"He is a great coach" - Chris Canty believes Mike Brown will lead the Knicks to an NBA championship

SportsLand

03/07/2025

🏀 Brian Windhorst says the Los Angeles Lakers signing Deandre Ayton isn’t just a roster upgrade — it’s a strategic move to keep LeBron James in L.A. and push for one more NBA championship.

In this NBA Today breakdown, Windhorst explains how Ayton fits into the Lakers’ long-term plan, how this helps extend LeBron’s title window, and why he believes LeBron will win another ring with the Lakers.

With Anthony Davis, Ayton, and LeBron forming a new-look core, the Lakers are going all in on the 2025 season. Is this the team that will get it done?

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Keyword Tags:
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00:00Now that Mike Brown is getting a second interview,

00:02and according to Mark Jones, ESPN, NBA, football, baseball analyst,

00:06he also is the play-by-play voice of the Sacramento Kings,

00:09he said that Mike Brown nailed the interview.

00:12They said they had never seen anyone so detailed and oriented

00:15in terms of making sure that this is what they were going to expect

00:19from him being the Knicks coach,

00:20and he wound up getting the job being the New York Knicks head coach,

00:23replacing Tom Thibodeau.

00:24And believe me, Brian Windhorst, ESPN, NBA insider,

00:27on NBA Today, he says, do not underestimate this hire

00:31that the Knicks have made in Mike Brown.

00:33So he's got one of the most established summaries

00:35of any coach in the profession right now.

00:37He coached underneath Greg Popovich, underneath Rick Carlisle,

00:41underneath Steve Kerr, was the head coach in a number of different teams,

00:45but Coach LeBron, Coach Kobe, has coached the number one defense in the league,

00:49has coached the number one offense in the league,

00:51which is what he did two years ago when he won his second coach of the year

00:54crown with the Kings, where he broke this,

00:58helped the Kings break their 16-year drought of playoffs.

01:00We had the number one offense.

01:01So he has done a lot of different things over his career.

01:05He brings a wealth of experience.

01:07He's evolved a lot over the last 20 years.

01:09He got hired 20 years ago this month as, I guess, last month now,

01:1320 years ago in June to be his head coach for the first time.

01:16He's a lot different coach now than he was then.

01:18I see people comparing him.

01:20They think he's like Thibodeau because they're both defensive coaches.

01:23Yes, he's a defensive first coach, but he's very, very different,

01:27and his personality is very much more of a mosaic than people are giving him credit for.

01:32Yeah, Mike Brown might be similar in terms of basketball philosophy to Thibs,

01:36but in the approach, the overall messaging, I think that's where the two differ.

01:42And if you listen to everything that the Knicks organization has been suddenly putting out there

01:48since they fired Thibs, it's clear that they want somebody that's more collaborative,

01:54more amenable to the approach that the front office wants to take.

01:56The front office wants the opportunity to collaborate.

01:59They want to be involved.

02:01If it's the analytics aspect of it, if it's the rotation, staggering of minutes,

02:07the approach on the offensive end, the approach on the defensive end,

02:12it's clear that the front office wants to have more influence, wants to have more sway.

02:17And I'm not quite sure that Thibs came around quickly enough in order to be able to save his job.

02:25Now, what seems odd about it is that they gave Thibs a contract extension,

02:29and then they fire him a year later in the same season where the man takes the team to the Final Four.

02:35That part about it just seems weird, and I'm not quite sure that there's anything that you can say

02:41that will square that circle.

02:43But when it comes to qualified head coaches to fill the vacancy,

02:49you'd be hard-pressed to do better than Mike Brown.

02:51You just look at the resume, two-time coach of the year, coached three different places, four different stints.

02:59When you look at the winning percentage that he comes into this job with,

03:03it's better than the winning percentage that Tom Thibodeau had when he took on the Knicks job five years ago.

03:09So I think in terms of what he's been able to do in the NBA, the places that he's been,

03:15the success that he's had, coaching a team to the NBA Finals,

03:18taking the Kings to the playoffs for the first time in a couple of decades,

03:21I think those things matter in terms of being able to sell the players in that locker room

03:28that you have answers in order to get them to break through the ceiling

03:32that has been the Indiana Pacers over the last couple of years

03:35and to get to an NBA Finals.

03:37Two things based on what you just said.

03:38Number one, when it comes to the extension that they signed Tom Thibodeau last year

03:42and they're going to just really pay him to go away,

03:44this is what happens when you have bleep you money.

03:46And James Dolan has bleep you money as owner of the New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden.

03:51You don't worry about striking that check and then saying we can't keep that in the building.

03:57We'll just pay him to go away.

03:58That's what happens when you have bleep you money and he's always had it.

04:01He has not been able to use it properly, in my opinion.

04:03But this is one of those instances where he said, you know, we'll pay him to go away.

04:06We don't believe he's the coach that can help us win a championship for the first time since 1973

04:10or get to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.

04:14That's number one.

04:15Number two, no matter what you think about this hire,

04:18you better get this team, Mike Brown, to the NBA Finals

04:21because that's where those expectations should be.

04:24That's where those expectations are going to be.

04:26We had this discussion before the show got started

04:28and a man who shall remain nameless, King Mixer, Pat Costello himself,

04:33said, well, wait a minute.

04:34What if they have a losing streak?

04:35What if this doesn't work next year?

04:36You worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes.

04:39But that tomorrow for the New York Knicks CC,

04:42better make sure they get to the NBA Finals.

04:44Period.

04:45End of story.

04:45You don't have to like to hire Mike Brown.

04:47You can like to hire Mike Brown.

04:49But if you're going to move on from Tom Thibodeau,

04:51a man that got your organization of four NBA playoff appearances in five years,

04:55got you to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years

04:58before losing to the Indiana Pacers for the second straight year in the playoffs,

05:02whoever you hire, however you got about it, so be it.

05:06Here we are.

05:06But that tomorrow better be the New York Knicks better make the NBA Finals

05:10because if they don't, I don't care what kind of covert operation that they have

05:15in New York CC, they're going to have to answer for the fact that, man,

05:18you decided to move on from Tom Thibodeau and you're worse than where you were

05:21with the new coach than you were the old coach you got rid of when it comes to

05:24Tom Thibodeau.

05:26Oh, yeah.

05:26This is very much so a play the results scenario.

05:28And this is the highest of bars to clear for a first year head coach because of what

05:34Tibbs has been able to do.

05:35And this is when the context around the situation matters.

05:37Before Tibbs got there, the Knicks hadn't won a playoff series in a decade.

05:41So I think that when you start talking about justifying moving on from him,

05:47I got to say this, Freddie C, and this is one of those situations where I don't mean

05:54to disappear Mike Brown.

05:55But if you were to tell me that Mike Brown was going to be the hire, I would have told

06:01the New York Knicks organization not to fire Tom Thibodeau.

06:04This to me does not feel like a clear and obvious upgrade over what you had in a head

06:09coach.

06:10And the chief complaint around Tibbs was the fact that he didn't play the guys on the

06:16bench, right?

06:16He played his starters heavy minutes throughout the regular season and you got diminishing

06:20returns in the playoffs.

06:21The guys ran out of gas.

06:22Well, you solve that problem in the front office by being able to get more trusted guys on your

06:28bench, which is exactly what Leon Rose did early in free agency.

06:32Not sexy names, but he went out and got Jordan Clarkson.

06:35He got Yabusele, a backup center from the Philadelphia 76ers.

06:39You already returned your top seven in terms of minutes from last year.

06:44So you added two more guys on your bench, veterans that are around early 30s veterans,

06:52that you can trust in the games, in playoff games.

06:55You solved the problem that has plagued Tom Thibodeau throughout his entire career by getting

07:01him more trusted depth.

07:03So why did you fire him in the first place?

07:05That part makes no sense.

07:07Again, Mike Brown is a respected NBA coach, a tremendous resume, but it doesn't feel like

07:15a clear and obvious upgrade over what you had.

07:17And I'm just not quite sure that the reward is going to be worth the risk that they took

07:24in terms of upsetting the chemistry in that locker room because they don't have the guy

07:28that they trusted to lead them in tips.

07:30I'll answer that real quickly.

07:31Why this is the hire for the New York Knicks in terms of why they decided to do this.

07:34They lost trust in Tom Thibodeau.

07:36Whatever happened, however that happened.

07:38Who lost trust in Tom Thibodeau?

07:39Leon Rose and James Dolan.

07:41I think the key is who lost trust.

07:43Leon Rose and James Dolan.

07:45It might be the front office.

07:46It might be some Johnny-come-latelys in terms of players that they added last offseason.

07:52Absolutely.

07:52But Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart did not lose trust in Tom Thibodeau.

07:56No doubt.

07:56I'm not disagreeing with you on that one.

07:58But at the same point, it was the overall, what was the consensus?

08:02Is he the guy?

08:03And the overall majority vote seemed to be sliding to he's not the guy that we can trust

08:08in to win an NBA championship because he's unwilling to be less than rigid when it comes

08:13to player development, when it comes to rotations, in terms of making adjustments, the entire

08:18nine yards.

08:19The worst thing that happened to Tom Thibodeau was when Jalen Brunson got hurt last year

08:22versus the Los Angeles Lakers and an ankle injury.

08:25And then the ball was bopping around and that offensive efficiency was tremendous for

08:29the New York Knicks.

08:30They were able to stem the tide until Jalen Brunson got back.

08:32The minute he got back, it was pound the rock, pound the rock, pound the rock.

08:35And then that offense worked for a little bit, but not against the Pacers.

08:38To me, that's why I thought Chris Canty, they lost trust in Tom Thibodeau when that happened

08:43in the regular season with Jalen Brunson saying, we can do this without him.

08:47Why can't we do this with him?

08:49Despite the fact he still got this team in the Eastern Conference Finals.

08:52I thought that's when they lost trust in Tom Thibodeau.

08:54That's my opinion.

08:55He's Chris Canty.

08:56I'm Freddy Coleman.

08:56Thanks for joining us here on Sportsman Like on ESPN Radio, the ESPN app, Sirius XM Channel 80,

09:01and ESPNU.

09:03And now we go for my team, the Chris Canty's team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

09:07Is the door to a LeBron James trade still open?

09:11Seriously.

09:12We'll try to answer that at the ECC Gives You This from ESPN Bet.

09:16Oh, yeah.

09:17Whether you're locking in your home run picks or riding with your favorite golfers this

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