On the advice of his assistants, Mike Brown changed his starting five

Upon arrival in New York during the summer, Mike Brown quickly had to determine which of Josh Hart or Mitchell Robinson he should have followed Jaylen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns in the top five. This was already a debate when Tom Thibodeau was on the bench and, eventually, Mitchell Robinson became the starter while Josh Hart became the backup.

But injuries derailed the plans Nix few weeks, Josh Hart becomes the starter again (and efficient) in a five little ones. Then Friday against the Jazz, despite the return of OG AnunobiMitchell Robinson retained his substitute role, which he had for two weeks.

Accordingly, Mike Brown reverted to the five that Tom Thibodeau used (and criticized…) at length last season: Jaylen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns.

« They played well together last season, so I relied on that » he recognized. « But, right or wrong, I’m not a big fan of starting with five players to finish the match. For me, the most important are those who finish the match. But at the end of the day, if something is beneficial to the team, then I will go in that direction. »

In the end, Mike Brown was indeed right to use this five again, since The Knicks started their match with… 23-0 !

« I looked at the statistics » he added, regarding his way of handling the situation. ” But what I especially try to do is combine players according to their profiles, in attack and defense. I also try to keep my size on the court. These are the things I look for when testing certain associations. But I don’t hesitate to look at the statistics either. Sometimes the visual impression can be wrong, just like the statistics can be wrong. »

Full confidence in his “coaching staff”

Mike Brown didn’t forget to trust his staff either, as his assistants also brought up the idea of ​​changing up his usual rotation.

« Do you want to know the truth? I relied on my staff » he assumed in this sense. ” I had my reasons for starting with my usual configuration, but everyone on my staff told me it would be better (to do it differently). So the reality is that I just listened to my staff. I thought I was the only one who thought the second option was better, so maybe I was wrong. I have made mistakes in the past and will make mistakes again in the future. »

And Mike Brown really appreciates that those around him sometimes question him: ” What I like about my staff is that I have guys who aren’t afraid to tell me what they think. At the end of the day, it’s up to me and I won’t always listen to others, but if all my staff tell me something, it’s better to open my eyes and ears to understand what they’re trying to tell me and then follow their instructions, instead of being followed all the time. »