Former NBA player Matt Barnes isn’t holding back when it comes to the New York Knicks’ latest coaching hire. The veteran, who spent 14 seasons in the league and earned a championship ring, has some harsh words about Mike Brown’s prospects of bringing a title to Madison Square Garden.
Barnes Calls Out Brown’s “Too Nice” Approach
Speaking on the Straight Game Podcast, Barnes didn’t mince words about his former coach. When pressed about Brown’s championship potential with the Knicks, Barnes delivered a blunt “f–k no,” pointing to what he sees as a fatal flaw in Brown’s coaching philosophy.
The issue, according to Barnes? Brown’s tendency to be overly friendly with his players. “He’s too nice,” Barnes explained, arguing that today’s well-compensated athletes need a coach who establishes clear authority rather than trying to be everyone’s buddy. Barnes drew from his own experience playing under Brown during the 2011-12 Lakers season, describing a coach more interested in being “cool with everyone” than maintaining proper team discipline.
Lakers Days Tell a Different Story
Brown’s coaching journey includes some impressive stops, particularly his time steering the Cleveland Cavaliers to the 2007 NBA Finals. His Lakers tenure from 2011 to 2013 showed promise too – at least on paper. Barnes played his final Lakers season under Brown’s guidance, and the team posted a solid 41-25 record despite the lockout-shortened campaign.
But Barnes remembers the behind-the-scenes dynamics differently. He recalls watching star players like Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest essentially coach themselves, making their own substitution decisions and running plays as they saw fit. For Barnes, these moments signaled Brown’s grip on the locker room was slipping away. The writing was on the wall when Brown got axed just five games into the next season, despite coaching a roster that boasted Bryant, Steve Nash, and Dwight Howard.
Golden State Success, Sacramento Struggles
Brown found his sweet spot as an assistant with the Golden State Warriors starting in 2016. Working under Steve Kerr’s leadership, he collected three championship rings and absorbed valuable lessons about team management. That experience seemed to pay dividends when Brown took over in Sacramento, where he managed to break the Kings’ 16-year playoff drought during the 2022-23 season.
Yet even that success story had a bitter ending. Brown’s relationship with the Sacramento players eventually soured, leading to his dismissal midway through the 2024-25 season. The pattern was becoming clear to Barnes and other observers.
Assistant Coach Material, Not Head Coach Caliber
Barnes sees Brown as someone who thrives in a secondary role rather than as the primary decision-maker. The pressure cooker environment of New York basketball presents unique challenges, where media scrutiny amplifies every coaching decision and player interaction. While Barnes acknowledges Brown’s character – calling him a “good person” – he questions whether that niceness translates to effective leadership in such a demanding market.
The former player’s concerns center on Brown’s apparent reluctance to establish hard boundaries with his roster, something Barnes believes could prove costly in a city where basketball expectations run sky-high.
The New York Test Awaits
Brown faces the challenge of pushing the Knicks past their recent Eastern Conference Finals appearance from last season. A successful tenure in New York would quiet critics like Barnes and establish Brown’s credibility as a championship-caliber head coach. But having a former player who worked directly under Brown publicly questioning the hire adds an unwelcome layer of skepticism to the new partnership.
The season opener against Cleveland will provide the first real glimpse of how Brown handles the bright lights and intense atmosphere that define Knicks basketball. Whether he can prove Barnes wrong remains to be seen.
