The moment we were all waiting for arrived on Thursday as Big Mitch took to the podium to speak about all things, including building a farm in Nashville.
Starting role? New contract? To hell with that, Mitch’s the freshest member of the
Organic Fam.
Here’s everything from Thursday, and then some, from your beloved Knickerbockers.
Mike Brown attended a high school football game recently and had someone come up to him asking about how he deals with the pressure of being an NBA head coach
Here was his response
"I appreciate your empathy, but that's part of the reason I get paid what I get paid. I've got to…
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— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks)
September 25, 2025
Mike Brown
On dealing with public pressure in New York:
“I went to Scarsdale High School opening night football game. And watched the first half and then it was halftime. … I stayed in the stands … and there was a mom in there that stayed because she had a seventh-grade son and she recognized me. We started talking about me in Sacramento, and then what happened here, and she was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, how did you do that pressure, your job’s on the line all the time?’ And I said, ‘You know what? I said, I appreciate you,’ but I said, it’s part of the reason I get paid what I get paid. I got to deal with it. And it’s public. Well, I’m getting paid by Mr. Dolan to be able to deal with it. And so I said, I appreciate ya, but don’t feel sorry for me, because I’m gonna be OK at the end of the day.”
On embracing expectations:
“I like what people may call pressure, because that means there’s importance. Not just with you, because everything I do I feel is important, but there’s importance placed upon everything you do, and everybody has expectations because they want to enjoy the moment. And so I said, I embrace that. Because nobody’s expectations are bigger than mine.”
On learning from past coaching experiences:
“So that’s kind of how I look at it as, I get paid to go through certain things to deal with certain things, to make certain decisions. And my expectations are higher than probably yours, yours and yours, and I embrace whatever comes my way that comes along with being in this spot. And if something were to happen, like it happened in Sacramento or Cleveland or whatever, you just learn and you grow. You have to take every single thing you do and try to flip it into a learning experience, to grow a little here, grow a little there. That’s where I feel like I’ve done in every situation.”
On expectations driving his motivation:
“I’m excited by the expectations. My own expectations are higher than yours, than yours, than yours.”
On embracing the role of head coach in New York:
“You have to take every single thing you do and try to flip it into a learning experience. A little here, a little there. I embrace what comes along with this spot.”
On Mitchell Robinson’s impact on the court:
“He is a monster on the glass. In Sacramento, we tried to emphasize that if our big had to help and leave Mitch, our weak side had to crack back — even if it meant picking up a foul — because he can win a game on the offensive glass alone. That to me hasn’t changed.”
On defining player roles before the season opener:
“Ideally, it would be great to have everybody’s role defined before the first game. Now, they can change throughout the course of the season, but hopefully going into Game 1, we as coaches — and Billy Lange — get to a point where we have everybody’s role defined. And not only that, but they embrace it so that everybody knows specifically what they need to do. We’ve got a lot of guys and we’re a new staff. So if we get a little behind, maybe it doesn’t happen until after the first or second game. I don’t know. But ideally, I’d like to have all that done before Game 1.”
On offensive concepts and preseason goals:
“The way we play, I want to get to a point where we can play conceptually and everyone is on the same page. Our staples are really important for us: pace, spacing, paint touches, quick decisions, ball reversals…those things are extremely important to us. Now you take it a step further and in our early offense we have what we call our ‘automatics.’ Our automatics are basically reads. If the ball goes this way and a body goes that way, then that tells the next player you have to go this way or that way. To play conceptually without calls, in my opinion, is to your advantage because the defense doesn’t know what’s coming. You have a couple of different options you can do every time the ball moves or somebody else moves, and it’s your choice. If you’re doing it with pace, with the floor spaced very well, we become hard to guard. Implementing that is going to take a little bit of time. We’re going to play out of that quite a bit in the preseason. It’s even going to get frustrating for the players because they’re going to see matchups and they’re just going to want the ball in this guy’s hands or that guy’s hands and want to go score. But the preseason for us — like everything, but the preseason more importantly — is a step by step process, and we don’t want to skip any steps, even if it means slowing down with our development a little bit. Laying that foundation of our concepts so we can play freely within the concepts is going to be the first step for us offensively.”
On using Karl-Anthony Towns more creatively:
“The biggest thing is we want to move KAT around. We don’t want to keep him in the trail spot or at the top of the floor all the time. We want to move him around to the weak corner, strong corner, weak wing and sometimes as the push man offensively.”
On Towns’ passing and offensive versatility:
“When he is at the 5, we feel he’s a really good passer. Sometimes he’ll be at the rim. Sometimes he’ll be at the elbow. When he’s at the elbow, that’s when he’s going to be in a big decision-making role, and we feel he’s more than capable of making good decisions with the basketball, whether it’s a (dribble hand off), pass to the cutter. We also feel when we do pass to him on the elbow and have movement and floor spacing around him that he’s a huge threat. He’s one dribble away from laying it up or doing what he does best, which is realize where the contact is and draw a foul.”
On using the depth of the Knicks roster:
“Now it’s our job to figure out how to use this group. Knowing that you have guys that you can throw into the game at any time is exciting . . . To be able to have guys, especially veteran guys that have been there and done that at your disposal makes it a lot of fun for a coach. Now like I said it’s my job to spend time and it’s going to take some time finding the right combinations to put out there on any given time.”
On open competition for final roster spots:
“There’s no one ahead of anyone yet.”
On Jordan Clarkson’s mentality and skillset:
“He’s a professional scorer. He’s a capable passer. But I like the mindset that he has. You want guys that aren’t afraid of the moment, aren’t afraid to take the shot, aren’t afraid to go get it. Because the more guys that you have like that, that puts pressure and a little bit of fear on your opponent. Because when the ball touches his hands, and your opponent isn’t doing their job. That thing’s going up and it’s probably going to go in.”
On Guerschon Yabusele’s journey back to the NBA:
“When you get drafted and don’t make it, it can do a lot of things to you mentally. It can make you say things like, ‘Screw the NBA. I don’t want to come back,’ or it can make you say, ‘You know what? I’m an NBA player and I’m going to do what I need to do to get back and be there as long as I want to be there.’ Seeing that process tells you a lot about him as a person. That’s a vastly competitive spirit and competitive nature that I’m looking for when it comes to being a New York Knick. Going back overseas allowed him to work on his game, refine his tools and skill set. It just took him to another level. At his size, he knows he has to be versatile to thrive, and not just offensively, but defensively, too.”
On competition in camp regardless of contract type:
“Whether you’re here on a guaranteed deal, you’re here on a nonguaranteed deal, you’re competing your butt off. And at the end of the day, we have a lot of time to make a decision on what’s gonna happen, and we’ll figure out who we need to fit and who needs to fit, but it’s gonna be a process.”
Deuce McBride is asked what he's noticed about Mike Brown's coaching style so far:
"He's been communicating with a lot of guys, also allowing a lot more people to talk and to really get a feel for what's going on"
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— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks)
September 25, 2025
Deuce McBride
On using the Pacers loss as motivation:
“I’m still stung by the loss now.”
On the Knicks’ new offensive system under Mike Brown:
“A lot more player movement, ball movement. Last year, at times, we got stagnant and we depended on a lot of isolation shots, which is tough down the stretch. This year, it’s going to be a little more freedom.”
On Mike Brown’s coaching style:
“He’s been communicating with a lot of guys, also allowing a lot more people to talk and to really get a feel for what’s going on.”
On the Knicks’ coaching change:
“You never wish for anybody to lose their job, I wish [Tom Thibodeau] the best. Coming in with Mike, excited for something different. That’s the great thing about the league — things change and you see who adapts.”
Mitchell Robinson started up his own farm this summer in Nashville
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— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks)
September 25, 2025
Mitchell Robinson
On starting a farm in Nashville:
“I started my own farm, so all of my stuff is legit fresh, organic, stuff like that, so kind of moving forward with that. Chickens, all kinds of stuff.”
On how he learned to farm:
“You gotta know people, they’ll teach you a lot.”
On whether he cooks or not:
“No. Hell no. [My people] gotta go out there, grab it, and bring it.”
On buying into the new coaching staff:
“I’m excited to play for him. Been here going on eight years now. Third coach. I’m just gonna get in there and give him the same energy I gave all the other coaches: Hard work and keep it moving.”
On whether starting or coming off the bench matters to him:
“Nah. It don’t matter to me at all. I started before. I came off the bench before. I did great in both. So it’s whatever.”
On his contract year mindset:
“I’m gonna come out here and play hard still regardless, whether it’s my last or my first. Just come out here and play hard. But at the same time I’m gonna let my agent handle that part of it. I’m just gonna play basketball.”
On handling medical decisions around back-to-backs:
“Imma let [the medical staff] handle that. They’re gonna tell me. I just go with the flow. The season ain’t really start yet. We’re just in training camp.”
On potential free agency next summer:
“My agent will handle that.”
"Guys know – you throw it to me, it's getting in the air. The majority of the time, I feel like I'm open. That comes with a grain of salt – I know I've got to take good shots and play the right way as well."
– Jordan Clarkson on his role with the Knicks
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— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks)
September 24, 2025
Jordan Clarkson
On why he joined the Knicks:
“The team is really good. They’re playing for something.”
On the cryptic message he sent Josh Hart after being bought out:
“I just sent him a ’00.’ He didn’t know what it meant, but I’m here.”
On fitting in with the Knicks’ system:
“All of it’s communication. For me, I’m going to be myself in between what’s going on already. I’m going to hang my hat on that. I’m going to make my changes or whatever I have to do to fit in here and play the right way. We’ll figure that out. Definitely, down the line, I think all the guys know if they show (the ball to me), it’s going to get in the air. The majority of the time I feel like I’m open. It comes with a grain of salt. I have to take good shots and play the right way, as well.”
On conversations with Jalen Brunson before joining the Knicks:
“That was just me telling him, ‘if you ever need to come off the bench and the timing is right, I’m here. I’m not looking for the ball but if you get in trouble in the last five, I’ll be around if you need somebody to throw it to.’ Those were just little tidbits I’d throw to him like when we were at World Cup and stuff to put in his ear. But that was just all playful talk. But shoot, I’m here now.”
Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart both say the best part of their summer was the time they spent with their respective children
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— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks)
September 23, 2025
Jalen Brunson
On pressure and expectations this season:
“There’s no championship or bust pressure. Obviously, the goal is to win a championship, but each season starts out new.”
“New York was an amazing time. It was a great place. I loved it…But it also comes with a lot…At the end of that time, I was kind of at my darkest moment. Just miserable…I would just be in there watching TV in a dark room”
— Julius Randle
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— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork)
September 26, 2025
Julius Randle
On his time in New York:
“New York was an amazing time. It was a great place. I loved it. I had a lot of great moments there and great experiences and met a lot of great people and played a lot of great games. You get to play in the Garden, you know? Have all those experiences. But it also comes with a lot, too, man. It comes with a lot of different things. And it’s a lot to navigate.”
On the scrutiny of playing in New York:
“You know how New York is, man. You’re under a different microscope. So it’s like, you’re not just battling and trying to win. It seems like you’re battling a million different things.”
On hitting rock bottom during his last season in New York:
“At the end of that time, I was kind of at my darkest moment. Just miserable, like in a way where I just was not having fun going to work every single day.”
On how his mental health affected his home life:
“I would just be in there watching TV in a dark room. I didn’t even want to show my face. I kind of just wanted to be left alone and, like, in hiding. Just very frustrated and angry and all those different emotions. It just wasn’t a good place to be in.”
On the shock of the trade:
“When I got traded, I’m like damn, I can’t believe this got taken from me. It’s like, you worked so hard to build something, and it was just snatched away.”
On adjusting to the Timberwolves:
“Once I got here, I was like it was a breath of fresh air. I’ve been loving it ever since, even when things weren’t going as good.”
