The Knicks have revamped their coaching staff following their run to the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals. Replacing former head coach Tom Thibodeau is two-time Coach of the Year Mike Brown, who has brought in several new assistants to bolster his bench.
In an interview with Stefan Bondy of The New York Post, USC men’s basketball head coach Eric Musselman shared his thoughts on how Brown is likely to handle the pressures of his new role.
Musselman has multiple connections to New York’s refreshed staff, having worked as the Lakers’ D-League coach while Brown led L.A.’s NBA team. He also helped launch the career of the Knicks’ new defensive coordinator, Brendan O’Connor.
“He is super-detailed, super-organized,” Musselman said of Brown. “That year with the Lakers, his playbook, he wants to make sure it’s color-coded properly. He got a little bit of an NFL, detail-oriented mindset. … I saw it in the meetings in training camp preparation. Perfect color-coded books. And making sure the periods and the commas were in the right places… Training camp, the drills and the precision … that was real detailed as well.”
Musselman added that Brown’s previous work with superstar players in Cleveland and Los Angeles, combined with his three-championship stint as a Golden State assistant, has uniquely prepared him for this opportunity.
“I just think his experience of being in Cleveland and who he coached there [LeBron James] and then I think the fact that he coached in L.A. and it’s the Lakers,” Musselman said.
“And with the media market in the Bay Area [with the Warriors], even though he was just an assistant, you can kind of sit back and watch how Coach [Steve] Kerr handles pressure and coaching in playoff situations. And he’s at a perfect age [Brown is 55]. He has a lot of things going for him. And if you coached in L.A., that’s about as good a preparation as you can have.”
Atlantic Notes: Knicks Coaches, LeBron, Brown https://t.co/TeMNxfOKBX pic.twitter.com/Ksr5dfy2hW
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