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Mark Bryant is joining the Knicks coaching staff, SNY NBA Insider Ian Begley reported on Wednesday.
Begley noted that Bryant, 59, is widely viewed as one of the top big man coaches in the NBA. He joins a Tom Thibodeau coaching staff that has seen a great run of recent success in getting a great deal of output out of less-than-heralded big men, like Isaiah Hartenstein’s emergence last season.
When his 15-year playing career came to an end in 2003, Bryant soon found himself back on an NBA sideline starting under Don Nelson in Dallas in 2004, before joining the Orlando Magic in 2005, working on Brian Hill‘s staff with big man Dwight Howard.
He has spent the last 19 seasons as an assistant coach, working for five different organizations. Bryant spent last season on Monty Williams‘ staff in Detroit after previously working under Williams in Phoenix, where he played a big role in Deandre Ayton‘s development.
“He’s taught me a lot of tricks, a lot of things that I need,” Ayton told the Suns’ team site in 2020. “He basically polished up my game, like the cherry on top. Everything I have, he enhanced it and added more to it. It’s a major impact to where he evolved my game into an enforcer.
“Everybody knew I could be that, but he basically showed the moves and the tools that I need to become that and to be consistent with that.”
Bryant’s time with the Oklahoma City Thunder – when he worked with Steven Adams – overlapped with new Knicks assistant Maurice Cheeks.
“MB, he’s amazing with bigs,” Williams said in 2020. “Steven was not that before he came to Oklahoma City and now look at him. It took him a while. I was in OKC four years ago and Steven wasn’t that, but MB is one of those guys who’s a plotter. He’s in the gym step-by-step, day-by-day, getting guys to a level where they can play that position and be effective.”
Bryant, 59, is a native of Glen Ridge, New Jersey and attended Columbia High School in Maplewood before playing collegiately at Seton Hall. He was then the 21st overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft.
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/mark-bryant-joining-tom-thibodeaus-203039916.html
Author : SNY
Publish date : 2024-07-24 20:30:39
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