When the Knicks hired Mike Brown as head coach this offseason, it was in part to address specific failings from previous seasons. Two in particular were the underutilization of the bench and the lack of experimentation during the regular season.

If you wanted to grade Brown on the job he’s doing, the only metric that will satisfy Knicks fans is whether he wins a championship or not. In the meantime, he’s managed to help secure the city an NBA Cup title, relying on the very things the Knicks had been ignoring before he took over. 

Taking on Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs coming off a victory over the streaking Oklahoma City Thunder would be no easy task. The Knicks found themselves trailing for most of the first three quarters, until Tyler Kolek and Jordan Clarkson turned things around.

The two bench guards closed the third quarter strong, and Brown rode them through the final period, even playing them alongside Jalen Brunson. New York would win the fourth quarter 35-19 to take home the Cup, as Clarkson finished with 15 points while Kolek chipped in 14 points, five rebounds and five assists. 

Brown made a clever in-game adjustment, but Tom Thibodeau had made many of those, so what’s the big deal? It’s that these looks weren’t thrown out there with no prior experience as a desperate last measure, rather they had a foundation of being tried and developed during the season.

Going to the three-guard lineup of Brunson-Kolek-Clarkson was something Brown could do after playing that group together in three games prior and seeing Miles McBride-Kolek-Clarkson over nearly 10 games. For comparison, Thibodeau made a similar adjustment in last year’s playoffs, with a McBride-Landry Shamet-Delon Wright bench unit winning key minutes in the Conference Finals, yet only appeared for 10 minutes in the regular season. 

This was just the primary example. Brown threw out multiple defensive schemes and lineup combinations to keep the Spurs on their toes, backed by trying them out in previous games.  

Not only did Brown have his team ready to play in unique circumstances, but he had end-of-bench players ready to go in the biggest game of their lives. Kolek spent most of his rookie season riding pine, save for the brief garbage time or Westchester appearance. 

This year, Kolek got a fair crack at the rotation to start the season, then another when Shamet went down due to injury. That trust didn’t immediately pay off, but it did in spades on Tuesday night. 

Brown has displayed a level of trust in his depth not seen in previous seasons, both leading up to and during the championship game. That he rode Kolek and Clarkson deep into the fourth quarter when other coaches would have returned their starters was another welcome sign. 

This philosophy won’t always look pretty. Fans were polishing their pitchforks when the team opened 2-3, seemed to be throwing things at the wall, and couldn’t get anything from their bench. 

Slowly Brown’s vision is coming to fruition, with other examples of smaller payoffs before the Cup. Shamet became a viable rotation piece and lit up the Heat to win a group play game, Kolek stepped up when he got hurt, and the offense is beginning to buzz behind some winning lineups. 

What will building off this foundation look like in April and May? It’s a tantalizing thought, with increased glimpses of Mohamed Diawara, Karl-Anthony Towns-Mitchell Robinson lineups, and OG Anunoby breakout scoring nights pointing toward what we might see going forward.

It may not be the title fans ultimately crave, but the Knicks accomplished something in Las Vegas and did it in large part thanks to the vision of the team Brown is trying to build. It’s not the end goal, but it’s a real sign of positive development in pursuit of an NBA championship.