Everyone outside the locker room seems to be calling for the New York Knicks to pull Mikal Bridges out of the starting lineup and send him to the bench. Coach Mike Brown, however, doesn't seem too keen on abiding by such an idea.
When asked whether he'd consider swapping Bridges out for Landry Shamet in the first five unit following Wednesday's 115-107 loss to the Cavaliers, Brown said he's not looking "to make a 'panic decision'" like that.
However, during this same media session, the headman stressed that considering the way guys like Shamet and Deuce McBride have been playing so far this season, "It's going to be hard to find minutes at times for Mikal."
Frankly, these two quotes should tell fans everything they need to know about how coach Brown is planning on handling the current situation with Bridges. Truth be told, it's the best approach he could possibly take at this point.
Mike Brown understands it's about who finishes, not starts, for Knicks
As the old saying goes, "It’s not so important who starts the game, but who finishes it." Clearly, coach Brown is taking this philosophy in stride when it comes to handling Mikal Bridges.
Yes, the veteran forward has been truly abysmal through his 11 starts so far this season, as he's posting putrid averages of 5.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists on 32.9 percent shooting from the floor and 26.5 percent shooting from deep.
Yet, despite this, the Knicks are still a top-five team in the Eastern Conference standings and have won four of their last five games.
The reason for this is not New York's starting lineup, but rather their closing ones -- configurations Bridges has often been left out of.
Since their 0-3 start to the year, Bridges has found himself being shelved for entire fourth quarters on a number of occasions, even when games have been tight.
Brown has, instead, found use in rolling out guys like Shamet, McBride, Clarkson, and Tyler Kolek in these crucial kinds of environments.
Needless to say, the results have been rather promising when Bridges has been held out for the final period, as the Knicks have gone 4-1 in such instances.
The forward's confidence is already clearly low enough as is, what with his poor play and all the outside noise. By leaving him in the starting unit, coach Brown not only keeps the sense of trust between the two of them intact, but also helps keep the odds of Bridges snapping out of his lull alive rather than plummeting his confidence to potentially unmendable lows.
All things considered, until proven otherwise, keeping New York's starting lineup as is seems to be the best approach amid Bridges' rough start to the season.
Fortunately, that seems to be exactly what coach Brown intends to do.
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