In Leon We Trust

When Leon Rose decided to move on from Tom Thibodeau last June, he had no replacement for him. He attempted to interview several candidates, including Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks, but was denied permission each time. Critics jumped all over him. How could he fire the franchise's most successful head coach since Jeff Van Gundy and not have a successor lined up?

One month later, Rose finally found his man; a coach that had been fired four times in his career, twice by the same organization. Again, his critics pounced. Well, we all know what happened. Mike Brown, in his first season, lead the Knicks to their first title since 1973. So much for not having a Plan B.

When the Boston Celtics signed Mitchell Robinson to a three-year contract at $15.6 million per on the first day of free agency, the critics in the cheap seats were at it again. How could Rose let this happen? Why couldn't the Knicks just go over the second apron to re-sign him? Once again, no Plan B.

It took Rose less than three days to find Robinson's replacement. Like Mike Brown a year ago, Andre Drummond was not his first choice. According to Chris Haynes, Rose had his sites set on Yves Missi of the New Orleans Pelicans, but was rejected "multiple times." Apparently, they view him as a "vital core" player. I wasn't aware that a 26 win team had vital core players.

But regardless of whether Drummond was Rose's first choice or his fourth, the point is he was the best option out there. And if we're being honest with ourselves, the slash line between the two men is very close. How close? Take a look see:

Robinson: 60 GP / 19.6 MP / 5.7 PPG / 8.8 TRB / 1.2 Blk / 0.9 AST / 41 FT% / $15.6m 

Drummond: 63 GP / 19.5 MP / 6.4 PPG / 8.4 TRB / 0.8 Blk / 1.3 AST / 63 FT% / $2.45m

You tell me, if you were Leon Rose, which player would you have signed? If you still prefer Robinson, I seriously don't know what slash line you're looking at. Drummond isn't just the better value; he's the better player. One thing's for certain: the Knicks won't have to worry about "Hack-a-Mitch" anymore. And with the money Rose saved by signing Drummond, he can now re-sign Jordan Clarkson and maybe even sign Kevon Looney. Along with Landry Shamet, Jose Alvarado and Deuce McBride, the Knicks, for the second season in a row, will have the deepest bench in the NBA. How's that for a Plan B?

You don't run an organization with your heart, you run it with your head. Even if James Dolan had been willing to go over the second apron, Rose would've been a fool to do so, especially for a player who doesn't play back-to-back games, can't hit free throws, and in the postseason, allowed Onyeka Okongwu, Joel Embiid, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Victor Wembanyama to shoot 57 percent against him. You don't pay someone like that $15.6 million; you thank him for his service and send him on his way. If anything, the Celtics did the Knicks a huge favor. 

That's the way Rose has rolled ever since he arrived in New York six years ago. His critics don't always understand him; the media doesn't always understand him; sometimes his own players don't always understand him. It may seem at times like he's flying by the seat of his pants, but the fact is he never does anything without having a plan A, B, C or D ready to go.

Leon Rose is the principal reason why the Knicks won the NBA championship this past season, and he's the principal reason why they should be considered the favorites to repeat going into this season. Yes, I realize Jalen Brunson carried them on his back, especially in game five of the finals, but it was Rose who brought Brunson to New York and it was Rose who gave him the supporting cast he needed to complete the job.

The man knows what he's doing. Leave him alone and let him cook. 

At Last!

"For the rest of your life, men, nobody can ever tell you that you couldn't do it because you did it."

Bill Parcells, after the Giants won Super Bowl 21

The New York Knicks are the 2026 NBA champions!

I still can't believe it. I felt the same way when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994. That's what 53 years of failures can do to you. It can make you doubt what your own eyes and ears are telling you.

Even as the final seconds were ticking off, I still thought that something was going to happen that would ruin this moment. Wembanyama would be fouled as he hit a three pointer, he would then convert the free throw to send the game into overtime, where the Spurs would win and force a game 6. The Knicks would lose that game at the Garden and then lose game 7 back in San Antonio.

Another failure in a long list of failures.

Except that didn't happen. Wemby missed his three-pointer, OG Anunoby grabbed the rebound with one second left and threw the ball up into the air in celebration. The Knicks held on to win 94-90 to wrap up the series in five. Mike Breen summed it up best as the final buzzer sounded:

"IT'S OVER, KNICK FANS! THIS IS NOT A DREAM! YOUR LONG, LONG WAIT HAS ENDED! GO AHEAD AND CRY!"

And cry I did; like a baby. Tears of joy streamed down my cheeks. All those years of disappointment and heartache came pouring out at once. I have a feeling I wasn't alone.

For all the players who have come and gone since the last championship - Bob McAdoo, Ray Williams, Michael Ray Richardson, Bill Cartwright, Campy Russell, Bernard King, Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Anthony Mason, Charles Oakley, Allan Houston, Larry Johnson, Latrell Sprewell, Stephon Marbury, Jeremy Lin, Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, J.R. Smith, R.J. Barrett, Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and all those I missed - this one's for you, too.

It wasn't easy. Like they had done in the previous four games, the men in orange and blue fell behind by double-digits in game five. For the series, New York was -57 in the first quarter, but +69 in the other three. That was the story of this final. The Knicks got stronger as the games wore on while the Spurs sputtered. The poise and resilience of the Knicks propelled them to victory while the immaturity and inexperience of the Spurs proved to be their undoing.

This was an historic run. The Knicks went 16-3 in the postseason, 9-1 on the road. The three losses were by a total of six points. Their overall point differential of 283 was 53 points higher than the 2017 Golden State Warriors: the team generally acknowledged as the best of all time. All four of their close out games came on the road. The 22 point comeback against the Cavs in game one of the Eastern Conference finals was surpassed only by their historic 29 point comeback against the Spurs in game four of the finals. Anyone who believes for a moment that this team did not earn its title doesn't know a damn thing about basketball.

The Finals MVP was, by unanimous vote, Jalen Brunson. On a night where the rest of his teammates didn't have it, the Captain dragged them across the finish line. His 45 points is tied with Michael Jordan for third most in a title-clinching game. He averaged 32.6 points per game in the finals, 28.4 overall in the playoffs. If there were any doubts that he was the best free-agent signing in NBA history they were put to bed in this series. His decision to leave $113 million on the table when he signed his latest contract is the reason this franchise ended its 53 year drought. It's no coincidence that after being slammed to the court by Wembanyama in game three, Brunson had his two best shooting performances in games four and five. The Russians were right: revenge is a dish best served cold. Not only is Brunson a "dude," he is, without question, the best clutch player in all of basketball.

But as great as Brunson was, he didn't do it all by himself; he had some help. OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart each contributed in their own way to the cause. Anunoby was making a case to be Finals MVP before Brunson dropped 45 in the clincher; Towns owned Wembanyama early in the series; Bridges made people forget about those draft picks; and Hart was pretty much a thorn in the side of San Antonio most of the series.

And now we come to the architect of this championship team. I think it's safe to say that Leon Rose was, without question, the best hire James Dolan has ever made as owner of this franchise. In addition to clearing out dead cap space, Rose methodically assembled one of the best rosters in the NBA. He hired Tom Thibodeau, signed Jalen Brunson, traded for Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns. And when he realized the Knicks had reached their ceiling with Thibodeau, he replaced him with Mike Brown. The only player he inherited that's still with the team is Mitchell Robinson.

Though Brown unleashed their potential, the toughness and resiliency that has come to define this group over the years came from Thibs. How else can you explain how this team was able to come back from 20 down multiple times over the past two postseasons? Any other team would've folded like a cheap tent. Not this one.

Even when they were going through that rough patch in January, the Knicks never wavered as a team. When they dropped games two and three against Atlanta and the season was hanging by a thread, they never lost their faith in one another. They knew they were up for the challenge and they proved it by winning 13 in a row and 15 of their last 16.

That's what makes them so beloved by their fans: that never say die attitude. Admit it: when they were down 10 early in the fourth, you knew they were going to pull it out, didn't you? So did the Spurs, I'm guessing.

And now this incredible season is over. The New York Knicks are the 2026 NBA champions. No one can ever take that away from them.

All that's left is the parade down the Canyon of Heroes Thursday morning. I was there when the Rangers had their parade in '94, and I will be there when the Knicks have theirs, along with about 3 to 5 million screaming and grateful fans.

They say all good things come to those who wait. To paraphrase the great Sam Rosen, Knicks fans have waited a lifetime for this moment. It's finally here.

Almost Home

The New York Knicks are in the finals!

The last time that happened I still had black hair, my wife and I were on an Alaskan cruise to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary, and Bill Clinton was in the White House. That was 27 years ago. To put that in perspective, Johnny Carson was on the air for 30.

They say time flies when you're having fun. Fun would be the last word fans of this franchise would use to describe the hell they've gone through. Between 2001 and 2020, New York made the playoffs five times, advancing to the second round once. Over that stretch, a litany of GMs from Isaiah Thomas to Phil Jackson have come and gone. 

But it wasn't until James Dolan hired Leon Rose in 2020 that things began to turn around. Rose immediately went to work rebuilding an organization that had become the laughingstock of the league. His first decision was to hire Tom Thibodeau as head coach that summer. In Thibs first season, the Knicks made the playoffs, losing in five to the Atlanta Hawks. Though it was a bitter defeat, a foundation had been laid.

Over the next few years, Rose made several significant moves. In the summer of 2022, he cleared enough cap space to sign Jalen Brunson to a four-year, $104 million contract; a move that was widely criticized at the time as an overpay. Then at the '23 trade deadline, he acquired Josh Hart from the Portland Trail Blazers for Cam Reddish. Over the summer, he signed Donte DiVencenzo.

But his boldest moves were yet to come. In December of '23, Rose traded RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and a second round pick to the Toronto Raptors for OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa. Then in the summer of '24. he traded five first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Mikal Bridges. Like the Brunson signing, this too was considered an overpay. But the final piece of the puzzle came right before the start of the 2024-25 season. In a stunner, he traded Julius Randle and DiVencenzo to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns. Rose had coveted the 7-0 center for years and now, at last, he had his man.

The Knicks would have their best postseason in a quarter century, beating the reigning champion Boston Celtics in six to advance the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000. But the manner in which they lost to the Indiana Pacers - blowing a late fourth quarter double-digit lead in game one - did not sit well with Rose. He fired Thiboadeau and replaced him with Mike Brown.

Throughout the 2025-26 season, the Knicks displayed signs of a true contender. They won the NBA Cup in December, routed elite teams like the Denver Nuggets by 39 and the San Antonio Spurs by 25; the latter one of only three defeats the Spurs would suffer from February 1 through the end of the regular season. 

But there were also some bumps in the road. They barely beat a tanking Nets team and needed to come from behind to beat a Golden State Warriors team that was missing most of its starters. This dichotomy between greatness and underachievement was frustrating to watch, primarily because you never knew which Knicks team was going to show up. 

Going into the postseason, I wrote "the Knicks are capable of going all the way to the finals; they're also capable of being ousted in the first round." And after a game three loss that put the Hawks up 2-1, it was beginning to look like the latter was a very real possibility. The "Fire Mike Brown" contingent was in full force.

It was at that point that the Knicks had a come to Jesus moment. They went on a tear, the likes of which have rarely been seen by any New York area team. They won the next three against the Hawks, blowing them out by 51 points in game six. They then swept the Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers. Both closeout games were ostensibly over by halftime.

The numbers are staggering. Of the Knicks twelve wins, eleven have been by double digits and five have been by 25 or more points; they've held their opponents to under 100 points seven times; and their point differential of +271 is the highest through three rounds in NBA history. Their defensive rating of 104.4 leads all postseason teams.

Leon Rose has done a masterful job assembling this roster, and Mike Brown has done an equally masterful job coaching it. This is not meant as a knock on Thibs, but no way in hell this team gets this far with him as coach. So dominant have they been that even some of their harshest critics have been forced to grudgingly admit that they are legit; though they still maintain that they had an easy path to the finals. Oh, well, you can't fix stupid, but you can sure as shit block it. 

Which is what I've been mostly doing. Nobody is going to rain on this parade. I've waited 27 years for this moment and I'll be damned if I'm going to let the haters take away my joy. I haven't felt this way about a team I root for since the '86 Giants went through the NFL like shit through a goose.

I believe in these players, and I believe they have what it takes to go all the way, regardless of which team they face in the finals. As for who that might be, I'm done projecting. I wanted the Raptors in the first round; I got the Hawks. I wanted the Celtics in the second round; I got the Sixers. I wanted the Pistons in the conference finals; I got the Cavs. At this point, I could care less who they play.

The New York Knicks are in the finals! 

They are four wins away from their first NBA championship since 1973. 

That was 53 years ago. 

Knicks Send a Message

I've been watching the Knicks for more than 50 years and I've never seen anything like this. Neither has the NBA, apparently. Since losing game three to the Atlanta Hawks 109-108, this team has undergone a metamorphosis that would make David Banner proud. They beat the Hawks 114-98, 126-97 and 140-89 to advance to the second round. They then pummeled the Philadelphia 76ers 137-98 to take a 1-0 lead. Four games, four wins, three blowouts, with a total point differential of +135. 

New York shot 48, 57, 59 and 63 percent respectively from the field in those four games. This postseason, Karl-Anthony Towns has two triple doubles, two double doubles and is averaging six assists per game; Jalen Brunson is averaging 27.6 points and 5.7 assists per game; and O.G. Anunoby is averaging 7.9 rebounds and 21 points per game on 63.7 percent shooting; 59.4 percent from three.

But even more impressive than the offensive output has been the commitment to defense. During this four-game win streak, the Knicks have not allowed an opponent to score 100 points against them once. Since the playoffs began, they have the top five plus / minus players: Brunson (+111), Anunoby (+106), Josh Hart (+105), Towns (+103) and Miles McBride (+85); the top five net rating players: McBride (30.5), Towns (24.9), Hart (22.6), Brunson (22.3) and Anunoby (20.6); and the second-best team defensive rating at 103.6. Philadelphia, incidentally, is 14th at 117.4.

The Sixers and their fans can rationalize all they want about what happened Monday night at the Garden as simply being a hangover from their emotional win against the Celtics in game seven. And if that had been a one-off, I might tend to agree. Trouble is, it wasn't. The reality is game one of this series looked eerily similar to game six of the last series, and that isn't good news for the city of brotherly love.

The Knicks are sending a message loud and clear, not just to the Sixers, but to every so-called "expert" who doubted them. And that message is, "Dismiss us at your own peril." This team isn't just having an historic run; it's clearly the best team in the Eastern Conference. Hell, the way they're playing, they might even be the best team in the league.

Hyperbole? I think not. Compare what the Knicks have done in these playoffs with what other teams in their conference have done. The Detroit Pistons had to come from 3-1 down to beat the 8th seed Orlando Magic; the Celtics blew a 3-1 lead to the 7th seed Sixers; and the Cleveland Cavaliers needed a full seven games to dispose of the 5th seed Toronto Raptors. All three of those teams, at one point or another during the regular season, had better odds of coming out of the East than the Knicks.

I thought going in that Philly would pose a huge matchup problem for New York, and just to be clear, this series is far from over;  they still could pose a matchup problem. But if game one is any indication, it's the Knicks that are posing the matchup problem for the Sixers. Joel Embiid is, without question, an offensive force in the paint. In the first half he drew three fouls a piece on Towns and Mitchell Robinson; a problem that coach Mike Brown said his team would need to address going forward. 

On the other end of the court, however, Embiid is about as useless as tits on a bull, and the Knicks know it. Brunson and KAT exposed his lack of mobility several times with the pick and roll. Look for that to continue as the series progresses. The more the Knicks make Embiid work defensively, the less effective he will be offensively. Did you see him at the end of the Boston series? The man looked gassed. And that's exactly what New York wants: a gassed and ineffective Embiid in the closing minutes of each game. 

Then there's the bench. I'll say it again: New York has the deepest roster of any team in the Eastern Conference. Embiid and Tyrese Maxey are undoubtedly superstars and deserving of praise, but the reason the Knicks have gone through their opponents like shit through a goose this postseason is because they're not a one or a two-man show. KAT and Brunson may garner most of the headlines, but Brown is getting contributions from every player in his lineup. This is not meant as a slight on Tom Thibodeau, but no way this team would be playing as well as it is if he were still coaching them. That should painfully obvious to all but the most ardent Thibs apologists.

I predicted before this series began that it would go seven games, and, who knows, it very well might. But the way New York is playing right now, I wouldn't be surprised if it gets wrapped up in six or five. Not because the Sixers are a bad team, but because the Knicks are that much better. 

That being said, some adjustments will have to be made before game two tonight, notably how they guard Embiid. Clearly Towns and Robinson are not the answer. The Knicks cannot afford to have their two big men in foul trouble by halftime, especially since it's unlikely that we'll see another blowout like we saw in game one. If I were Brown, I'd put Anunoby on Embiid. Two years ago, both he and Precious Achiuwa did a pretty effective job on him. The best way to prevent Embiid from being a one-man wrecking crew is to keep him on the perimeter. Waiting until he gets to the top of the key with the ball is too late.

If the Knicks can "contain Embiid," as I wrote in my preview, and if they continue to defend the way they've been doing so far in these playoffs, they'll advance to their second consecutive conference finals. It's just a matter of when, not if.

P.S.: Less than an hour after this piece was published, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that Joel Embiid has been ruled out for game two tonight at the Garden. There is absolutely no excuse for the Knicks not going up 2-0 in the series.

Mike Brown's KAT Problem

"I'm still trying to figure out where I could impact our team and winning the most."

- Karl-Anthony Towns

75 games into the season and the Knicks number two scorer still doesn't know what his role on the team is. I don't want to sound like an alarmist here, but we're way past the point where this should be an issue. Typically, this late in the season, teams are fine tuning their systems, not redesigning them. If someone as valuable as KAT is saying something like this publicly, I can assure you Leon Rose cannot be happy. And if Rose isn't happy, you can bet the ranch James Dolan isn't either. 

I have given Mike Brown the benefit of the doubt on more than one occasion. In my opinion, he has been an improvement over his predecessor Tom Thibodeau. He has cut down on the minutes the starters were playing, has increased the number of players in his rotation and, most notably, gotten a team that was fourteenth in defensive rating last season to seventh this season. Indeed, since January 21, the Knicks are first in the NBA in defensive rating.

He has also managed to do something Thibs couldn't do: get Towns and Jalen Brunson to defend. Since January 21, KAT's defensive rating is 104.5 and Brunson's is 111.9; last season, it was 110.3 and 118.2 respectively. It was no secret that in last year's Eastern Conference finals, the Pacers took advantage of both players whenever they were on the court. So bad was it that Thibs was forced to move KAT to the 4 and start Mitchell Robinson at the 5 once the series shifted to Indiana.

But while Brown deserves accolades for the defensive turnaround, there's no excuse for one of his players not knowing what his role is. We're not talking about a bench player here. We're talking about a 7-0 center who, last season, averaged 24.4 points per game and shot 42 percent from three-point range. Only Nikola Jokic averaged more points per game at that position.

There's also no excuse for Brown pulling that player out of a game in which his team was trailing by two late in the 4th quarter. Sunday night in OKC, the Thunder were leading 95-93 with 5:41 left in regulation. The Knicks were on a 12-3 run with Towns accounting for nine of their points. Thanks to a turnover by SGA, New York had the ball. That's when Brown inexplicably pulled his star center and inserted Mitchell Robinson in his place. Though the substitution was short-lived, the momentum had ostensibly been killed. KAT never scored another point. OKC would go on a 16-7 run to close out the game. 

It is incumbent upon a head coach to communicate to his players what his expectations are and what their roles will be. For most of the season, Towns has looked lost out on the court. He passes up shots that are there while forcing shots that aren't. Against the Thunder, he took only nine shots. To put that in perspective, Jose Alvarado took ten off the bench.

This was not some blow out; this was a close game that was winnable. The first rule in sports is you always go with your best lineup when the game is on the line. KAT was on a roll; no way he should've been substituted. While Robinson has many talents, offense isn't one of them. He had no business being on the court in that situation. His turnover two possessions later opened up the flood gates for OKC.

This isn't the first time Brown's tinkering with the rotation has been questioned. You could say it's been a season-long preoccupation of his. There's just one problem: this isn't November or December, it's March, about to become April. The tinkering should be over. The way this team is playing, they'd have a hard time making it out of the first round, let alone getting to the finals. And if they end up facing the Pistons in the conference finals, they might very well get swept.

Mike Brown was hired to get the Knicks over the hump. They entered the season as the prohibitive favorites to win the East. As of now, they're more likely to finish fourth than first. Not all of what's wrong is his fault; but the part that is he must fix, and fix soon. Otherwise, this season of high expectations will go up in smoke.

Just like all the others. 

Will the Real New York Knicks Please Stand Up?

Seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Just when you think you've figured out this Knicks team, they throw a curve Sandy Koufax would be proud of.

23-9, 2-9, 8-0, 4-4, 4-1, and now 1-2. 

I give up.

How can the same team that was responsible for the only loss the San Antonio Spurs have suffered since the beginning of February need a second-half comeback against a Utah Jazz team that was fined $500,000 by Adam Silver for tanking? Your guess is as good as mine. 

Exasperating doesn't begin to describe it. This team plays with all the consistency of a ship without a rudder. One minute, it's a championship contender; the next, it's a borderline play-in team. And the most frustrating thing about them is you never know which team is going to show up on any given night.

Even last night, the Jazz pretty much had their way with the Knicks in the first half, shooting 54 percent from the floor and 67 percent from three. Jalen Brunson went 1-8 and was a minus 16, while Mikal Bridges - the MIA player of the year - went 1-5 and was a minus 17.  If it hadn't been for Karl-Anthony Towns (5-9 / 15 points) this game would've been over by halftime.

Fortunately for the Knicks, they were playing the Jazz. That sense of urgency which had been missing in the first half, as well as against the Lakers and Clippers, suddenly appeared in the third quarter. Brunson woke up and scored 18 points, and Jordan Clarkson had himself a nice homecoming, scoring 19. In all, New York outscored Utah 78-52 in the second half and won going away.

But why did it have to come to that? Why does this team, which everyone agrees is loaded with talent, insist on playing down to the level of its opponents? That is the sixty-four thousand dollar question that must be answered satisfactorily by the playoffs or this dream season will come to a nightmarish ending.

It starts with having heart. No, not Josh Hart, who was out because of left-knee soreness, but good old-fashioned heart; the kind that championship-caliber teams display on a regular basis. If you can beat teams like the Spurs, Boston Celtics or Denver Nuggets handily, you should have no problem beating lottery teams like the Jazz or Indiana Pacers, who upset the Knicks at the Garden last month. 

The fact is games like this should never be in doubt. Yes, I realize that even the best teams occasionally have an off night or two, but with the Knicks, it's become something of an occupational hazard. You can almost predict when the next slump will occur. It typically happens right after a good stretch of games. If ever there was a team that couldn't stand prosperity, it's the Knicks. 

I have defended Mike Brown numerous times in this blog. In my opinion, he is a vast improvement over Tom Thibodeau. The proof is the Knicks record against the best teams in the NBA. Last season, they were 0-10 against the Cavaliers, Celtics and Thunder. This season, they're 4-3. Even with these last three games, the Knicks still have the best defensive rating in the league over their last 24 games.

But if there is one criticism that you can levy on Brown - and it is one that has plagued him throughout his coaching career - it's that he wants to be liked by his players. You can tell by his demeanor on the bench. He rarely, if ever, calls them out, even when they deserve it, like they did after that horrendous first quarter. Being calm, cool and collected is all fine and dandy, but every once in a while, you gotta be the bad cop. I'm not saying he has to be the second coming of Hubie Brown or Bobby Knight, but Jesus, even Thibs occasionally lost it now and then. There are worse things than hurting your players feelings; being eliminated in the first round, for instance.

One player whose feelings desperately need to be hurt is Mikal Bridges. The small forward has been a virtual no show the last three games, scoring a combined total of 12 points and posting a minus 34. So bad was he against the Jazz that Brown benched him in the fourth quarter. It is simply unacceptable for someone as valuable as Bridges to play that poorly. And let's be clear, this isn't the first time the player Leon Rose traded five first round picks for has gone AWOL. In fact, you could say he's been a repeat offender. 

The irony is that Bridges, for all his disappearing acts, has had some memorable moments. It was one year ago tonight that he had one of his best games as a Knick, scoring 33 points against the Portland Trail Blazers, including the deciding three pointer to propel New York to a 114-113 OT win. Earlier that season, he scored 41 points against the Spurs on Christmas Day at the Garden. The man has the talent; it's the will that's been lacking.

Brown must find a way to unleash that will. He has to risk hurting Bridges feelings so that the talent that's in him comes out more consistently. Mike Keenan was one of the toughest NHL coaches ever to work behind the bench. The man was, for all intents and purposes, a hard on. But in the Spring of 1994, that toughness was exactly what the Rangers needed to win their first Stanley Cup since 1940. Nice guys don't always finish last, but they seldom finish first.

Mike Brown doesn't have to be as tough as Mike Keenan in order to win a championship; but being Fred Rogers isn't going to cut it.

Regular Seasons Matter

All throughout the 2022-23 regular season, the New York Rangers were a model of inconsistency. There were moments when they looked like the best team in the NHL, and then there were moments when they looked like a lottery team. And the most frustrating thing about them was you couldn't tell which Rangers team was going to show up: the world beater or the bottom feeder. Despite having arguably the most talented roster in franchise history - and that includes the '94 Cup team - the Blusher's finished in the third place in the Metropolitan division.

The players, for their part, didn't seem overly concerned. They were convinced that once the playoffs started, they would sort it all out. And who could blame them? After all, they made it to the Eastern Conference finals the year before. Who were we to question their strategy? 

Well we all know what happened. The Devils wound up beating the Rangers in the first round and Gerard Gallant was fired as head coach. The moral of the story was that regular seasons matter. The inconsistencies that plague teams during the regular season don't miraculously vanish once the postseason starts. There's no switch teams can throw that automatically catapults them to another level. You either have it or you don't. That year it was clear the Rangers didn't have it and they paid dearly for it.

Fast forward to 2025-26. The New York Knicks have had more ups and downs than a bipolar patient at Bellevue. A 23-9 start, followed by a 2-9 skid, followed by an eight-game win streak. They've beaten such teams as the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Denver Nuggets and the L.A. Lakers, and they've also lost to the likes of the Indiana Pacers and the Sacramento Kings. At times they resemble title contenders; at others they resemble the sort of team Adam Silver was referring to when he addressed the issue of tanking in the NBA.

Sound familiar? It should. 

Like that Rangers team three years ago, this Knicks team is one of the most talented in franchise history. Indeed, you have to go all the way back to the Red Holzman era of the early 1970s to find a more talented roster. But as they used to say in Manhattan, that and a subway token will get you a ride on the 7th Avenue Express. If talent was all you needed, the Rangers would have at least four more championship banners hanging in the rafters at Madison Square Garden, and the Knicks would have at least two more. 

The truth is what you do in the regular season follows you into the playoffs. If you are inconsistent during the regular season, you are most likely going to be inconsistent in the playoffs. Even if we go back to last year's postseason run, the Knicks had to come from behind seven times: three against the Pistons, three against the Celtics and one against the Pacers. And in two of those comeback wins against the Celtics they were trailing by 20 points. They also had without question the worst fourth-quarter collapse in NBA history against the Pacers in game one of the Eastern Conference finals. As good as the Knicks have been under Leon Rose these last four seasons, they have been equally frustrating to watch.

Case in point: After routing the Sixers in Philly 138-89, the Knicks were manhandled by the Pistons at the Garden 126-111, needed a fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Rockets 108-106, almost blew a game they had no business losing to the Bulls in Chicago 105-99, and scored a paltry 11 points in the third quarter of a 109-94 loss to the Cavaliers in Cleveland.

While they went 2-2, they could easily have gone 0-4. Like I said, frustrating. The sad thing is when the Knicks play with a sense of urgency, they can beat almost anybody; when they don't, they are capable of losing to almost anybody. And that dichotomy is the single biggest concern I have about their prospects in the postseason. Which Knicks team is going to show up in April? If it's the former, they have a shot of getting back to the conference finals, maybe even the finals; if it's the latter, they could be eliminated in the first round.

Now to be fair, you could say the same thing about any playoff team in the NBA, NFL, NHL or MLB. The annals of sports history are filled with talented teams that failed in the postseason. But for a franchise that last celebrated a championship during the Nixon administration, it's an ominous warning; one that Mike Brown would do well to heed.

The first-year head coach was hired specifically to fix the shortcomings this Knicks team had under Tom Thibodeau. So far, it's been a mixed bag. There's no doubt that bench scoring has gone up under Brown. Last season, it averaged 21.7 points per game; this season, it's averaging 31.5 points per game. Brown has also increased the  number of players in the rotation. Last season, the running joke was that Thibs wouldn't use nine players in a baseball game; this season, Brown has utilized as many as eleven. 

That isn't the only improvement under Brown. Last season, the Knicks defensive rating was 115.3 (11th best in the NBA); this season, it's 114 (9th best); and over the last 16 games, it's 105.7 (first overall). Obviously, whatever struggles the Knicks are having do not appear to be affecting their defense. In the loss to Cleveland, they held a Cavs team that is averaging just under 120 points per game to 109 points, 74 over the last three quarters.

So what exactly is the problem? Despite the increase in scoring from the bench, the starting five has had a hard time "figuring out" Brown's system. Karl-Anthony Towns in particular has struggled the most. It's no secret that when Rose traded for KAT in the summer of '24 he was not getting the second coming of Bill Russell. The Knicks needed a center who could score and score he did. In his first year on Broadway, Towns averaged 24.4 points per game and 42 percent from three-point range. This season, he's averaging 20 points per game and 36.7 percent from three.

But it isn't just his overall production that's slipped; it's his involvement in the offense. Against the Cavs, he took only five shots the entire game. To put that in perspective, Mitchell Robinson took six. By no means was this the first time KAT went MIA. Against the Celtics earlier this month, he went 3-9 for 11 points; against the Raptors in January, he went 3-11 for 8 points; against the Sixers, he went 2-4 for 10 points before fouling out; and in New York's first game against Detroit, he went 1-4 for 6 points. 

There's no getting around it, the Knicks need their all-star center if they have any hope of going deep in the playoffs. Forget about the Pistons, without a productive Towns, they'd have a hard time beating the Orlando Magic. Brown has to find a way to get him unlocked or this season of high expectations will go up in smoke.

And not just Towns. Mikal Bridges was supposed to be the biggest beneficiary in Brown's system. But that hasn't been the case. He's averaging 15.7 points per game this season, down two from last season. We're way past whether he was worth the five draft picks Rose gave up for him. Bridges, like KAT, must get more involved in the offense.

Look, it's not too late. There are 23 games left in the regular season, more than enough time for the Knicks and their head coach to "figure out" what's wrong and to fix it. But one thing's for certain: talent alone won't save them.

Leon Rose's Next Move Will Be His Most Consequential

With the Rangers in the midst of their second rebuild, retool - or whatever the fuck Chris Drury is calling it - in eight years, the Knicks approach this year's trade deadline with one purpose: to get a team with championship aspirations across the finish line.

This will be Leon Rose's sixth trade deadline since he was hired by James Dolan in March of 2020 to run the franchise, and it will be, by far, his most consequential. With the Eastern Conference wide open, Rose cannot afford to waste this opportunity. But he also can't afford to panic, which is pretty much what every Knicks fan on Twitter has been doing since the NBA Cup. How some of these people are allowed out in public is beyond me.

Let's face it: the roster Rose assembled in the summer of 2024, despite knocking off the Boston Celtics in the second round of last season's playoffs, clearly has flaws. Yes, they've won their last two games, but prior to that, they had lost nine of eleven and looked more like a play-in team than a title contender. The question isn't whether some changes need to be made, but how many and to what extent. 

Mike Brown was hired to transform an offense that had become predictable as dirt under Tom Thibodeau, and for a while there it looked as if he had accomplished the impossible. The starters weren't logging as many minutes as they were the last few seasons; the bench, long an afterthought under Thibs, was making significant contributions. On the surface, everything appeared to be going smoothly. After beating the Pelicans on December 29, New York was 23-9, one game behind the first place Detroit Pistons. To quote Clyde Frazier, the Knicks were "movin' and groovin'."

And then everything began to fall apart. The Knicks blew a late fourth-quarter lead to the Spurs in San Antonio; they were then routed by the Sixers at home and the Pistons in Detroit; they even lost to the lowly Kings in Sacramento. They now sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, a half game ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

While there are many issues besetting this team, the most egregious appears to be Karl-Anthony Towns. After an impressive maiden season on Broadway, the 7-0 center has had a rough time adjusting to Brown's system. He is averaging only 20.5 points per game, down four from the previous season. Worse, he has looked disjointed at times and even sullen. In his last game against the Sixers in Philly, KAT fouled out after a season-low 16 minutes, scoring a measly 10 points and grabbing six rebounds. Had it not been for Mitchell Robinson, the Knicks might very well have lost that game.

Towns has been the ultimate enigma. On the one hand, there's no denying his talent; on the other, no player on this team is more frustrating to watch. Fouls have plagued him throughout his NBA career. It is inexplicable that after eleven seasons he still doesn't know how to set a screen. Adding insult to injury, Towns has the audacity to complain when he gets called for the foul, as if the ref was Mr. Magoo. If it weren't so sad, it would be hysterical.

Almost as frustrating as his foul troubles is his inconsistent offensive production. When facing teams with big front courts, he tends to struggle. It's no coincidence that two of his worst offensive performances this season came against the Sixers and the Pistons; two teams that the Knicks could well face in the postseason.

The problem for the Knicks is that when KAT isn't scoring, he's pretty much useless on the court. The man can't defend to save his life; indeed, the one thing Brown and Thibs both have in common is that they would often substitute Towns for Robinson late in the game with a lead.

By no means is Towns the only culprit when it comes to defense. Jalen Brunson isn't exactly Gary Payton. But unlike KAT, Brunson doesn't wilt in big moments. If anything, the tougher the opponent, the more he seems to rise to the occasion. There's a reason why he's referred to as Captain Clutch. 

The sixty-four thousand dollar question for Rose is, can this Knicks team win with a seven foot center who is erratic offensively and takes stupid fouls? If the answer is yes, then I expect he will just add a depth piece at the deadline. If the answer is no, I wouldn't be surprised to see Towns traded.

But for whom? You can forget Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Greek Freak recently suffered his second calf injury this season - fourth in the last 19 months - and is out four to six weeks. Rose would be nuts to trade for a player who, despite his physical prowess, might not be available until mid March. And, besides, the Bucks have already turned down a proposed swap involving KAT. In other words, it ain't happening.

Another player that could be on the move is Guerschon Yabusele. After averaging 11 points per game for the Sixers last season, he has been a major disappointment for the Knicks this season. With a $5.5 million cap hit, I expect him to be included in a package for a guard or a forward regardless of whether they keep Towns or not.

One thing is certain: as presently constructed, this team will not beat Detroit in a best of seven series. The Pistons are bigger and deeper than the Knicks. To have any shot of advancing to the finals, the Knicks will have to get tougher and smarter. 

Nine days to go till the trade deadline. The pressure couldn't be higher on Rose.

A Very Merry Knicksmas

With just over ten minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the New York Knicks were trailing the Cleveland Cavaliers 103-86 on Christmas Day at the Garden. Things were not looking so good for the men in orange and blue. It certainly appeared as though the fans were going to go home with a lump of coal in their stockings. 

Oh well, you can't win them all. 

That's when the Knicks said "No so fast." Jordan Clarkson made a layup; then Tyler Kolek sank a three-pointer. In all, New York would go on a 40-21 run to beat the Cavs 126-124 in what was without question the weirdest, wildest game of the season. 

Overcoming huge fourth-quarter deficits is nothing new for the Knicks. They did it twice against the Boston Celtics in last year's playoffs. What is new, at least for this team, is that it was the bench that played a major role in the comeback. Kolek had 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter and had a huge block on what would've been a Donovan Mitchell layup with 1:45 left in regulation; Mitchell Robinson had eight of his 13 rebounds in the final quarter, including two key offensive boards that led to three pointers by Brunson and Kolek; and Clarkson led all bench scorers with 25 points.

The evolution of Kolek has been something to behold. With the exception of the game against the Sixers, in winch he scored only two points and committed four turnovers, he has been, by far, the biggest surprise. Under Mike Brown, the 2024 second-round pick from Marquette has blossomed into a reliable backup to Brunson. With 2:29 left in the Cup game against the Spurs, when Brown needed another ball handler to take the heat off Brunson, he didn't hesitate to send Kolek into the game, even though Mikal Bridges was available. Kolek responded with two assists, two rebounds and four points. 

That is an example of the kind of trust Brown has shown in his players, and it has paid off handsomely. With OG Anunoby and Brunson both missing games due to injury, the bench, which was often an afterthought under Tom Thobodeau, has become an integral part of the success of this team. Clarkson, the man Leon Rose signed for $2.2 million during the offseason, has averaged 10.4 points per game coming off the bench. He has 17 double-digit point games this season. Deuce McBride is averaging 11.6 points per game, and has 10 double-digit point games. 

Accountability has become a hallmark of this coach; that and tough love. When his players make mistakes, instead of benching them, he points out what they did wrong and then challenges them to do better. Against the Timberwolves, Kolek shot only 3 for 10 in the first half and was chided by his coach. He responded by going 6 for 12 in the second half. On the flip side, Brown has shown that he isn't afraid to bench a player when it's warranted. Going back to that Cup game, it was clear Bridges wasn't shooting the ball well, so he sat the final 6:22 of the game. Can you imagine Thibs doing that?

The more I see of this team, the more excited I get about their chances. With McBride and Landry Shamet due back soon, they seem to have everything they need to make another deep run in the playoffs. They have the best clutch player in the NBA in Brunson, a duel threat at center in Karl-Anthony Towns and Robinson, one of the best defensive forwards in the game in Anunoby, and a budding young star coming off the bench in Kolek. There's only one team that's deeper and more talented than the Knicks, and that team - the Oklahoma City Thunder - plays in the other conference.

Yes, it was a Very Merry Knicksmas at MSG yesterday. And if the Basketball gods continue to smile on them, 2026 could well be a Very Happy New Year. 

Don't Blame Sullivan for Mika Benching

The big story at Madison Square Garden last night wasn't that the New York Rangers lost to the much-improved Anaheim Ducks 4-1; their 12th loss in 16 home games and the ninth time this season they've been held to one goal or less on their own ice.

The big story was that Mike Sullivan benched Mika Zibanejad for being late to a team meeting and that was the reason they lost. Yes, Mika Zibanejad, who we're now supposed to believe is the second coming of Guy Lafleur, was so vital to his team's chances that without his presence, they did pretty much what they've been doing all year long: they shit the bed. Had it not been for a fluke gaol by Matthew Robertson, they would've suffered their sixth shutout of the season. And it's not even Christmas yet. 

I'm sorry, but did Mika play in the season opener against the Penguins? Did he play against the Capitals or the Oilers or the Wild or the Hurricanes or the Islanders or the Red Wings or the Lightning? Let me save you the trouble of looking it up: he did. Wanna know what the Rangers record was in those games? 0-8.

That the beat writers of this team would even suggest that Zibanejad's absence had any bearing on the outcome of this game is embarrassing. For the record, the reason the Blueshirts lost last night was because they surrendered a shorthanded goal while on a 5v3 power play and Igor Shesterkin whiffed on a shot by Cutter Gauthier to put the Ducks up 2-1 in the third period that nine times out of ten he stops. If you're going to grill Sullivan over anything how about his stubbornness in sticking with five forwards on the first power play unit, which is now 0-21 and has allowed two shorthanded goals? That would be a good place to start, don't you think? If anything, I applaud Sullivan for holding his players accountable. If Brian Daboll had handled his players as well as Sullivan handles his, he might still have his job.

Face it: no team in the NHL works harder at being mediocre than the Rangers. They bring new meaning to the word underwhelming. According to Steve Valiquette, New York had eleven high-danger scoring chances to Anaheim's six, and yet they couldn't convert on one of those chances. The Robertson goal was a mid-danger chance. Unusual? No, just standard operating procedure at the world's most famous arena. I swear these players would have a hard time finishing at a whore house. 

Want to hear something crazy? This team has less talent than the one Jeff Gorton decided to tear down in 2018. Just take a look at the numbers below. These are the adjusted point totals for the top six plus Adam Fox:

As you can see, Panarin is the only player scoring at around a point per game. To quote the great Dean Wormer of Faber College, "Congratulations, Bread, you're at the top of the Delta pledge class."

This isn't a top six; hell, it's barely a middle six. And it's why the Rangers are a middling team that if the season were to end today would miss the playoffs for the second straight year.

Nothing about this roster excites you; nothing in the pipeline excites you. The most encouraging thing you can say about this franchise is that if they continue at the pace they're on, they have a half-way decent shot of getting a lottery pick in next year's draft; that's assuming Drury doesn't do something stupid and trade it away. 

Seriously, I don't know how anybody looks at this team and says, "Oh, yeah, they're good." Good for what? If the word disappointment could be trademarked, the Rangers would be the General Motors of the NHL.

Over the last 50 years, I've had a front-row seat to four rebuilds: the mid-'70s; the late '80s; the late '90s to the early '00s; and the late 2010s. I've seen players come and go. And that's why I'm imploring Chris Drury to do the right thing and start another one.

Please spare me all the "But they're only two points out of a wild card spot" drivel. So in two years we've gone from winning the Presidents' trophy to possibly being the eight seed? If that's your argument, I don't want to hear it. Look at what the Knicks are doing. Now that's a team with a real shot at winning a championship. By comparison, the Rangers look like the guy who stayed too long at the bar and now can't get a ride home.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall when Drury tells Dolan this team, as currently constructed, can't win, especially since he's the principal architect of it. He won't be a happy camper, I can assure you of that, It isn't every day that you see a franchise have two rebuilds in less than a decade. Drury will be lucky if he isn't fired. And if you think Dolan wouldn't fire his GM, guess again. The man's paying Tom Thibodeau $30 million to NOT coach the Knicks. Somehow I don't think money is going to influence him one way or the other. 

But while doing a rebuild is risky, not doing it is far riskier. Every team in the Eastern Conference not named the Buffalo Sabres is deeper and younger than the Rangers, including a certain team that plays in Elmont. The longer Drury waits, the worse this situation will get.

Neil Smith waited too long to start his rebuild, and the Rangers went seven years without qualifying for the postseason. 

OG Anunoby is the Engine That Drives the Knicks

The news that OG Anunoby will be out two weeks after suffering a left hamstring injury against the Miami Heat Friday night at the Garden cannot be overstated. Jalen Brunson may be the captain of the Knicks; Karl-Anthony Towns may be the best scoring center / power forward in the NBA not named Nikola Jokic or Giannis Antekoumpo, but Anunoby is, without question, the most indispensable player on this team. 

No, I have not taken leave of my senses; I'm just going by the numbers.

Let's take a look at the record.

According to StatMuse, when Brunson is in the lineup, the Knicks are 136-85, with a winning percentage of .615.

When Towns is in the lineup, they're 54-31, with a winning percentage of .635.

But when Anunoby is in the lineup, New York is 73-36, with a winning percentage of .670.

To put that into perspective, the Golden State Warriors are 667-371 (.643) with Steph Curry in the lineup. That's right, arguably the greatest pure shooter in NBA history has a lower winning percentage for his team than Anunoby. I'm not comparing the two; obviously, Curry is a first ballot Hall of Famer. Just pointing out that if wins and losses mean anything, OG gets you more wins.

But what about the record when each player is out of the lineup? The Knicks are 19-17 without Anunoby; 20-18 without Brunson; and 5-5 without Towns. It's clear that all three players are badly missed when they're not on the court. It's what happens when they're on the court that's at hand here. 

Want further proof of Anunoby's value to this team? When he's on the court, the Knicks have a defensive rating of 106.4 points per game; when he's off the court, they have a defensive rating of 120.9 points per game. No other player on this roster has that kind of defensive point differential.

Now you know why Leon Rose traded RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to the Toronto Raptors to acquire Anunoby in December, 2023; why he was willing to re-sign him to a five year, $213 million contract extension last year; and why it would be insane for the Knicks to even think about including him in a package to Milwaukee for Giannis. What OG brings to the table cannot simply be measured on a stat sheet.

Put succinctly, Anunoby is one of the most versatile forwards in the league; capable of playing either the three or the four. He's eighth in the league in plus / minus this season with a plus 127. An elite defender who, along with Mikal Bridges, usually guards the opposing teams' best players, he had an integral role in eliminating the Boston Celtics in last year's playoffs.

Under Mike Brown, we were just starting to see how valuable Anunoby's offensive abilities could be. Not counting the game he got hurt, in which he played only five minutes, Anunoby was averaging 17.1 points per game on 48.3 percent shooting from the floor. On a team that stresses ball distribution and finding the open man, Anunoby has the potential to have a breakout season. Imagine having three players on your roster capable of putting up 20 plus points per game. 

Unfortunately, Anunoby also has a history of injuries that predates his arrival in New York. The 74 games he appeared in last season were the most since his rookie season in 2018-19. The fact is every time he goes up to grab a rebound or drives to the basket to take a shot, he's playing Russian Roulette. Sooner or later you know he's going to come up lame. In game two of the 2023 Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Pacers, Anunoby pulled his hamstring chasing down a bad pass that went out of bounds late in the third quarter. FYI, the Knicks won that game to take a 2-0 lead. But Indiana won four of the next five to take the series.

Bottom line, when it comes to OG, you take the bad with the good, because the good is sooo good. And unlike Towns and Bridges, who occasionally go into the witness protection program during the game, even when Anunoby isn't scoring he's doing other things on the court. Only Josh Hart wears more hats on this team.

So that there's no misunderstanding: I'm not saying Brunson and KAT are not valuable. Far from it. This franchise wouldn't be where it is right now without Rose signing Brunson in the summer of 2022. What I am saying is that the Knicks will go only as far as a healthy OG Anunoby takes them.

You may disagree if you like. Just know that the numbers are not on your side. 

Knicks Get Off to a Good Start

To quote Monty Python, "And now for something completely different." 

The New York Knicks got the 2025-26 season off to a good start by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 119-111 at the Garden. But it was how they beat them that was the story. Eschewing the half-court offense of their former coach Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks employed an uptempo game, distributing the ball equally around the court leading to many open shots. It was a refreshing sight to behold.

True to his word, new head coach Mike Brown went with a deep rotation, By the end of the first half, eleven players had entered the game. The only time that many players saw action under Thibs was when the Knicks were ahead by 20 with a minute to go. The bench, which had been much maligned last season, had 20 points by halftime to help New York build a 65-50 lead. In all, they finished with 35 for the game. Apart from OG Anunoby, not one starter logged more than 34 minutes.

Of course, the men in orange and blue just couldn't resist a trip down memory lane. They reverted back to their old ways in the third quarter and the result was predictable. The Cavs outscored them 37-22 to tie the game at 87. Donavan Mitchell had 21 of his game-high 31 points in the quarter. But then New York snapped out of it and went on a 14-2 run to start the fourth quarter. 

The Knicks got balanced scoring from their players. Anunoby led the way with 24 points, 14 rebounds and three steals; Jalen Brunson was next with 23 points and five assists; Karl-Anthony Towns contributed 19 points and 11 rebounds; Mikal Bridges chipped in with 16, 12 in the first half; and Deuce McBride had 15 points off the bench and was a game-best plus 17. Indeed, every Knick was a plus for the game, except Landry Shamet and Ariel Hukporti.

The Knicks out-rebounded the Cavs 48-32 overall, including 39-28 on the defensive boards, and scored 42 points in the paint. They also shot 86.1 percent front the free throw line, compared to 66.7 percent for Cleveland. For a team that went a combined 0-10 against the Cavs, Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder last season, last night's win was a statement game. This year's Knicks team is not last year's.

Of course, Brown was quick to put the win in perspective. "Pretty good effort from our team. The great part of it is we got a lot of room to grow, and that's what's exciting." Translation: let's hold off on the parade down the Canyon of Heroes.

That being said, it's clear that this team - even without Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart in the lineup - is pretty deep and talented. If they're this good in their first regular season game, imagine how good they're going to be in game 10 or 20?

What impresses me most about Brown is that he isn't afraid to utilize his bench in crucial situations during the game. At one point he had Tyler Kolek, Jordan Clarkson, Guerschon Yabusele and Hukporti on the court at the same time. Can you imagine Thibs doing that? Again, this is not about hating on the former Knicks coach; it's about having enough faith in your players. 

Game one is in the books; game two is Friday in Boston. 

2025-26 Knicks Preview

The last time the New York Knicks entered an NBA season with this much anticipation, Pat Riley was the head coach and Patrick Ewing was the center.  Over the last thirty years, there have been a lot of ups and downs with this organization - mostly downs - but one thing has remained constant: the love and devotion of a fanbase that, since 1973, has waited patiently for a chance to celebrate another title. 

Well their wait could finally be coming to an end. I say "could" because, as New York sports fan will tell you, getting your hopes up is a sure-fire recipe for disappointment. Lest we forget, the Giants, Jets, Mets and Rangers play in this town. The Giants have made the playoffs twice in 14 years; the Jets haven't won a Super Bowl since 1969; the Mets haven't won a World Series since 1986; and the Rangers have won one Stanley Cup since World War II. If you looked up the word Disappointment in the dictionary, there'd be an arial view of the five boroughs next to it.

But at the risk of sounding pollyanna, I'm bullish on the 2025-26 Knicks, and not just because they may be the only team worth watching in about a month. It's because I believe Leon Rose has assembled a roster that is not only talented but deep. Indeed, this may be the deepest bench the Knicks have had in decades. And despite the Debbie Downers, Mike Brown is the perfect coach for this team. I was never a Tom Thibodeau hater, it's just that driving your starters into the ground, as Thibs often did, didn't seem to make much sense for a team with championship aspirations.

So what should we expect?

Well for starters, if Brown is able to implement his system successfully, the Knicks will be a lot more exciting to watch. The half-court offense that Thibs employed is out. Look for this team to move the ball quickly up court. I'm not saying they're going to be the OKC Thunder, but the days of waiting until there are seven seconds left on the shot clock to set up a play are gone.

The biggest beneficiary of Brown's system will be Jalen Brunson. If I had a dollar for every time the captain would dribble the ball across the time line only to be met by a double team, I could buy a court-side seat at the Garden for a month. It was excruciating watching Brunson set up the offense in that system. In Brown's system that won't be the case. In fact, Brown doesn't believe in calling out plays; he wants his team to read the defense and react accordingly.

While that might be easier said than done, it's worth noting that a system which relies more on reaction than established plays is less predictable, hence harder to defend. If Brunson is going to lead this team to a championship he can't constantly bear the brunt of one double team after another. This isn't the '70s anymore. In today's NBA if you don't have an effective transition game, you're not going to go far in the playoffs. The Indiana Pacers exposed a fatal flaw in the Knicks game, and Rose rectified it by changing coaches.

Another beneficiary of Brown's system should be Mikal Bridges. The player Rose sent five first-round draft picks to the Brooklyn Nets for is considered one of the best defensive wings in the league, and yet there were times last season when he seemed lost in the shuffle. I fully expect Brown to utilize him more. If you want to know how effective Bridges can be, take a good look at what he did in his first year as a Net. In 27 games, he averaged 26.1 points as the two, where he is expected to play this season alongside Brunson. And with Bridges at the two, and Karl-Anthony Towns at the four, O.G. Anunoby can move back to the three where he is a much better fit. If Mitchell Robinson can stay healthy, this should be the best starting five the Knicks have had since the mid '90s.

The bench will play a critical role for the Knicks this season. Unlike Thibs, who rarely utilized more than six or seven players, Brown will employ a full ten-man rotation. Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele are versatile additions to this roster. Clarkson will play the one or the two, while Yabusele will replace Precious Achiuwa at the four or the five. Both should get plenty of minutes, along with Josh Hart and Deuce McBride. I wouldn't be at all surprised if McBride has his best season as a Knick under Brown. Tyler Kolek, Landry Shamet and Ariel Hukporti will round out the reserves.

Chemistry should not be an issue. Unlike last season, when Bridges and KAT were the new kids on the block, this core is pretty much set. If there is any acclimation period, it'll be to Brown's system. I would give it 10 to 15 games for everyone to get up to speed.

With Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton both lost for the season, neither the Boston Celtics nor the Indiana Pacers will be much of a threat. That leaves the Cleveland Cavaliers as the only other legitimate contender in the Eastern Conference. Providence has apparently intervened in New York's favor. The only thing standing in the way of the Knicks making it to the finals for the first time since 1999 will be the Knicks themselves.

So, bottom line, where will they finish? Last season, the Knicks finished third in the East with a record of 51-31. Assuming Rose isn't pressured into doing something stupid like trading for Giannis, I expect this team to finish first in the conference with a record of 58-24. Can they go all the way? That depends on who they face in the finals, but yes.

As I've done the last two years, below are my predictions for the top teams in each conference, as well as who will make it to the conference finals and who will win it all. I'm sure I don't have to remind anyone not to take them seriously.

Eastern Conference:

Knicks

Cavs

Magic

Pistons

Celtics

Pacers

Hawks

Bucks

Heat

Bulls

Western Conference:

Thunder

Nuggets

Mavericks

Rockets

Timberwolves

Warriors

Lakers

Kings

Grizzlies

Spurs

Eastern Conference finals:

Knicks over Cavs 4-3

Western Conference finals:

Nuggets over Thunder 4-2

NBA Finals:

Knicks over Nuggets 4-3

Knicks Should Stay Clear of Giannis

In the winter of 2011, the New York Knicks expressed interest in acquiring Carmelo Anthony from the Denver Nuggets. But when the Nuggets asking price was too high for then GM Donnie Walsh, he rejected it. Undeterred, Knicks owner James Dolan decided to intervene and, by-passing Walsh, negotiated directly with Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke. On February 21, the trade was finally consummated. The Knicks received Anthony, along with Chauncey Billips, Sheldon Williams and Renaldo Balkman in exchange for Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, a 2014 first-round draft pick and two second rounders.

While Anthony was undoubtedly the best player in the deal, the prevailing sentiment by fans and sports media alike was that that Knicks overpaid to get him. Felton, Gallinari, Mozgov and Chandler were four of New York's top six players. Losing them seriously depleted the team's depth, and even though the Knicks went to the playoffs three straight years - beating the Boston Celtics in 2013 - they never achieved their ultimate goal of winning an NBA title with Anthony.

Fast forward fourteen years. The Knicks, fresh off an Eastern Conference finals appearance last season, and favorites to advance to the league finals this season, have been linked to a potential trade involving Giannis Antetokounmpo. It seems back in August, Leon Rose, and his counterpart on the Milwaukee Bucks Jon Hurst, discussed what the particulars of a deal might look like. From all accounts, it never went any further than tire kicking.

Thank God.

Let me be as direct as I can. Under no circumstances should the Knicks even entertain a trade for Giannis. Not because he isn't a great player; he obviously is. But because, like Carmel Anthony, bringing him to New York would gut the core of this team, which I believe is knocking on the door of a championship.

Unlike that 2011 Knicks team, which Walsh was still in the process of putting back together after Isaiah Thomas all but destroyed it, Rose has spent the last four years transforming this team into a bonafide contender. And this summer, he not only replaced his entire coaching staff, he signed some valuable players that will allow Mike Brown to employ a true ten-man rotation.

Any trade that would bring Giannis to New York would almost certainly include multiple players going back to Milwaukee. The most likely to be sent packing would be Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby. While a front court of Mitchell Robinson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Antetokounmpo would be imposing to say the least, there are some problems; most notably having Giannis at the three, where he would stick out like a sore thumb. It also would mean starting Jordan Clarkson or Deuce McBride at the two.

Could it work? Perhaps, but consider this: without Bridges last season, there's no way the Knicks would've beaten the Celtics. His defense was the sole reason New York took games one and two at Boston. Under Brown, Bridges true potential could be unlocked. And with Towns switching back to the four, where he played with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Anunoby would return to his natural three position. In other words, as currently constructed, the Knicks are a more cohesive unit now than they were last season under Tom Thibodeau. Why on Earth would anyone - even Dolan - want to tinker with that?

Look, I realize that in this Fantasy Sports era we live in, every would-be GM with a smartphone thinks he knows how to construct a championship roster. Most of them would have a hard time managing a wet dream. Trust me, I'm also a Rangers fan. You should see some of the trades these bozos have hatched over the years. Sometimes I wonder what it would've been like had Twitter been around when Phil Esposito was running the organization in the mid 1980s.

Bottom line, up until now, Leon Rose has resisted the urge to go after the shiny new toy, be it LeBron James or Kevin Durant. Assuming Dolan doesn't stick his nose in and fuck things up again - always a big assumption with him - Giannis will stay in Milwaukee for the foreseeable future. And the Knicks, with a little luck, and a ton of perspiration, might make it all the way to the top of the mountain for the first time since 1973.

Leon Gets His Man

It's official: the New York Knicks finally have their head coach. After an exhaustive thirty-day process in which Leon Rose interviewed multiple candidates, and asked permission to speak with several more, the President and GM chose two-time NBA Coach of the Year Mike Brown.

Brown's credentials are impeccable. He was an assistant under Gregg Popovich, during which time the San Antonio Spurs won the title in 2003; he took the Cleveland Cavaliers to the finals in 2007 in just his second season as head coach; in 2009, he won the first of his two Coach of the Year awards when the Cavs won a franchise record 66 games; he was an assistant under Steve Kerr, during which time the Golden State Warriors won three championships, two back-to-back; and he won his second Coach of the Year award in 2023 when he guided the Sacramento Kings to their first playoff appearance in 16 seasons.

He has a regular-season record of 454-304 and a postseason record of 50-40, which includes two trips to the conference finals and one trip to the league finals. Not only is he eminently qualified to coach this team, he is a considerable improvement over the man he is replacing.

This is not a knock on Tom Thibodeau, but anyone who watched the Knicks play last season knew there was something wrong. Despite having more talent, they looked disjointed at times, and often lacked the resiliency and toughness that had come to define past teams. Some of that is the players fault, but ultimately it's the coach's responsibility to make things work. Thibs' reluctance to hold his players accountable and his stubbornness when it came to making adjustments proved to be his undoing. The Indiana series was the final nail in the coffin, as far as Rose was concerned.

It is highly unlikely Brown will make the same mistakes. Indeed, all indications are that he is the polar opposite of Thibs. He has a history of getting his players - all of them - involved. In the 2022-23 season, the Kings not only had the number one rated offense in the NBA, they had six players score in double digits. He's coached such notables as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kyrie Irving. If he can deal with those personalities, he should have no problems with Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.

So now that Rose has his man, what next? Well for starters, Brown will have a deeper and more productive bench than Thibs did. That's because in addition to looking for a head coach, Rose was busy signing Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele. The former is a guard who can play either the one or the two and averaged 16.2 points and 3.7 assists per game last season for the Utah Jazz; the latter is a center / forward who averaged 11 points and 5.5 rebounds per game last season for the Philadelphia 76ers. Rose was able to get both and still stay $2.2 million under the second apron. Last season, the Knick bench averaged a paltry 15.8 points per game. Clarkson and Yabusele all by themselves can put up 27 per game.

As for those LeBron rumors, you can forget them. If Rose didn't want Kevin Durant, what makes any body think he would agree to take on a 40 year-old, soon-to-be retired Hall of Famer? Besides, once he opted in to his contract with the Lakers, it pretty much put the kibosh on him going anywhere. With the apron system now a reality in the NBA, high-priced contracts are almost impossible to move.

So what are the expectations? Given that Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Halliburton will both be out next season with torn Achilles, the Eastern Conference is wide open and there for the taking. I'm sure Brown knows, and has been told, that anything less than a finals appearance will not be acceptable, especially for an owner whose franchise hasn't won a title since 1973. The natives aren't just restless, they're downright ugly.

Parallels have been drawn to the Yankees of the mid-1990s. After George Steinbrenner fired Buck Showalter in 1995 and replaced him with Joe Torre, a lot of people thought he was crazy. Buck was a proven manager, while Torre had never won a thing. But Torre proved to be the right manager at the right time, and in '96, the Yanks went on to win their first World Series championship since 1978. While it's a little premature to predict whether history will repeat itself, it's worth noting that we are hearing a lot of same second guessing coming from both Knicks fans and beat reporters alike.

Could lightning strike again? Only time will tell.