Mike Browns Knicks quest is ready for its first real test

New ideas and promises of a transformation always sound great in the preseason.The hope of what they can bring is in full abundance. But now all of Mike Brown’s envisioned Knicks changes stop being theoretical — they come under the spotlight and must become reality. Yes, there were other moves made — particularly in beefing up the bench.

But firing Tom Thibodeau and subsequently hiring Brown is what the Knicks are most relying on to be the catalyst that elevates them into true title contenders. And the changes Brown intends to implement get their first test against a Cavaliers team most expect to be the biggest obstacle in the Eastern Conference.An NBA Finals berth is the bar Brown must meet, considering the Knicks fired Thibodeau after reaching the conference finals. With the preseason over and the regular season beginning Wednesday night, how confident is Brown that he can be the force that brings the Knicks to a new level? “The good part about it is, the Finals or the championship round doesn’t happen until June,” Brown said after Knicks practice on Tuesday.

“We’ve got a long time to get there.It starts on the daily.

We can’t skip any steps.“We just wanna keep taking steps, because it’s gonna be a process.Knowing that we might take one or two steps backwards, but hopefully we can regroup and continue to take three, four, five more forward.” The changes Brown wants to bring to the Knicks offense have been well documented.

He has placed an emphasis on pace and ball movement, a sharp departure to the slower, isolation-heavy offense under Thibodeau. And it wasn’t exactly pretty during the preseason.In the early days, it can be expected that the Knicks will have their fair share of growing pains.

But the hope is that it will ease the load on Jalen Brunson and get the periphery scorers more involved. Last year, after making several major offseason moves with the specific goal of competing with the Celtics, the Knicks were humbled ...