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Bruce Brown shared a mutual respect for Tom Thibodeau further intensifying the rumors about him potentially heading to the New York Knicks by the February 8 trade deadline.
“Every time we play Thibs I go up to him and shake his hand, just because of what he’s done,” Brown told New York Post’s Jared Schwartz on Saturday, January 20, before his new team, Toronto Raptors lost to the Knicks 126-100. “Nothing but respect for Thibs.”
Brown experienced once again how difficult to play against a Thibodeau team. After scoring 15 points on 70% shooting in his Raptors debut in Chicago on January 18, he failed to crack double-digit scoring against the Knicks defense, the best in the league in points allowed (100.9 per game) since they acquired former Raptors defensive ace OG Anunoby.
Brown struggled to score 8 points on 3 of 8 shooting against Thibodeau’s Knicks. He’d rather play for Thibodeau than against him.
“I am a dog,” Brown told Schwartz. “I play extremely hard on both ends of the floor. I can do just about whatever [Tom Thibodeau] needs me to do.”
Brown missed two opportunities to play for Thibodeau in the past.
He thought Thibodeau’s Minnesota Timberwolves in 2018 were to pick him in the draft. Then during the free agency, he met with Thibodeau and the Knicks.
Brown told New York Post’s Stefan Bondy in November 2023 that he met with Thibodeau and Knicks president Leon Rose via Facetime. Their pitch was for him to do “the little things to help them win.”
Ultimately, the Knicks just could not match the Indiana Pacers’ two-year, $45 million offer. The Knicks only had the midlevel exception, which they used to sign Donte DiVincenzo to a four-year, $50 million deal.
Will Third Time Be a Charm for Bruce Brown?
After two close calls in the past, Brown is getting teased again for another shot at finally playing under Thibodeau.
The Knicks “have internal interest” in trading for him, according to SNY’s Ian Begley.
ESPN’s NBA front office insider Bobby Marks suggested trade frameworks that could potentially get him to the Knicks.
But Brown tries to temper the expectations.
“Try not to pay attention to it and just hoop, control what I can control,” Brown told Schwartz on Saturday. “I can’t control if I get moved again or not, it’s out of my mind.”
Yet even how he tries to downplay it, he yearns to return to the city that he once called home when he played for the Brooklyn Nets during the tumultuous Kevin Durant-Kyrie-Irving-James Harden era.
“I love New York,” Brown told Schwartz. “I hated New York before I lived here, but as soon as I moved here I loved it. Anytime you want to do something you can go do it. Great restaurants, great city, I love being back.”
Knicks Paid Tribute to RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley
RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley returned to Madison Square Garden for the first time since the trade to Toronto to a loud ovation.
The Knicks honored the two former Knicks with a video tribute during the first timeout.
Barrett scored 20 points, but only five during the Knicks’ second-half breakaway, to lead the Raptors in a losing effort. Quickley finished with a double-double (12 points, 11 assists) but was also silent in the second half after a solid 8-point, 8-assist first-half performance.
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