple of games will not define who the Knicks are, or what they do, under Mike Brown. But every matchup, every quarter, every single possession, provides a glimpse into the team’s still-forming identity. And right now, that identity is tracking toward something this team hasn’t offered in years, a breath of fresh air, the most meaningful evidence yet that these Knicks are and will continue to be different: flexibility.