Friday\u2019s rout of the Jazz<\/a>, it was Hart who stayed in the starting lineup and Brown indicated it would be that way going forward.<\/p>\nBefore the year, Brown made it clear that he actually wanted both to come off the bench and envisioned Mitchell Robinson starting at center. <\/p>\n
But that changed, with Brown now believing Robinson is better served coming off the bench. <\/p>\n
And Karl-Anthony Towns is more effective playing center than power forward, where he plays when Robinson is in at center.<\/p>\n
Josh Hart reacts during the Knicks\u2019 Dec. 5 win over the Jazz. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n
That meant Hart entered the starting lineup and began logging heavy minutes, as he had previously become accustomed to throughout his Knicks tenure. <\/p>\n
Flipping Hart and Robinson actually wasn\u2019t Brown\u2019s own idea \u2014 it was one he was talked into.<\/p>\n
\u201cI rely on my staff,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI had reasons why I was starting it the other way, but my staff, I think all of them, were like, \u2018Hey, these are the reasons why it would be better.\u2019 The reality of it is I just listened to my staff. I said \u2018OK, if I\u2019m the only one thinking that the other way may be better at that time, then maybe I\u2019m wrong.\u2019 I\u2019ve been wrong before, and I will be wrong again in the future. That\u2019s what I love about my staff, I have guys that aren\u2019t afraid, on staff, to tell me what they think. At the end of the day, it\u2019s up to me to make the decision, I\u2019m not gonna always listen to them. But if my whole staff is telling me something, then I better open my eyes and my ears and figure out what they\u2019re really trying to say and maybe follow their lead instead of them following my lead all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miles McBride reacts after hitter a 3-pointer during the Knicks\u2019 Dec. 5 win over the Jazz. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n
Hart struggled to start the season in a more limited role, and has much more resembled his do-it-all self as a starter. <\/p>\n
McBride has been red-hot as a 3-point shooter and had success as the Knicks\u2019 point-of-attack defender when Anunoby was out. <\/p>\n
Both made strong cases for him to remain in the starting lineup.<\/p>\n
Now, Brown is challenged with maximizing McBride\u2019s impact off the bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing that was probably the hardest, because Deuce has played well, just trying to get Deuce on the floor without playing him like a 20-minute or 17-minute run, trying to break it up,\u201d Brown said. \u201cHe deserves to play 25, 26 minutes coming off the bench, if not more. So trying to find time for him so we can keep him on the floor was probably my biggest struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The unit of Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Anunoby, Hart and Towns was by far Tom Thibodeau\u2019s most-used lineup last year. <\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until the Knicks were trailing in the Eastern Conference finals that Thibodeau moved Hart to the bench and started Robinson.<\/p>\n
When Robinson missed games for load management earlier in the year, Brown kept Hart on the bench and preferred to insert McBride or Shamet into the starting lineup. <\/p>\n
After seeing Hart\u2019s success in the starting lineup the last seven games, though, he reversed course on that plan.<\/p>\n
For his own part, McBride is used to coming off the bench. <\/p>\n
Rick Brunson and Mike Brown talk during the Knicks\u2019 Dec. 5 win against the Jazz. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n
It shouldn\u2019t be a major adjustment for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really try to make it as minimal as I can,\u201d McBride said. \u201cBring energy, bring a toughness to the game, obviously my shot-making ability. But the main thing, I want to impact the game, impact winning as much as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Brunson, Bridges, Anunoby, Hart, Towns unit had mixed results last year, with a 3.3 net rating in the regular season and rough minus-6.2 net rating in the playoffs. <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Brown\u2019s desire to shake up the unit was one of his more intriguing plans in the offseason.<\/p>\n
But pretty quickly, he seems to agree with Thibodeau.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just like that, the Knicks are right back to the same starting lineup as last year. OG Anunoby\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4778,1556,4779,1557,21,9,11,1104,10,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-63068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-josh-hart","9":"tag-mike-brown","10":"tag-miles-mcbride","11":"tag-mitchell-robinson","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-headlines","15":"tag-new-york-knicks","16":"tag-new-york-news","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}