Mike Brown starts Mikal Bridges, then sits him late

The Athletic's Knicks beat writer put the strangest rotation call in New York into one sentence, and it's a good one.

James L. Edwards III

@JLEdwardsIII

COLUMN: Mike Brown is giving Mikal Bridges the pageantry that comes with being a starter — the announcement, strobe lights and handshakes — because of what he’s done in the past. But when it comes to the basketball and winning time, Bridges hasn’t been on the floor because of what’s happening now. On a coach navigating a tough situation: t.co/H4kLLOTlVQ

That's the whole situation. Bridges gets the intro, the lights and the handshakes. When the game is decided, he's in a warmup. In the 115-107 loss to the Cavs at the Garden, he played 17 minutes, scored 2 points on 1-of-3 shooting and sat the entire 4th quarter while Brown went with Landry Shamet and Miles McBride. It wasn't a one-off either. He'd already been benched in the 4th in 3 games by the time the Knicks played Brooklyn, a night he went 1-for-7.

The numbers explain why Brown is doing it. Bridges is averaging 5.9 points in 24.4 minutes a game, and that's the fewest minutes he's played in his career. He hasn't hit double figures in 5 straight games. Last season he averaged 14.4 points. You can't hide a dropoff like that, and the reporting says the problem is pretty basic: he isn't getting to the rim and he isn't spacing the floor.

Brown hasn't been shy about who's taking the minutes. After the Cleveland game he said the Knicks have 2 guys playing really well in Landry and Miles and that minutes will be hard to find. He also said flat out that Mikal is a starter, and he wasn't going to make a panic decision 10 games in. So the job title stays and the closing minutes go to someone else, and the whole league can see it.

That's why Edwards calls it a tough spot for a coach. The Knicks gave up a mountain of draft picks to bring Bridges over from Brooklyn, and he's been a full-time starter since his 3rd season in the league. Pulling him from the starting lineup sends a loud message about that trade. Keeping him out in winning time sends a quieter one. Brown's pitch is that Bridges should play to his strengths while the jumper comes back: run the floor, cut, rebound, drive. He's called him one of the best runners in the NBA.

What to watch next is easy. If Shamet and McBride cool off, Bridges gets his closing minutes back by default. If they don't, and Bridges keeps putting up 2-point nights, starting him every game gets harder to defend. For now Brown is giving him the intro and saving the 4th quarter for whoever's playing better.