LAS VEGAS — Mike Brown didn’t reveal much in his introductory news conference, but he notably mentioned his desire for a speedy offense.
And he also relayed that to the coaching staff.
“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,” Jordan Brink, the Knicks summer league coach, said.
As Brink noted, Friday night’s 104-86 loss to the Pistons quickly became a bad example of Brown’s vision.
They started poorly — failing to take care of the ball — and never recovered.
With Brown and the front office sitting courtside in Vegas, Tyler Kolek, the second-year point guard, struggled with 10 points and five turnovers.
The shaky performance, permeating through New York’s roster, can be easily tossed away as just a meaninglessly sloppy opener.
But it also wasn’t pretty.
“I thought it took us a while to get adjusted to the game,” Brink, an assistant under Tom Thibodeau last season, said. “And 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.”
Success in summer league carries no big-picture significance, especially since zero players on New York’s roster project as major contributors to the rotation.
Still, at least three players — Kolek, Ariel Hukporti and Pacôme Dadiet — are guaranteed roster spots.
Another roster spot and three two-way contracts are also up for grabs.
And they all struggled Friday. The Knicks shot a combined 40 percent from the field and 22 percent (6-for-27) on treys.
It’s tough to play fast while committing 16 turnovers in 40-minutes.
“(Playing fast) doesn’t just mean up and down. It doesn’t just mean we got to get out in transition,” Brink said. “The fast part is all of our stuff in our actions. So we get the ball up the floor quick, and if we don’t have anything, we’re on to the next action quickly. So fast is really just decision-making.”
The good news is there are four more games in Vegas to produce a better version of Brown’s ideal offense.
Kolek is looking forward to another chance to display Brown’s philosophies.
“He hasn’t addressed the whole team. He just got here last week,” Kolek said. “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.”
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