DALLAS — Jason Kidd mentioned the thought of leaving the Mavericks for the Knicks final summer time by no means even entered his thoughts.
“I think when you look at what the Knicks did this summer, understanding it was denied, but I never was thinking about leaving,” Kidd mentioned earlier than his Mavericks fell to the Knicks, 113-111, on Wednesday. “I like Dallas, I like working for [owner] Patrick [Dumont], understanding there’s lots of work to be carried out to be a champion, and I’m all in to have the ability to try this. I used to be drafted right here, I received right here. I like the town, I like the followers, and so it by no means crossed my thoughts to go away Dallas.
“But I think it’s safe to say we all enjoy being wanted, and so, that was a nice touch.”
The Knicks fired Tom Thibodeau after their Jap Convention Finals loss to the Pacers, and earlier than interviewing accessible candidates, Leon Rose’s entrance workplace requested for permission to talk with a number of sitting head coaches — Kidd first amongst them. Dallas denied the request and later prolonged Kidd’s contract.
The Knicks finally employed Mike Brown. Earlier than tipoff, Kidd mirrored on his lone season taking part in in New York.
“It’s the Mecca. It’s one of the most popular places to play the game of basketball. I would say I enjoyed that one year,” he mentioned. “The car ran out of gas at the end. I had to park it. But I really enjoyed that place when I played on the other side of the river in New Jersey.”
BROWN’S BENCH
Brown has leaned closely on his bench early — not simply to arrange them for high-pressure minutes later, however to handle workloads throughout a protracted season.
“The reality of it is I don’t want to gas my guys this early in the season, and if the minutes can be respectable across the board, especially at this point in the year, then we can increase the minutes come playoff time or come late in the season,” he mentioned. “So to me that’s one of the biggest things. Then getting these guys reps in case someone gets hurt or in case we have to throw somebody in the game, there is a comfort level that they have, I have, our staff has, everybody else has with somebody new on the floor.”
Mikal Bridges leads the Knicks at 35 minutes per recreation. Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Cities and OG Anunoby are all above 30. 4 bench gamers are averaging between 18 and 25 minutes in Yr 1 beneath Brown.
DIAWARA’S MINUTES
Rookie Mohamed Diawara is without doubt one of the gamers Brown is attempting to work into the combo whereas Anunoby recovers from a hamstring pressure.
“I would have loved to try to throw Mo out there a little bit longer,” Brown mentioned after the win over the Mavericks. “I think Mo’s done a great job in the short minutes he’s played.”
Drafted 51st in June, Diawara intrigued the Knicks together with his measurables: a 6-9 body, a 7-4 wingspan, and a staggering 9-2 standing attain. All of it flashed in a short two-minute stint on Wednesday — first rotating from the weak aspect to dam Max Christie on the rim, then difficult Naji Marshall on the cup seconds later, forcing free throws as a substitute of giving up a layup.
“[We’d like] to try to get him some minutes during this time of the year, especially while OG’s out, to keep us long and athletic would be ideal,” Brown mentioned.
