The arrival of Mike Brown as head coach will bring a shift in how the New York Knicks deploy Mikal Bridges defensively. As Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News explains, Bridges was frequently tasked with guarding opposing point guards last season.
Brown, however, intends to expand his role by assigning him to the opposing team’s most dangerous perimeter scorer, regardless of whether that player is a guard, wing, or shooter.
“He will (guard the point of attack) some,” Brown said after Wednesday’s practice. “If Reggie Miller was still playing, I’d throw him on Reggie, because I think he navigates screens well, and with those long strides, he can stay close to a shooter’s body, and then he’s contesting and he’s got long arms.
“But then if we need to put him on a point guard, because, again, he’s able to navigate through screens and if he does get hit, people still feel him. They feel him coming with his length, and so we’ll mix it up. He won’t always be at the point of the ball. He won’t always chase shooters.”
Last season, Bridges took on an unusually heavy burden at the point of attack. According to Winfield, his matchups against point guards left him fighting through a league-high 25 screens per game – the most recorded since the NBA began tracking the data 13 years ago.
The approach allowed Jalen Brunson to conserve energy for offense, but Brown’s system shifts the emphasis toward forcing turnovers and sparking fast-break opportunities.
Bridges acknowledged that the new defensive scheme brings some adjustments.
“I think our coverages (are) just a little different, when it comes to shifting and stuff like that: concepts, making sure our verbiage is always different with different coaches and different systems,” he explained.
“I think more emphasis in being aggressive when you’re off the ball. Obviously the usual X’ing out, the help in rotation. I think every coach in the NBA has that. But just putting an emphasis on shifting and helping the guy on ball a little bit more.”
Mikal Bridges will have different defensive responsibilities this season: https://t.co/IALTter1fA pic.twitter.com/tqewD7kAWQ
— Hoops Rumors (@HoopsRumors) October 9, 2025
