Mike Brown’s Knicks are beginning to take form — and that begins together with his bench.
Charles Allen and Ricardo Fois, each of whom labored below Brown in Sacramento, are anticipated to hitch his Knicks employees, based on SNY’s Ian Begley.
Allen started his NBA journey in 2017 as an assistant video coordinator with the Phoenix Suns, then held comparable roles with the Rockets and Jazz earlier than touchdown in Sacramento. There, he rose from head video coordinator to particular assistant to the pinnacle coach and, ultimately, a full-time assistant coach by the tip of final season.
Fois brings a deep background in participant growth. He served because the Suns’ director of participant growth below Monty Williams in 2019, then joined the Italian nationwide group for the 2023 FIBA World Cup. He joined Brown’s Sacramento employees for the 2024-25 season however wasn’t retained after Brown’s firing. Fois is broadly revered for his growth work with gamers like Mikal Bridges (Phoenix), Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento), Zach Collins (Chicago), Rui Hachimura (Los Angeles), Bennedict Mathurin (Indiana), and extra throughout his time on the collegiate degree at Gonzaga and Arizona.
The Knicks are additionally reportedly trying to pry Brendan O’Connor from Tyronn Lue’s employees in Los Angeles. O’Connor has a fame as a defensive savant — the Clippers completed third in defensive effectivity final season, permitting simply 109 factors per 100 possessions, based on knowledge from the NBA’s stats web page.
Rick Brunson, Thibodeau’s lead assistant and father of All-Star guard Jalen Brunson, is predicted to stay on employees however in a lowered position. Different holdovers — Darren Erman, Mark Bryant, and Maurice Cheeks — may additionally return below Brown.
New York additionally confirmed sturdy curiosity in Timberwolves assistant Pablo Prigioni, who performed level guard for the Knicks from 2012 to 2015. Prigioni declined the chance to return to New York, opting to remain in Minnesota for household causes, per SNY.
Pelicans assistant James Borrego, a former Hornets head coach and Popovich disciple, was one other goal. So was veteran coach Jay Triano, presently on Jason Kidd’s employees in Dallas. The Knicks have been turned down on a number of requests for permission to interview rival coaches for to switch Thibodeau. They could additionally strike out on poaching opposing assistants presently below contract elsewhere.
With Brown reshaping the bench, this new Knicks period gained’t simply look completely different on the court docket — it’ll sound completely different within the huddle, too.
Brown referenced the method of constructing his employees three separate instances throughout his introductory press convention on the Knicks’ coaching facility in Tarrytown on July 8. He emphasised collaboration with group president Leon Rose and pressured that when the employees was finalized, the true work would start — laying the muse for what Knicks basketball will appear like below his management.
Now, together with his bench almost assembled, the Mike Brown period is formally underway. Quickly, it’ll be time for the outcomes to observe.
Initially Printed: July 28, 2025 at 3:15 PM EDT
