The Knicks Starters And Their Coach Need A Reality Check

The New York Knicks have now lost three straight games to the Detroit Pistons. None of them were close.

Ordinarily, I refrain from crashing out or overreacting to one loss, but this one feels different. Mike Brown and the Knicks had ample time and rest to prepare for what should’ve been a game circled on the calendar.

Of course, the Pistons — having lost a playoff series to the Knicks in six games last season — had more to gain and more motivation to win. But that’s also exactly why the Knicks (who were at home, by the way) needed to strike back to tilt the scales and let the Pistons know that they’re still a major threat in the East.

That didn’t happen…

The Pistons, down two of their best big men in Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart, played with the blood in their eyes that the Knicks should play with every time they see the Indiana Pacers. But they don’t, at least they haven’t thus far this season.

56 games in, I’m done talking about lineups and offensive and defensive philosophy. This isn’t about depth or injuries. Every single player on the Knicks’ starting five needs a reality check in the worst way possible. If that reality check doesn’t come from head coach Mike Brown, then Leon Rose made the wrong hire this past spring.

Jalen Brunson: Jalen Brunson’s next evolution needs to come from his leadership style, not his game. Last season, after the Knicks signed PJ Tucker, Josh Hart lauded his ability to hold guys accountable, both publicly and privately. Hart explained,

“I think with him, and all of us struggle with finding the right time to address certain things and hold guys accountable. In the group setting, I think that’s something that everybody’s trying to figure out.”

A year later, nothing has changed. I can’t express how frustrating it is that this team, for several seasons, appears to be bargain shopping for leadership at the trade deadline. How is this not an indictment of Jalen Brunson as a captain? Listen, he’s an amazing player, and quite literally, the last five seasons of my life, as a Knicks fan, wouldn’t be the same without him, but Brunson has to be okay with being the bad guy from time-to-time.

A recent article from Vanity Fair described Brunson as careful with his words. He’s got to stop worrying about the perfect way to deliver feedback and just deliver it.

Mikal Bridges: No one on this team has dropped off a cliff further than Mikal Bridges. The man who Josh Hart affectionately described as being traded for five 12th graders several seasons ago has been a far cry from the player who was scoring in double-digit points during the first 10 games of the season while canning 47% of his three-point shots (27-for-57).

I’ll give Mikal credit. More so than any other player on the starting five, he’s held himself accountable, at least publicly, saying that he needed to be more “coachable” and a “better teammate.” I think it’s easy for fans to think that just because a player has a reputation of being a two-player, they can sometimes escape criticism when the team is not playing good defense.

But with Mikal, it’s very easy to see when he is locked in, getting over the screens, and being physical with opposing players versus when he’s not. He and OG (who we’ll get to in a minute) have to understand their specific roles on this team.

Bridges needs to understand that his shots come from the corner three and the mid-range fadeaway—that’s it. Don’t focus on your touches or what your offensive role is. Defend and get your shots from those areas.

Josh Hart: What I’ll criticize Josh Hart for is in-part human nature, but I do think the fame has gotten to him a bit. With the Roommates podcast and other off-the-court obligations, Hart is the most visible Knick in New York outside of Brunson, even though KAT is a bigger star.

First, I do want to give him immense credit for not getting surgery on his shooting hand, playing through pain to give the Knicks the best chance at winning even when his fingers look like something out of a Tales from the Crypt episode.

That being said, Josh is not a talented enough player offensively to go through stretches of a game where his effort isn’t 100 percent. He’s probably been the second-most consistent Knick, but he’s also been the quickest to call out the team. I have no problem with that, but if he’s going to do it, he has to walk the walk on a nightly basis.

OG Anunoby: OG is the most important player on the team not named Jalen Brunson. Use whatever metric you want—his impact on winning is obvious. Prior to the Knicks trading for Anunoby, it was clear that he wanted a bigger role in his team’s offense. Last season, OG post career-highs in shots and points per game. This season’s stats are a little lower—however, you have to factor in that OG has already missed 13 games this season, as opposed to the eight he missed during 2024-2025.

Whenever OG is frustrated, it appears he always makes some passive aggressive comment about the ball moving or not moving, which feels like a dig at Jalen Brunson. And if we’re being 100% honest, similar to Bridges, his defensive effort on a night-to-night basis has not been consistent enough to garner the accolades he wants.

OG has to realize that his primary role every night is to suffocate the opposing teams’ best wing, take corner threes, and attack close-outs. Sure, if Jalen and KAT don’t have it, take someone off the dribble, or if he’s particularly hot one night, take a couple more shots here and there. The sooner OG stops thinking about himself as the next Jaylen Brown and starts remembering who he is on this team, the better off the Knicks will be.

KAT and Mike Brown: I lumped KAT and Coach Brown together because their relationship is the single-most important factor that the Knicks need to get right. Make no mistake: if these two can’t get on the same page, forget the NBA Finals or even a repeat appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals.

KAT, to his credit, has stopped with some of the nonsense whining to the refs. He still does it, but I believe it’s less frequent. He’s playing less minutes and taking a couple shots less overall, but his three-point attempts are right around the same clip from last season. The biggest difference, to me, is that Mike Brown wants KAT to roll in the one-five action instead of pop. I believe Brown sees KAT’s primary role in this offense as a playmaker first, offensive rebounder second, and shooter and driver third.

This doesn’t make sense.

If you’re going to have KAT on this team, you have to leverage the biggest strength he brings to the table: his shooting. Brown was hired to unlock this Knicks offense. Overall, the stats say he’s done that. The Knicks are top five in offensive rating, three-point makes per game, and three-point percentage. They’re also top 10 in points per game and assists per game.

Either Leon Rose or someone else in the front office needs to broker some type of sit-down, meeting of the minds, truce, whatever you want to call it between KAT and Mike Brown, because this can’t go on.

This season and whatever goals the Knicks have as a team literally depend on it.