All-Star level guard Jalen Brunson remains to be adjusting to Mike Brown’s new up-tempo system — however the Knicks’ ground normal says he’s rising extra snug with every rep.
“I’m comfortable,” Brunson stated after the Knicks accomplished a 2-0 preseason sweep over the Philadelphia 76ers within the Abu Dhabi Video games on Saturday. “We’re still adjusting, and that’s the process of this entire season. You’re not just gonna be who you are at the end of training camp. You’re gonna continue to get better throughout the season. So I think the longer that we go through this and understand what’s needed and asked of us, the better we’re gonna be.”
Brunson, who shot simply 2-of-8 within the preseason opener, bounced again with 14 factors on 5-of-10 taking pictures in Saturday’s 113-104 victory. And whereas the offensive philosophy seems to be completely different below Brown than it did below Tom Thibodeau, the early indicators of buy-in are beginning to present.
“Jalen, he’s starting to adjust. You can see it,” Brown stated. “I think this is gonna be good for him. You can see how much space he has when he brings the ball, and again, if you want to pressure a guy like Jalen with that much space, there’s a pretty good chance that he can make you pay for it.”
Brown has emphasised tempo, house, and reaction-based reads — a dramatic shift from the methodical grind of Thibodeau’s offense. The brand new head coach, employed after the Knicks’ run to the Japanese Convention Finals, desires his group to play with velocity and freedom, pulling rules from each his Sacramento Kings tenure and his time as an assistant with Steve Kerr’s championship Golden State Warriors.
“I like that aspect of [Brunson’s performance], and then him just getting used to ‘run-run-run-run-run,’ and still be effective, whether you’re on the ball or off the ball, it was great to see,” Brown stated. “You could see him getting his feet underneath him a little bit and understand how to play at that frantic pace and still be effective and know where his shots are gonna come from.”
In Brown’s system, Brunson is predicted to play extra possessions off the ball to protect his legs for isolation-heavy moments down the stretch. And whereas the system values tempo, the captain is guaranteeing it isn’t reckless.
“Pace doesn’t necessarily mean fast,” Brunson stated. “Obviously we want to get the ball across halfcourt in a certain time frame, but it’s about playing fast, seeing what the defense does and reading that. We weren’t trying to leak out, but we were just trying to sprint corners, and we were getting behind the defense and able to get layups. So as long as we come away with a stop, that allows us to run.”
Regardless of the win, Brown wasn’t shy in critiquing the efficiency. The Knicks’ starters solely performed the primary half. Josh Hart sat with a decrease again damage, whereas OG Anunoby made his debut, ending with 13 factors and a plus-20 internet ranking in restricted minutes. The offense, Brown stated, nonetheless has loads of rising to do.
“I thought our pace was better. We didn’t take care of the ball like we should have in transition because our floor wasn’t always spaced and sometimes we got too deep and tried to finish in a crowd,” he stated. “So the pace was better overall — we’ve just gotta do a better job taking care of the ball.”
Brown identified that even after made pictures, he desires the Knicks to push tempo and execute spacing fundamentals no matter rating or recreation circulate.
“I thought our pace was pretty good even after makes, and we want to play fast all the time — whether it’s make or miss, we want to space the floor the right way all the time,” he stated. “Philly, they like to pressure you the full court, and they’re athletic and they’re really quick, especially their guards. So we told the guys if you get pressured, go by them if you can and touch the paint, and if you can finish, finish, but if you draw a second guy, spray it.”
“I thought our guys did a pretty good job of knowing when to get out, they busted their behinds really hard especially to the corners, and they did a pretty good job as the game went along of touching the paint and trying to spray it.”
The following step? Extra threes — the best varieties. The Knicks tried simply 34.1 threes per recreation final season, a bottom-five mark league-wide. Brown desires that quantity north of 40 — however provided that they’re the best seems to be, generated by paint touches and drive-and-kicks.
“The first half we weren’t good with it. I think we had one spray, and we want to average 17-18 sprays a game,” he stated. “And so we have to do a better job there. We took some tough shots, and Philly made us take some tough shots, but we have to be more disciplined and get what we want instead of forcing shots like I thought we did.”
