
Fast Knicks will be fun.
The Knicks allowed the Pistons to beat them after touching them in the playoffs.
Detroit might not sniff another win against New York for the next 12 months.
Here’s what we’ve heard about and around the Knicks during the past few hours.
final pic.twitter.com/QdQ7HwcoyD
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) July 12, 2025
Jordan Brink (Summer Knicks Coach)
On implementing Mike Brown’s faster philosophy at the Summer League:
“It doesn’t just mean playing up and down, like we have to get out in transition. The fast part is all of the stuff in our actions.
“If we get the ball up the floor quick and don’t have anything, we’re to the next action. Fast is really decision-making, playing with a ‘.5’ mentality. That’s fast, too. I think a lot of our guys early on … we want to play fast, but we don’t want to play rushed. We want to make quick decisions.”
On acknowledging Brown’s desire to play fast, starting in Vegas:
“We’ve communicated foundationally on what we want to do on both sides of the ball. A huge part of it — and he talked about it with you guys in his presser — is just playing fast.”
On the need for tune-ups following the loss to the Pistons:
“I thought it took us a while to get adjusted to the game. We played fast and played with pace all week in practice. And then the first five minutes today, we didn’t really have that.
“So that was the biggest thing from an offensive standpoint of how we wanted to play. I don’t think we did a good job of executing that.”
Jordi Fernandez (Brooklyn Nets Head Coach)
On Mike Brown’s fearless approach:
“The one thing you can tell about Mike Brown is that he’s not scared. I give him a lot of respect for that. He always is up for the challenge. He was at that time, 2009, 2010, [then] he was with Sacramento and it was the longest playoff drought in history, and he is right now joining the Knicks. You guys have somebody that will not be afraid and he’ll be ready to do what he needs to do. And I think you learn from all those situations. That’s why he’s the coach he is right now.”
On how he met Mike Brown and what he learned from him:
“I met Mike through working with his son Elijah. And long story short, he offered me to go to Cleveland to work with Elijah and ended up hiring me in Cleveland. That’s how I started my journey in the NBA. Always thankful to him . . . He helped me a lot, gave me the opportunity, but most important thing, he treated me like family. I still consider him like my family. Sometimes he’d watch me through film. That’s very Mike-like. And always attention to detail. Great way about him. You know, incredible worker. I learned a lot of the things about those details and teaching and so forth.”
On Brown’s evolution across teams:
“You see the Mike at the beginning. When I met him, he was 39, just turning 40. I always remember the day that we celebrated his 40th birthday at the facility with everybody there, in the 2009-10 season. And then you see the evolution, going through Golden State, going to the Lakers, coming back and going to Golden State. You see obviously the same person, good person, talented person, but with different experience. And we all become part of our experiences as coaches. And that’s been the coolest thing. I see the same Mike as a person, but different. I’ve enjoyed seeing that from him. The thing is we all have to learn from experiences, keep the good and correct some of the things when the experience is not that good. I give him a lot of credit. He didn’t stick in his own ways. He always got better and now he gets to coach a very special organization.”
On Mike Brown’s demanding nature:
“In a good way, yes. He works really hard. He wants everybody else to work hard. He always has a very good way with people. People love Mike Brown. And he will hold everybody accountable, not just the players but everybody that works around him and himself. When he feels like he made a mistake, he’ll share with everybody else. So I’ve learned a lot from him.”
Tyler Kolek
On his offseason development:
“We’ve been working all summer. I’m just trying to get my body right and improve—conditioning, shooting, finishing, defense, all aspects.”
On looking forward to play more games under Brown’s philosophy:
“He hasn’t addressed the whole team. He just got here last week.
“But from what the coaches have been emphasizing in summer league, and I’m sure what he’s relayed to them, it’s just play faster, get the ball out, we want to sprint up the floor, move the ball.”
Mitchell Robinson
On giving back through basketball camps:
“If coming to these camps gets them out the house, shows them there’s more to life, then hell… if I can help change lives in this community that took me in as one of their own.”
Wally Szczerbiak (Former NBA Player)
On what it’s like to play for Mike Brown:
“I loved it… Outstanding leader.
“In the film rooms, he gets his message across. There’s no messing around.
“If you have a problem, he has an open door. He likes expectations, championship or bust.”