CHARLESTON, S.C. — Mikal Bridges formally began his Knicks profession Tuesday with an understanding that his earlier stint in Brooklyn, whereas a irritating disappointment, was additionally a useful studying expertise.
“Yeah, it was robust in Brooklyn, we had been dropping. Even personally, I feel I didn’t deal with it in addition to I might,” Bridges mentioned after ending his first observe with the Knicks in coaching camp. “I at all times preach psychological toughness and by no means dropping your spirit. But it surely was simply one thing I by no means handled like that. And, I feel it was only a lot only for that crew normally once I was there and the expectation for everyone and I feel I didn’t deal with it nearly as good as I ought to have.
“However coming right here, it’s good. All people’s locked in and all people’s motivated and coach [Tom Thibodeau] obtained all people locked in. So it’s nice to be right here.”
With the Nets, Bridges took on the burden of the No. 1 offensive choice and struggled with effectivity as the main target of the opposition’s protection.
It’ll be a unique position in MSG alongside Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Cities.
“Once you obtained two All-NBA guys like that, that’s what it’s,” Bridges mentioned. “It’s positively going to open up spacing.”
Bridges is anticipated to begin within the backcourt with Jalen Brunson, his former teammate at Villanova.
“I understand how he performs, he is aware of how I play,” Brunson mentioned, “the chemistry continues to be there.”
Mitchell Robinson, who’s formally out indefinitely whereas recovering from ankle surgical procedure, didn’t journey with the Knicks to Charleston for coaching camp.
The middle remained in New York to rehab on the crew’s facility.
Though Thibodeau declined to offer a timeline for Robinson’s restoration, a league supply focused December or January as a tough estimate, relying on the progress of rehab.
Thibodeau defined why the Knicks returned to Charleston for a second straight 12 months for camp.
“We did it yearly once I was a Knicks assistant within the ’90s, and we at all times loved coming down right here,” the coach defined. “Stunning place and an opportunity to get away. The gamers take pleasure in having the ability to get away. They will stroll and go to good eating places at evening and spend time with one another. The teambuilding facet of it’s terrific.”
Requested concerning the backup point-guard rotation, Thibodeau touted the “versatility” of his choices.
He talked about a number of gamers however curiously ignored rookie Tyler Kolek.
“We’ve a lot of guys that may play each on the ball and off the ball, and I feel typically that’s the toughest factor to protect,” Thibodeau mentioned. “You need to create the tempo, and then you definately need to create the motion. Typically as we did the second half of final 12 months, we had Jalen off the ball and Josh [Hart] initiating a number of offense for us final 12 months. Mikal’s snug with it, Cam [Payne], Deuce [McBride] is nice with each. So I like that versatility loads.”
