Did Leon Rose and the New York Knicks improve their chances of winning an NBA championship by firing Tom Thibodeau and hiring Mike Brown as head coach this offseason?
If you ask NBA champion Matt Barnes, who played under Brown for one season, absolutely not.
Speaking on the “Straight Game Podcast,” Barnes expressed his disbelief in Brown’s ability to turn the Knicks into title contenders.
“Fu** no,” he responded when asked whether Brown will have success in New York. “Mike’s a great person, to me he’s not a leader of men…He was my coach with the Lakers. Kobe & Ron Artest used to walk all over that motherf**ker. In Sacramento, he lost the team’s respect quickly. He is too nice for his own good.”
Brown’s resume stretches across nearly two decades of NBA experience, highlighted by stints coaching some of basketball’s biggest stars. He guided LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to the 2007 NBA Finals, where they were swept by Gregg Popovich’s powerhouse San Antonio Spurs, and later led Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers during the 2011–12 season.
After that, Brown spent six years on Steve Kerr’s staff in Golden State, helping mold a dynasty built around Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green.
His next chapter came in 2022, when he took over a struggling Sacramento Kings franchise desperate for success. In his first season, Brown delivered instant results: the Kings became the league’s top offense and snapped a 16-year playoff drought, beating the defending-champion Warriors in a seven-game battle during the first round.
Brown has had success before as an NBA head coach, but if he hopes to do it again in New York, he’ll have to prove wrong voices like Barnes, who are already betting against him.
