ORLANDO — Karl-Anthony Cities has performed in each sort of offense over 11 NBA seasons — post-heavy techniques, unfold pick-and-roll, five-out spacing, you title it. However nothing, he says, fairly mirrors the fixed movement and positional fluidity Mike Brown has dropped at the Knicks.
“It’s different. I haven’t seen it in my 11 years [in the league],” Cities mentioned after follow on Friday. “But I’m having fun with it. I’m just continuing to get better and impact the game, and impact winning and continue to help our team any way possible.”
Brown’s system has turned Cities right into a shape-shifter, asking him to study the tasks of all 5 positions and relocate across the ground in methods he’s by no means been used earlier than. It’s additionally produced the slowest capturing begin of his profession — 42.9% from the sphere, 31.7% from three, and 21.5 factors per recreation, his second-lowest common since 2018.
“I want to find different ways to impact this team winning, and just continue to figure everything out. We all are,” Cities mentioned. “So definitely on my part, I could do a better job hitting some shots. But I’ll get to that. Numbers will always number out. So I’m just staying confident.”
Brown shares that confidence. The early-season hunch was anticipated — baked into the steep curve Cities and Guerschon Yabusele have needed to climb since October. And what issues most to Brown proper now isn’t the end result, however the course of.
“I am, and he’s getting better with it,” Brown mentioned after follow on Friday. “Sometimes he takes a couple steps backwards on [his process], but I thought against Dallas he was pretty good.”
The field rating doesn’t replicate it. Cities scored 18 factors on 6-of-16 capturing and 1-of-6 from deep towards the Mavericks on Wednesday, and he shot 7-of-19 and 1-of-7 from three in Monday’s loss in Miami. He has shot beneath 42% in 4 of his final 5 video games.
“[He’s] doing good. Just playing the right way, I think that’s the biggest thing,” mentioned Mikal Bridges. “Just being aggressive and reading defenses and playing basketball.”
The Knicks acquired Cities within the blockbuster that despatched Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a first-round choose to Minnesota two summers in the past. Beneath Tom Thibodeau final season, Cities averaged 24.4 factors on 52.6% from the sphere and 42% from three. Brown’s offensive overhaul isn’t about replicating that stat line. It’s about repositioning Cities as a multi-level fulcrum — not a stretch huge, however a shifting goal.
Brown mentioned Cities’ shot weight loss program within the win over Dallas mirrored precisely what he desires to see this season — even when the open threes didn’t fall.
“He mixed it up quite a bit. Sometimes he caught it at the elbow,” Brown mentioned. “He caught it at the post a couple times. Caught it at the top of the floor a couple times.”
Brown imported his pace-and-space, run-and-gun rules from Sacramento and his years alongside Steve Kerr in Golden State, then redesigned Cities’ function to weaponize his versatility as a substitute of narrowing it. He desires Cities to proceed searching the three-point line — however to shoot from the road, not two steps behind it, the place the shot turns into unnecessarily tough.
“The one thing I want him to consistently do — he’s got a beautiful stroke, but until he finds that, I want him to keep finding the [three-point] line a little bit more,” Brown mentioned. “He can stop [closer to the line] because of the pressure that we’re trying to put on the defense early in the clock.”
Brown can be navigating the evolving partnership between Cities and Jalen Brunson, staggering their minutes to maximise each.
“I think they’re just playing and taking the best possible shot,” Brown mentioned. “Clearly when Jalen’s off the ground, it’d be nice to have KAT on the ground. They’ve every gotta relaxation. So when we’ve got KAT off the ground, vice versa, and in order that’s what we attempt to do.
“And obviously they both start together and end the game together, but now during the substitution time, we like to have one of the two on the floor at all times.”
