Why Mike Brown has Knicks operating without a playbook in major Tom Thibodeau contrast

Under Mike Brown, preseason is for freestylin’. The Knicks coach revealed after Thursday’s victory he has installed zero plays into his offense, preferring the team to learn the principles of his pace and movement by just reading the defense and reacting. It’s another departure from Tom Thibodeau, who famously handed players a large playbook during training camp — which Miles McBride once estimated to be five inches thick. Brown said his Knicks won’t use plays for the vast majority of the game, so why not learn that part first? “We want to play this way most of the time,” the coach said.“We’ll have play calls because we want the ball in this person’s hands at this time and we want this guy here and that guy there.

So we will do that.But right now, especially in the preseason, I just want them to be able to get used to playing this basketball and taking what the defense gives them.” Perhaps predictably then, the preseason offense has endured some rocky moments, especially in Thursday’s overtime victory against the Timberwolves.

Their 38 points at halftime was hardly the high-octane, high-efficient system pitched by the new coach.But the Knicks were happy with the generated looks — they missed a glut of open 3-pointers — and the players remain bullish about the process. “He just wants to implement playing fast because, honestly, especially the first three quarters, until mid-fourth, you don’t really need plays,” Mikal Bridges said.

“You kind of just have concepts and you read and react and it makes it tougher for the defense, honestly, because they don’t know what’s happening because offensively you don’t even know what’s happening because you’re kind of just reading how you’re going to defend it. “I think that’s fine.I think when the game starts slowing down in the fourth, the last five minutes, where each possession is a little bit more valuable [you need plays].

But the first three quarters, just going ...