The Knicks brought Bruce Brown to camp with a purpose, and the fit is obvious from the jump. New York is trying to build a competitive roster under Mike Brown, and the veteran guard-forward gives them the kind of flexible piece that can matter when the season starts getting real.
Brown’s path to New York says plenty about the market he found this summer. After playing 82 games last season for a title contender, he wound up with a much thinner group of suitors than expected.
As The Post’s Stefan Bondy wrote, the teams that showed interest “weren’t many,” and the phrase he kept hearing was “the second apron.” Brown said that reality helped explain why he had to take a training camp invitation from the Knicks.
The salary-cap picture matters here, too. The Knicks signed Bruce Brown along with Ochai Agbaji, John Konchar, Drew Eubanks, and James Wiseman to Exhibit 9 deals earlier this week, according to SI’s Max Wildstein. New York has only two roster spots available and is nearing the second apron, which means this camp battle is about more than just looking good in preseason games.
Still, Brown looks like the veteran in the best position to come out of it with a full-time job. SI’s Matthew Miranda pointed to Miles McBride, Pacome Dadiet, and Mo Diawara as the leading names in the mix, but Brown’s versatility gives him a strong case over any of them. He can handle the point if the Knicks want to play bigger, slide to forward if they want to go small, and serve as useful insurance if Josh Hart misses time.
That kind of do-everything profile is exactly why Brown makes sense for New York. He’s the ultimate utility player, and on top of that, he brings championship experience into a locker room that can use it. If the Knicks keep him on the final roster, they’d be getting a low-cost depth piece with real lineup flexibility once the regular season arrives.
In Other News...
Mike Brown Is Watching One Knicks Issue That Could Define October
The Knicks have entered the kind of October stretch that tends to reveal more than it resolves. With contract extension talks for Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns reportedly on hold, there is already a bit of tension simmering around the roster, and Mike Brown has been careful to frame the preseason as a live competition rather than a formality. Even with the starting group taking shape, Brown has made clear that players outside that lineup are still fighting for minutes, which keeps the pressure on everyone from the top of the rotation down.
New Yorks 0-3 preseason mark only adds to the sense that this month is about more than wins and losses. Brown said he wants to see how the group handles adversity once the games count, and that question feels especially relevant for a team trying to balance expectation, roles and a contract situation that already appears to have some friction attached to it. The results so far have not settled much, which is exactly why the next few weeks matter so much. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Have An Early Problem Fans Already Find Frustrating
The preseason scoreline at Madison Square Garden was lopsided enough to get attention, but for the Knicks the more familiar concern was already there before the regular season has even arrived. Minnesota handled New York 122-104, and the loss dropped the Knicks to 0-3 in exhibition play, a start that has done little to calm early unease around a roster still trying to find its rhythm.
Minnesota, meanwhile, looked far more settled in its shot-making and pace, with Anthony Edwards setting the tone throughout the night. The kind of matchup New York hoped would offer a cleaner read on where things stand instead left another reminder that there is work to do, and the issue frustrating fans has not exactly been hard to spot through the first few tune-ups. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Roster Battle Took Shape In A Blowout Fans Can Ignore
The preseason loss in Toronto barely moved the needle on the scoreboard, especially with the Knicks down their top seven players and now 0-4 in exhibition play. What mattered more was the chance to watch the rest of the roster sort itself out, with the game offering another look at the active bigs and fringe pieces trying to carve out roles before the real thing begins.
Among the players who drew the most attention were Nickel, Eubanks and Wiseman, each showing something useful and something unfinished in a game that was more about evaluation than result. Wisemans activity stood out as the kind of sample that can keep a roster conversation alive, while the Knicks also got a reminder that some of these minutes are less about winning a preseason game than about deciding who can actually help when the games count. [Read more 🡒]