Welcome to the first installment of Catching Strays, the New York Daily News\u2019 daily rundown on all things Knicks. Every day you\u2019ll get the news, the quotes and the context from the biggest Knicks and NBA storylines overnight.<\/p>\n
Today: Mike Brown\u2019s warning against complacency, his challenge to Mikal Bridges, and Stephen A. Smith\u2019s front-office question, with some notes on the Karl-Anthony Towns-Josh Hart extension situation plus tidbits from around the league.<\/p>\n
LAST YEAR DOESN\u2019T COUNT<\/p>\n
Before Thursday\u2019s preseason game against the Washington Wizards at Madison Square Garden, Brown said the biggest threat to his team is complacency.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest thing is continuing to make sure we don\u2019t have any slippage in our process,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
Brown included himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a new season, a new team with new challenges, and you hope you can improve all year knowing you\u2019re gonna take a step back every once in a while,\u201d he said. \u201cI know that because we\u2019re all human including myself, I have to be really conscious of making sure that none of us rely on last year to get us through this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
No NBA team has repeated as an NBA champion since the Stephen Curry-Kevin Durant Golden State Warriors won back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018. The Knicks became the eighth different team to win the NBA title, joining the Oklahoma City Thunder (2025), Boston Celtics (2024), Denver Nuggets (2023), the Warriors again (2022), Milwaukee Bucks (2021), Los Angeles Lakers (2020), and Toronto Raptors (2019).<\/p>\n
The Knicks are the co-favorites to win the Eastern Conference along with the Philadelphia 76ers, reloaded with LeBron James and Jaylen Brown. The Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are co-favorites to win it all.<\/p>\n
GET TO THE RACK<\/p>\n
Mike Brown also wants Bridges finishing over the top, not living on pull-up, close-range twos. After Wednesday\u2019s practice in Tarrytown, he explained why.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of times he\u2019s got a smaller guy on him, and as quick and long and athletic as he is, if he\u2019s efficient with his move to the rim it\u2019s too late for that big or for the help to get there, because he can still finish over the top,\u201d Brown said. \u201cSo I would like him to add some more of that to this game as opposed to just relying on the pullup. But he\u2019s been great with the pullup in terms of efficiency and decision-making, so just add the ability to finish at the rim at times, which it looks like he\u2019s starting to be more conscious of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown also shot down the notion that a lack of free throw attempts is an indictment on Bridges\u2019 impact on the offensive end: \u201cI don\u2019t want anybody driving thinking, \u2018I need to get to the line,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI want him driving to score the bucket or to collapse the D.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether Bridges attacks the basket was a hot-button question all of last season. He averaged 1.2 free throw attempts a game, down from 3.9 in his last season in Brooklyn, per Basketball Reference. But in the playoffs, from Game 6 of the first round on, he made 28 of 32 shots in the restricted area.<\/p>\n
STEPHEN A: KNICKS\u2019 FRONT OFFICE STILL AWAITING CONTRACT EXTENSIONS<\/p>\n
Smith wants to know where the extensions are for the men who built New York City\u2019s champion, and he\u2019s pointing at Knicks owner James Dolan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere the hell is the extension for Leon Rose?\u201d Smith said Tuesday on ESPN\u2019s \u201cFirst Take.\u201d He asked the same about William \u201cWorld Wide Wes\u201d Wesley, then added: \u201cWorld Wide Wes and Leon Rose ended a 53-year drought and brought a championship to New York.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rose\u2019s and Wesley\u2019s contract terms have never been made public. Dolan hired Rose as team president in Feb. 2020, and Wesley joined as executive vice president and senior basketball advisor the ensuing June.<\/p>\n
KAT AND HART: WHAT\u2019S NEW<\/p>\n