GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 The Knicks have a new coach and entirely new expectations.<\/p>\n
A team that couldn\u2019t even make the playoffs before Tom Thibodeau arrived is now one of the favorites to reach the NBA Finals. Mike Brown has inherited what could be the strongest roster in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n
New York returns all five starters from a team that reached the conference finals for the first time in 25 years before making its surprising coaching change. The Knicks may play differently under Brown but they still sound like a Thibodeau team, focusing only on the work that needs to be done today rather than anything that lies ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand the opportunity that\u2019s in front of us, so we\u2019ve just got to go out there every single day and find a way to get better every single night and give our best version to our fans every single night,\u201d All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Towns was acquired in a blockbuster trade with Minnesota just before training camp opened last year. The big change for the Knicks this summer came with the firing of Thibodeau, who took them to the playoffs in four of his five seasons after they had missed the postseason for the previous seven.<\/p>\n
Jalen Brunson blossomed into an All-Star under Thibodeau. He said it was sad to see the firing of a coach he\u2019s known much of his life \u2014 Brunson\u2019s father, Rick, was an assistant and remains on Brown\u2019s staff \u2014 but will work to make sure the change pays off.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it\u2019s my job to go out there and just find a way to help this team win,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cThere\u2019s different people in this organization with different jobs and different things they have to do to be able to make this team better, and that\u2019s their point of view. So for me, I\u2019m going to do my job to the best of my abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
His role could change, as Brown wants to play faster and perhaps with the ball not in Brunson\u2019s hands as much as it was previously. But the Knicks captain said he\u2019s open to anything and expects others will be.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to win, you\u2019ll do it. It\u2019s that simple,\u201d Brunson said.<\/p>\n
Brown gets to start his new job ahead of most teams, because the Knicks are playing two preseason games against Philadelphia in Abu Dhabi. After consecutive 50-win seasons, they share the second-best odds to win the NBA title behind defending champion Oklahoma City at BetMGM Sportsbook, ranking just behind Cleveland as the East favorites.<\/p>\n
Brown said that means the Knicks have to be focused on every practice \u201cknowing that we have a target on our backs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when you do have that on your backs, you\u2019ve got to bring your best every time you step on the floor and not just come game time,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He said he hasn\u2019t decided on a starting lineup, after swingman Josh Hart started all season until center Mitchell Robinson was inserted during the loss to Indiana in the conference finals.<\/p>\n
Hart, who said he recently aggravated a finger injury that forced him to have an offseason procedure and expects to wear a splint this season, joked that \u201cIf I don\u2019t start, I\u2019ll probably ask for a trade.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019m a starter in the league. I think I deserve to be a starter in the league, but at the end of the day it\u2019s what\u2019s best for the team,\u201d Hart added. \u201cWhatever Mike wants to do or he doesn\u2019t want to, I\u2019m cool with and time will tell what that is.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Knicks talked about the hurt of getting so close last year. They know another chance can be there for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think every team that doesn\u2019t make it there, or any team that makes it there and loses, has it for fuel,\u201d guard Mikal Bridges said. \u201cBut just control what you can control, take it day by day, and you can\u2019t get to June without going through all these other months. So just got to worry about the now and get prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/p>\n
Brian Mahoney, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 The Knicks have a new coach and entirely new expectations. A team that couldn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-164501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}