Can you feel it in the air? It’s Knicks basketball scent.
New York keeps working through the early days of training camp, gearing up for a preseason matchup with the 76ers on Oct. 5.
Meanwhile, here’s the latest we’ve heard about the Knickerbockers inside the Tarrytown facilities and elsewhere.
Mike Brown
On Andre Drummond being quicker and more explosive than expected:
“He’s a little quicker and more explosive.”
On Andre Drummond replacing Mitchell Robinson by being himself:
“We’re not expecting Andre to come in and be Mitch or impact the game in a lot of different ways that Mitch did. Just be yourself, but everyone else has to step up and box-out a little harder. All those things will make us a top-level team.”
On Drummond’s veteran experience, instincts and mobility:
“He’s a veteran. He’s been there, done that with a few different teams, and he’s a big body, he’s got great feet. Seems like his instincts are pretty good on both ends of the floor. His feet are quicker than what you could imagine. He’s really light on his feet, which is a good thing.”
On the Knicks still discussing a potential White House visit:
“No, that’s still something that our guys, the organization, is internally discussing. Whatever we decide to do we’ll all do together.”
On his expectations for the Knicksover the 82-game regular season:
“We’re not playing at that level for 82 games. You know, we played at a pretty high level, and … that’s not going to happen over 82 games. You know, for me, the 82-game season is about trying to find your way.”
On expanding the Knicks’ offense around Karl-Anthony Towns and experimenting with different lineups:
“Obviously playing with KAT at the elbow a little bit more than what we did [in the regular season last year]. Being with this group for a year now, you get a better feel of what players can do what. Like I didn’t know if OG could be as effective as he was in the pick-and-roll game. Same with Mikal. So to try to continue to find ways to get those guys involved at the top of the floor is something that we’ll take a look at.
“We have great cutters that have tremendous size. We’ll continue to mix that in, and we all know that KAT is a really good facilitator at the elbow. Maybe Andre [Drummond] is too? I don’t know. Maybe we move OG to the five a little bit more than what we did last year. So there are a lot of different ways we can go with the team on both ends of the floor. The biggest thing is knowing that nothing’s set in stone.”
On carrying over the Knicks’ playoff offense into the new season while continuing to evolve:
“There’s a lot that will carry over for this year. We’ll also experiment with some new things here and there, but the stuff that we had in the playoffs may not work during the regular season. So we have to be ready to evolve or pivot as the year goes along and hopefully come close to playoff time, we’re trending upwards so that we feel we’re in a pretty good spot with the confidence needed to take off from there.”
Jalen Brunson
On Andre Drummond’s potential importance to the Knicks:
“Can be a big key to this team.”
On Drummond replacing Mitchell Robinson by being himself:
“Obviously, Mitch was near and dear to all of our hearts. I think the best part of the situation Andre is in, he’s not coming in to be Mitch. He’s coming in to be himself. So we’ve gotta give him the confidence to go out there and be himself.”
On getting to know Drummond at his birthday party:
“I’ve known him from afar. It’s always been mutual, like hi and bye. Always respect. That was like first time we really got to sit down and have a conversation. It was kind of an icebreaker type of thing.”
On his offseason wrist rehabilitation:
“I just feel like I didn’t do my normal summer stuff. I feel good, but also I know that it wasn’t just my normal summer.”
On how this wrist rehabilitation compared with his previous hand injury:
“It was similar, but I was shooting earlier than I was this time. I was in a cast longer than I was before, when I broke my hand. Plus, [surgery] was a little bit earlier — I think I got surgery right after it happened. I didn’t get surgery until like three weeks later [this time] because I didn’t know it was a necessity.”
On not viewing his disrupted offseason as catching up:
“I don’t want to say I’m catching up. I feel good, but also I know that it wasn’t just my normal summer.”
On the praise from LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo:
“I really do appreciate it. I respect the hell out of them. It’s honestly really cool … I really do appreciate it, and it shows where I’ve grown, but still got a lot of work to do.”
On experiencing the championship summer in New York and finding time to decompress:
“It exceeded expectations, honestly. Winning in New York was no joke. It was a really cool experience. … Have I decompressed at all? Not really. I’m gonna be honest with you, not really. But I’ve had times where I had time to relax. I enjoyed that. I spent time getting away from everything. Most times, it was rehabbing. Once I was out of the cast and cleared, I had obligations I had to go through, so I did all of that. But I feel good. And I know where to go to get to my happy place. I know where to go when I need to decompress. I’m good.”
On what the Knicks can add to the offense after unlocking something during the playoffs:
“I feel like we can do a lot more, do a lot of different things. I think we unlocked something last year in the playoffs at a time of need and it worked. It’s gonna be fun to kind of integrate it from the beginning of the season, too.”
On the Knicks learning they need each other to win:
“I think as a group, we figured out that we need each other to win, obviously, and we need each other to be on the same page. You never know when things are going to turn for you, when things are gonna click for you. But as long as you keep putting the work in every single day, you keep tapping the rock, tapping the rock, eventually it’s going to break.”
On getting to know Rajon Rondo and hosting him at Tarrytown on Tuesday:
“I got to talk to him, got to really get to know him this summer. I definitely watched him. He was just so creative and someone who was innovative in the way they play basketball.
“Definitely an icon when I was younger. So it was really cool to get to know him and his family.”
Karl-Anthony Towns
On Andre Drummond’s rebounding ability:
“One of the best rebounders of our generation.”
On the freedom he felt after winning the championship:
“The ability to celebrate and rejoice and have that joy of a kid without being judged. And also just the freedom of being able to really talk your s— for real, like being able to say you’re the champion and no one being like, well, this or that, whatever.
“It was a much more freeing experience now being an adult and being in that situation than I think I would have ever realized when I was young.”
On how winning the championship differed from how he imagined it when he was younger:
“When you are young, you’re looking at a championship as a sense of accomplishment. I think for me, in that moment winning it, it felt very freeing because a lot of the questions I know people had on me were put to rest.”
On refusing to change himself despite outside criticism:
“I just was never going to change who I was, even when the world was asking me to change who I was, so I could be the character in their story. I just was going to continue to be me.”
On how playing in a smaller market helped his development before arriving in New York:
“We talk about (playing in a) small market as a bad thing. It was a great thing for me because it protected me from having to be a perfect form of myself for the big media markets and stuff. I was able to really grow and hone myself as a person and fine-tune the things that I needed to so when I got (to New York), which wasn’t part of my plan, I was truly the best version of myself.”
On continuing to work rather than complain about criticism or a lack of immediate success:
“I’ve kept my head down and continued to try to be the best human I could be in the world, be the best player I could be even when I needed things to work on. Instead of complaining about why I didn’t get the love or have the immediate success, I just got back in the gym and worked on my game. And this was a year where I finally had enough lessons to really put it together and was given the opportunity to do something special.”
On his mother encouraging him to remain himself:
“My mom always told me to be who I am and never be ashamed to be who I am. To be unapologetically myself even if the love that I love to show people is not reciprocated.”
On mental strength not requiring him to change his personality:
“I think mental fortitude and mental strength doesn’t need to come with a frown on it. You can still smile and have an amazing amount of mental strength and have that Mamba Mentality”
On preparing for the possibility of being traded to Milwaukee midway through last season:
“We were on Zillow looking at Milwaukee. Like, ‘Hey, babe, I went around town, and it’s not that bad. This could be a good spot right here.’”
On embracing whatever role the Knicks needed from him during their championship run:
“Whatever was needed, I was willing to do at the highest level and be a star in my role. I think, in my career, I’ve always talked about my versatility, and it took that word versatility to get this championship.”
On balancing the playoffs with his father’s hospitalization:
“That was at the end of the season, too, and I missed every practice; I missed every shootaround. I only showed up to play the games, and I went right back to the hospital. Shoutout to my team.”
On finding validation through his own approach:
“Is my way the most glamorous way of doing it in the world, especially in the social media world? Absolutely not, because everyone wants instant validation, everyone wants instant gratification. But it is true in the long run, the good guys always win.”
On his championship, family and personal life coming together:
“My skill, my experience and my personal life all came together at the right moment, at the top, top, top of the game. There’s a lot of euphoria in the Towns family right now.”
OG Anunoby
On Andre Drummond:
“A great player. We know he can help us a lot.”
Andre Drummond
On why joining the Knicks made sense for him:
“I think it just made the most sense in terms of where I’m at in my career, what this team had just done — they had just won a championship — and with the addition of my veteran leadership and what I bring to the table, it just made sense for me to come here. I had a bunch of different options, but this option was the best one for me. I grew up a Knicks fan from young… So it’s a true honor to put this jersey on.”
On taking open 3-pointers without hunting them:
“For me, if the shot is there, I’ll take it. It’s not something I’m hunting. Same thing in Philadelphia. It’s not a shot I’m hunting. If it’s a good shot, I will take it.
“It’s a shot I’ve worked on. Same thing here. I’ve got the green light to do it. If the shot’s open, take the shot. But my main goal is to help the team the best way I can.”
On the skills and durability that have kept him in the NBA:
“[I am] a master at what I do. I’m able to rebound the ball at a high clip. Obviously with the addition of the 3-point shot, being able to be a good pick and roll defender, and just being a great locker room guy overall is what keeps me around.
“I stay healthy. I take care of my body. I do the necessary things to make sure I’m able to play the game at a high level.”
On being the lone newcomer to the Knicks:
“This is the first time I’m the only new guy to a team. So it feels kind of weird. Like an outcast trying to fit in but the guys are very welcoming, they made me feel very welcome to be here.
“Everybody’s been very nice and showing me the ropes of how to be a New York Knick.”
On what he gave Brunson for his birthday:
“I gave him a nice hug.”
On getting a head start learning the Knicks’ system:
“I’ve been here [in Tarrytown], just learning their system and how they flow both on offense and defense. So I’ve got a head start on what’s to come.”
On choosing the Knicks in free agency and growing up as a fan:
“This was the best option. Being born in Mount Vernon and then moving to Connecticut very young, I’ve always been a Knicks fan — from Amar’e [Stoudemire] to Patrick Ewing, the list of greats in this organization, it’s a true honor to put the jersey on.”
On Knicks fans taking over Philadelphia during the playoffs:
“It was crazy. It felt like an away game the whole series. They came down and took over the entire arena.
“Crazy seeing some of the fans from [Philadelphia] even wearing Knicks jerseys, too, so the Knicks fanbase is just far and wide. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world. It’s the basketball Mecca, so they did what they were supposed to do.”
On what he still brings as a veteran center:
“I’m able to rebound the ball at a high clip, still. And I’m a very good locker room guy.”
Josh Hart
On playing with his finger wrapped for the rest of his career:
“Just so I don’t got to answer this question anymore. There is no other surgery for me to get besides a joint replacement. If I get a joint replacement, I can’t play with it and my career is over. So it will be wrapped until I retire.”
Mitchell Robinson
On resolving his past issue with Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla:
“At first, we had a little issue because I’m like, ‘You gotta say sorry for fouling me,’ …But he apologized, and now we’re on the same team, so it’s going to be great, just build together and stuff like that, get to know him as the year goes on. I feel like it’s going to be epic.”
Stephen A. Smith
On refusing to criticize the Knicks this season after their championship:
“This year, I will not say a negative word about my New York Knicks. They erased a 53-year drought. They can do no wrong this year to me. They are the reigning, defending NBA champions until further notice, and they will be treated like that on this show by yours truly.”
On what he still expects from the Knicks:
“You gotta make the playoffs. Can’t stink up the joint, gotta make the playoffs now. Can’t be getting bounced out in the first round.”
On not needing LeBron James in New York after the Knicks’ championship:
“We don’t need him in New York. But I’m gonna say something on national television that might shock a lot of people. We know that [LeBron] and I don’t mess with each other. We know that story. If the New York Knicks had lost, I would have come on national TV and begged LeBron James to come to the Knicks. I woulda offered to carry LeBron’s bags. I woulda offered to caddy for him, occasionally, while he’s trying to learn golf.
“But I am not lying, I am not exaggerating, and I am not engaging in hyperbole. If the New York Knicks had lost in the NBA Finals, I would have begged, and I mean begged, LeBron James to come to New York.”
Malika Andrews
On Karl-Anthony Towns supposedly getting an “unreasonable” offer from the Knicks:
“From what I am told — similarly to what Jalen Brunson did — he is also willing to take a pay cut. But the pay cut that the Knicks are asking him to take, he views as unreasonable.”
