The Knicks play basketball in less than 48 hours.
New York flew all the way to Abu Dhabi on Sunday, arrived there on Monday, found energy somewhere in their bodies to run a practice, and went back to the lab on Tuesday as they gear up to have a back-to-back international affair against the Sixers.
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Here’s the latest from Coach Brown, OG, and Josh Hart as we get ready to watch the Knicks hoop on Thursday morning.
On how he will handle the preseason, given it’s starting away from home in Abu Dhabi:
“That’s performance department. They are talking to our guys and doing certain things. They gave our guys compression socks. All those little things. I’m not a sleep expert. One thing we may try to do is when we land, we don’t want the guys going to sleep. We are going to go to the hotel and hang out a little bit and strategically practice at a certain time to keep the bodies right. When we land it will be 3 p.m., but it’s eight hours later here. After we practice we will have dinner. If they want to go to bed early after dinner, that’s probably the right time.”
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On the bonding opportunity of the Abu Dhabi trip:
“Have some fun. We’re going to go over there, we’re going to work. But this is a great opportunity to bond and hang out, get to know one another, get to know each other’s families, because we’re bringing families with us. It is what it is. The NBA is a global game, and so you embrace anything that comes your way and, for us, I know, for me personally, I’ve never been to that part of the world, and so I’m looking forward to it. But I think there are probably 10 to 12 other teams that are doing the same thing. They’re going someplace. So they got to go through those challenges and then some people look at it as we get to start earlier than teams that aren’t going. So we may have an advantage there. So at the end of the day it all washes out.”
On the NBA growing the game internationally:
“To me, that’s the biggest thing. Adam Silver’s done a fantastic job growing this league as well as everybody else. If you make it to a point where it’s global, everything is going to be better for everybody… all across the board. You can see I would beg to say that basketball is probably when it comes to us, sports, it’s the most global game. Everyone else is trying to follow our lead, [as] the NFL [is doing]. Financially, there’s a lot out there. For the NBA to understand that how many years ago and have teams play overseas, it’s been beneficial for us financially.”
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On how overseas trips affect teams:
“At the end of the day, it all washes out.”
On implementing a new minutes approach for long‑term success:
“The biggest thing is trying to make sure you watch everybody’s minutes instead of trying to chase games. There might be some games where maybe you throw the towel in early. It’s important to win, but you also have to understand, ‘Hey, I want to keep this guy’s minutes here, this guy’s minutes here, this guy’s minutes here, instead of trying to extend everybody’s minutes. Because if the season is long, we don’t want anybody worn out by the end.”
On learning from Steve Kerr’s approach in Golden State:
“It kind of caught up to them (in 2016). And from that point on, that’s when (Kerr) was like, ‘I’m not going to chase it anymore.’ If we get it, we get it, but I got to make sure for Steph [Curry], if we want him to only play 35 minutes or average 35 minutes a game, then that’s what he’s going to average.”
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On his Warriors stint and the experience he got there:
“I got to help, too. That’s one when I was fortunate, blessed and lucky to be in back‑to‑back Finals, go a couple of times where you had long seasons and you feel that the next season is right there on one you.”
On the trip to Abu Dhabi:
“The travel, Philly is going to be traveling as well. Just getting there, getting acclimated, trying to sleep right and stuff. Just playing the two games, just building each game.”
On the prospect of playing golf in Abu Dhabi with his injured finger:
“It’s kind of hard with my hand, brother. We’ll see. If one day I feel good, maybe I’ll get out there.”
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On being drained after the Pacers series:
“It was one of those things where I gave everything I have and I just didn’t have anything left in the tank… my mind was there, but my body was a step slow.”
On tweaking his approach to the season as the year progresses:
“I was always in good condition. Trying to find areas to keep strengthening your body, finding areas where you can limit things — whether that’s rest or eating habits, stuff like that. Those kind of things. A tweak here, a tweak there. Not a crazy change you have to do, but it’s little tweaks and when you do that it helps.”