Mike Brown’s Knicks are starting to take shape — and that starts with his bench.
The Knicks have parted ways with several assistant coaches from the Tom Thibodeau era, including Andy Greer, Dice Yoshimoto, Daniel Brady, and Othella Harrington, the Daily News confirmed. In their place, new head coach Mike Brown is expected to bring in familiar faces from his time with the Sacramento Kings.
Charles Allen and Ricardo Fois, both of whom worked under Brown in Sacramento, are expected to join his Knicks staff, according to SNY’s Ian Begley.
Allen began his NBA journey in 2017 as an assistant video coordinator with the Phoenix Suns, then held similar roles with the Rockets and Jazz before landing in Sacramento. There, he rose from head video coordinator to special assistant to the head coach and, eventually, a full-time assistant coach by the end of last season.
Fois brings a deep background in player development. He served as the Suns’ director of player development under Monty Williams in 2019, then joined the Italian national team for the 2023 FIBA World Cup. He joined Brown’s Sacramento staff for the 2024-25 season but wasn’t retained after Brown’s firing. Fois is widely respected for his development work with players like Mikal Bridges (Phoenix), Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento), Zach Collins (Chicago), Rui Hachimura (Los Angeles), Bennedict Mathurin (Indiana), and more during his time at the collegiate level at Gonzaga and Arizona.
The Knicks are also reportedly attempting to pry Brendan O’Connor from Tyronn Lue’s staff in Los Angeles. O’Connor has a reputation as a defensive savant — the Clippers finished third in defensive efficiency last season, allowing just 109 points per 100 possessions, according to data from the NBA’s stats page.
Rick Brunson, Thibodeau’s lead assistant and father of All-Star guard Jalen Brunson, is expected to remain on staff but in a reduced role. Other holdovers — Darren Erman, Mark Bryant, and Maurice Cheeks — could also return under Brown.
New York also showed strong interest in Timberwolves assistant Pablo Prigioni, who played point guard for the Knicks from 2012 to 2015. Prigioni declined the opportunity to return to New York, opting to stay in Minnesota for family reasons, per SNY.
Pelicans assistant James Borrego, a former Hornets head coach and Popovich disciple, was another target. So was veteran coach Jay Triano, currently on Jason Kidd’s staff in Dallas. The Knicks were turned down on several requests for permission to interview rival coaches for to replace Thibodeau. They may also strike out on poaching opposing assistants currently under contract elsewhere.
With Brown reshaping the bench, this new Knicks era won’t just look different on the court — it’ll sound different in the huddle, too.
Brown referenced the process of building his staff three separate times during his introductory press conference at the Knicks’ training facility in Tarrytown on July 8. He emphasized collaboration with team president Leon Rose and stressed that once the staff was finalized, the real work would begin — laying the foundation for what Knicks basketball will look like under his leadership.
Now, with his bench nearly assembled, the Mike Brown era is officially underway. Soon, it’ll be time for the results to follow.
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