{"id":564023,"date":"2026-01-27T13:02:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/564023\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T13:02:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:02:21","slug":"mike-brown-getting-more-minutes-and-production-from-knicks-bench","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/564023\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Brown getting more minutes and production from Knicks bench"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Mike Brown made his debut as Knicks head coach on opening night, he opened eyes by inserting 11 players into the game within the first 13 minutes. By the time the Knicks had finished off a win over the Cavaliers he used 10 players for at least 12 minutes each.<\/p>\n

It seemed a hint of the change that would come, a first indication that the expectations of the coaching search were going to be realized. Critics in the organization had pointed to the heavy minutes Tom Thibodeau played his starters, to the struggles of the bench and to the lack of development of those players.<\/p>\n

Through 45 games this season, the numbers show the Knicks (27-18) have seen improvement from the bench.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0bench is producing 84.2 minutes per game (23rd in the NBA),\u00a032.6 points per game (27th in the NBA) and 16.1 rebounds per game (17th in the NBA).<\/p>\n

The Knicks ranked last in the NBA last season in bench minutes per game (63.5), bench points per game (21.7) and bench rebounds per game (10.1).<\/p>\n

Their net rating for bench production has gone from -4.6, which was 12th in the NBA last season, to +3.4, third in the NBA this season. Net rating shows a team’s point differential per 100 possessions.<\/p>\n

Brown talked in the preseason about not pushing his players too hard, noting his experience with Golden State\u2019s championship runs, and said, \u201cThe biggest thing is, trying to make sure you watch everybody\u2019s minutes instead of trying to chase games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s most-used bench contributors included Cam Payne, who couldn\u2019t land an NBA job this season and is playing in Serbia;\u00a0Precious Achiuwa, who was cut by the Heat\u00a0in the preseason before landing with the Kings;\u00a0and Delon Wright, who is out of the league.\u00a0But the Knicks still made it to the Eastern Conference finals and even used some bench pieces in vital roles.<\/p>\n

The Knicks made moves in the offseason\u00a0to boost\u00a0their bench, adding Guerschon Yabusele and Jordan Clarkson as free agents. But Yabusele quickly lost his minutes early in the season and is averaging just 9.2 minutes per game in 38 games. Clarkson, after providing an early-season scoring punch, has had his minutes cut. He did not play in Saturday’s win against the 76ers. In a one-sided loss to Dallas on Jan. 19, he played 1:42 in the first quarter and was benched the rest of the game. He didn\u2019t play in the Knicks\u2019 most lopsided victory in their history last Wednesday against the Nets until the fourth quarter. Clarkson played a season-high 22.2 minutes in December, but is averaging just 16.7 in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can help any team in the league. I helped win here,\u201d Clarkson said. \u201cYou seen it early on in the year. I know I got a lot left in my tank. I know I can impact winning anywhere. I\u2019ve impacted winning here in the short time that I\u2019ve been here winning games. So I\u2019ve just got to\u00a0stay prepared and control what I can control.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the season has worn on, Brown has made decisions about using his bench that are not static.\u00a0In Saturday\u2019s win over the 76ers, Jalen Brunson played 38 minutes\u00a0and Mitchell Robinson played a season-high 27 minutes. Even with Karl Anthony-Towns<\/a> limited to just 16 minutes by foul trouble, Brown used just eight players for nearly the entire game \u2014 only plugging in Yabusele for a brief first-half run and Ariel Hukporti for a vital four-minute stretch in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be tough to get him in the rotation,\u201d Brown said of Clarkson. \u201cObviously, Deuce [McBride]<\/a>, played well, Mitch [Robinson]\u00a0played well and Landry [Shamet] played at a pretty high level before he got hurt. And so trying to find minutes for those guys \u2014 as well as for our starting group \u2014 is tough. I can\u2019t even hit the minute threshold for all those guys I\u2019m looking for. It can be tough from time to time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the bench’s production this season has come from health. Robinson sat out much of last season and he has been a force again on the boards and defensively. McBride has been one of the Knicks’ most productive players with a team-best 12.4 net rating, according to Cleaning the Glass. The Knicks are also better with McBride on the floor, averaging 8.9 points per 100 possessions and allowing 3.5 less points per 100 possessions defensively.<\/p>\n

Production explains some of the adjustments by Brown. Clarkson has a -7.0 net rating while Yabusele is a -8.6. Last year\u2019s first-round pick, Pacome Dadiet<\/a>, has played less than anyone. Mo Diawara has started games and sat out many. McBride and Shamet have been regular rotation pieces along with Robinson, forming a strong eight-man rotation with the starters.<\/p>\n

Brown has been open to experimentation, trying all kinds of combinations, even closing the win in Philadelphia Saturday with a lineup he had not used once this season. The Knicks have had 11 different players start games already in 45 games. He\u2019s given opportunities to young players \u2014 and taken them away. Tyler Kolek emerged as a contributor earlier this season. But with the roster at full strength he didn\u2019t play in Philadelphia either. It’s\u00a0the second time Kolek\u00a0sat in the last seven games.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome nights that\u2019s going to have a huge onus on it,\u201d Shamet said of the bench. \u201cSome nights it\u2019s not. Some nights it\u2019s just going to change. I\u2019ve been saying that the entire time I\u2019ve been here because we have that group, it\u2019s a carousel. Some nights it\u2019s going to be a heavy bench night where we come in and pick it up. Other nights our first five have it going and the ball doesn\u2019t find us as much. That\u2019s the beauty of our team. We\u2019re built that way.”<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

\n\tSteve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Mike Brown made his debut as Knicks head coach on opening night, he opened eyes by inserting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,304,6,1136,191,3810,3806,66071],"class_list":{"0":"post-564023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-knicks","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-knicks","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkknicks","15":"tag-spdata"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115967200834510562","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}