Mike Brown addresses the media as new Knicks Head Coach

Mike Brown addresses the media as new Knicks Head Coach

Uh, thank everybody for coming. Uh, first of all, I’d like to start by thanking uh, Leon uh, Mr. Dolan, Leon Rose for this incredible opportunity. I’d also like to acknowledge my fiance Ro for her continued support and for for being here. I look forward to working with Leon, forming a great partnership with our shared common goal of winning a championship. I’m honored and excited to be the new head coach of the New York Knicks. You talk about a historic franchise, Madison Square Garden, it’s iconic. our fans that are the most knowledgeable and passionate probably in all of sports. There’s a lot of work to be done. We have a outstanding roster. What they did in the playoffs shows their potential. I’ve had great conversations with all of our players and I’m looking forward to growing positive, strong relationships with all of them over time. Our goal starting with Mr. Dolan to Leon to the players all the way down to the fans is to build a sustainable that sustainable winning culture that produces championships. That’s why I’m here. I’m fortunate to know what it takes to create that success, a lot of hard work, a high level of commitment, and a focus on today. Now, a lot of you guys gonna say this sounds cliche, and it is, but we can’t we can’t skip any steps. It’s about one day, one practice, one shoot around at a time. The soul of our identity with when it comes to culture, it’s going to be based on a trust. A trust that’s centered around sacrifice, a connectivity, a competitive spirit, and an overall belief in the process and each other. I’m looking forward to getting to know you all, but there’s a lot of work to do and I’m ready to get started. question. I The first thing is, you know, everybody knows I like to play fast and like I said, we have an outstanding roster. Um, I’m excited about that. And to have a guy like Jaylen out there gives you the versatility to play all different types of ways. which is what it’s going to take throughout a course of a ball game. What is it for you coming into a team that’s reached the conference finals? Well, you know, there’s nobody has any bigger expectations first of all than I do. Uh, I mean, my expectations are high. Um, but I mean, this is the mix. I talked about Madison Square Garden be being iconic. I talked about our fans. I I love and embrace the expectations that come along with it. So, I’m looking forward to it. what you Well, first of all, I you know, Tom is a tremendous coach, you know, and and he is a friend of mine. Uh but I don’t want to get into the past. Uh I’m just excited about the roster. I’m excited about the things that we’re going to put in place here and where we can go with the guys that we have. Thank you. Well, it’s a a twofold question. uh you know I what I’ve experienced and I said it in my opening statement you know I’ I’ve been to six finals with three different teams and the commonality that they all had is they all sacrifice for one another. They’re all connected. The connectivity it’s at the highest and it starts with ownership on down. uh they all have a competitive spirit and there’s a high level of belief not just in the process but each other. So those four things are common amongst all the teams that I’ve been with that have participated in the finals. A pleasure. Obviously when you’re going into a job search you want to sell yourself to the team. when you go into those, what do you want to hear from the team in terms of what they want to do to help enhance you and set you up for success? Well, first thing, the only person I really had to sell myself to was was Ro and obviously it worked. That’s why she’s sitting right there. But, uh, you know, I respect Leon’s process. Um, I feel like I’m a detailed guy. I feel like I’m thorough with anything and everything that I try to do. Um, so it’s no different here. Uh, I’m just I was just myself throughout the process. Had great conversations uh with Mr. Dolan, obviously with Leon and his group because, you know, my whole thing is I want to form a partnership with him to do this together. It’s impossible to do on your own. And obviously the outcome is exciting for me because I’m sitting in the seat that I wanted to be in. My pleasure. Um, one of the things that stands out a lot just as aachers and your willingness to kind of hold that look like given that so many players had relationship with played in the same program in college. What does that look like to you? But well, in general, I think that is a part of my job. Um, it’s one of my values is accountability, but not just for players and even for myself. I expect people to hold me accountable. Uh, but at the end of the day, it’s about relationships. It’s about the trust that I trust that I talked about. Um, and once you grow those relationships, then you can you’re going to talk openly about anything uh that you need to in the direction that you need to go. And so, I’m going to be open and honest with them. And I’m sure they’re going to be open and honest with me. And like I said, I’m no different. Yeah, I’m just wonder again. And I I thought, you know, what they what the the group did this past year in the playoffs, it just it just shows their potential. And uh not just defensively, but offensively, too. And so I’m looking forward to putting a plan in place. And working with those guys on both ends of the floor, I love their length. I love their versatility. Uh and so implementing something or uh my vision is very exciting for me and hopefully it is for everybody else because I think the ceiling is high on both ends for the group. January watch, you know, like I said, you know, I I thought Tom did a great job and the guys did a fantastic job last year, but I’m looking forward. We got, you know, we just added two new additions to the team that are going to bring a a lot of versatility to how we’re going to play. Um, I’m I just can’t wait to get on the court and and start implementing things that we want to do offensively to help us grow and take it to another level. But, uh, uh, you know, we still got some time before we do that. seemed like over the course of this year there were quite a few culture changes really starting with you went on to Memphis and Denver and finally here that surprised people the team had done very well the guy had a great run there took the places they hadn’t gone in a long time is it getting harder as a coach to sort of understand what the organization wants or why do you want to keep doing jump right back in keep going as a coach I I mean, I’m passionate about coaching. Uh I I want to win and um you know, you want to be in a a great place uh that has like thinking and so I know for me, especially speaking with Mr. Nolan uh speaking with Leon and I have a history with Leon knowing who he is as a person knowing that I’d love to partner with him and then looking at the roster and the reality of it is uh Rose said we better move to New York because I’m a foodie. So, so when you when you combine all those things uh it was a no-brainer for me. You know, the league is the league and uh there’s always going to be es and flows in terms of how the hiring and firing process goes and you just embrace it and you keep moving forward. you bring that experience here? You know, I I learned a lot, not just in Sacramento, but throughout my entire career. I’m I’m a firm believer that if you don’t evolve, no matter what profession you’re in, I I’m sure you guys feel it, too. Especially some of some of you guys that have been around for a long time. Okay, I’m not I’m not going to say any names. I’m just pointing out that way. I’m not saying any names. But for some of you guys that’s been around a long time and you feel the young bucks. I’m not pointing it or saying it. You feel the Young Bucks clawing at the back of your heels. And so, you know, learning, growing, evolving throughout the course of your time of where you’re at is something that I’m a firm believer in. And and I can’t just pinpoint one thing, but I know I appreciate my time in Sacramento. I appreciate the fans there and I appreciate the opportunity uh that the vet gave me to run his team. Okay. Basketball it it’s changed in a lot of different ways. I mean, I can I can go far back. My first bench job was with the Washington Bullets. They were still called the Bullets back then. Uh, and we were playing at the Cap Center still in Landover, Maryland. And, uh, you know, we had Chris Weber and Tran Howard and Tracy Murray and all those guys, Tim Leggler, and uh, you know, you learn a lot from not just your experience as a coach with the other coaches there, but also from the players. You know, when I was in San Antonio with David and Tim, it was about playing inside out. And now, uh, fast forward to my time with Steve, uh, it’s about pace and space. And that’s where the game is. And like I said, if you can’t evolve, you’re going to get left behind. And so, I feel like I’m trying to do that. And and hopefully, uh, we’ll be able to bring some of that here. Mike Roen. Pleasure. Um, a question about the Eastern Conference landscape. Um, some of the high achieving teams have suffered crippling injuries uh that could affect them in the coming season. How do you see the Knicks as they stack up in landscape? Well, first of all, you know, you don’t ever want to see anybody um get hurt, you know, especially like um the way those guys did. That’s excuse me, that’s that’s unfortunate. You know, throw basketball out the window. That’s just unfortunate for them as individuals and on top of that for their families and organizations and all that other stuff. But, you know, there are a lot of good teams out there. Um it it doesn’t matter if those guys are injured or not. At the end of the day, um teams are going to find ways to win. And so we don’t feel like it’s going to be easier any easier just because of the injuries uh going forward. We’re going to have to focus on this thing um one day at a time. uh one practice at a time, one shoot around one shoot around at a time and try to get better each and every day. So when it comes time uh to make our run in the playoffs, we’re ready. Good. Did you ever get a clear idea? You know, I I don’t even want to get into it because that’s that’s behind me. I’m just I’m I’m excited about being here in New York and uh like I said earlier, taking her to a couple of restaurants because it probably won’t happen come September or October uh at least for the next six months. But I I I’m again thankful for the opportunity out in Sacramento. Yeah. What does that experience? You know, it’s part of my evolution. Uh I I learned a lot from all those guys, from Tim Duncan to LeBron to Steph to KD to Draymond, uh to Foxy. I mean, you you go down the line because they’re all different. Uh that’s what makes uh my my experience, my background uh in my opinion help me be different or unique. Just being around those guys. Uh even a guy like Andre Godala who I I I love to death uh you know just all those guys help me grow in some way, shape or form. And they they all whether they want to admit it or not or whatever they they all have a little bit uh little bit to do of why I’m standing right here. Thank you. Right. What were your impressions? Well, again, watching them as a fan, which I I did, not just here, but with every team in the league, you know, you’re you’re excited. Uh I said that they have an, you know, we have an outstanding roster. I you know, what they did in the playoffs shows their potential and, you know, I’m looking forward to to getting to work with these guys. first few days. Today, I guess yeah, you know, it’s it’s a lot of that. You want to reach out to um to all your players. uh you want to start that line of communication going because at the end at the end of the day again I go back to this is what you guys do. It’s it’s about relationships and those relationships are some of the most important relationships that I’m going to have going forward and uh so so touching base with them getting that process going and then you know I I want to be collaborative. I want to form that partnership with Lyon again. I’m I’m excited to do that with him. And so he and I uh we just started, you know, sitting down and talking about uh different ways to formulate a staff. So that’s going to be a process that’s ongoing and uh who knows how long it will take. Uh but those are a couple of things that you really start to dive into as as well as trying to figure out the landscape and all that other stuff when you get a job. just you know once once I get my staff together and we dive more into it uh we’ll figure out uh you know all those types of things. I’m I’m excited uh that they’re both on the team obviously because they’re two different players. you know, uh Mitchell is a vertical threat. Cat, as you know, is a space threat. And so to have the versatility that those two guys bring to the table, uh is going to be a lot of fun. Yeah. No, that’s a great question. I you know I I think you you have a philosophy on both ends of the floor but you have to make sure that it fits with your personnel. So uh it’s ever evolving and uh it will be here once our roster is final uh our staff is final. We’ll lay the groundwork or the foundation for what we’re going to do going forward as a unit. Thank you everybody. Thank you guys. I appreciate it.

Coach Mike Brown holds his first press conference as the new head coach of the New York Knicks ahead of the 2025-26 NBA season.

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