Mike Brown Loses Major Weapon on the Bench, What Now?

Retention, retention, retention. That's been the clear goal for the New York Knicks' offseason. And it all started swimmingly. The Knicks brought back Mohamed Diawara, Jose Alvarado, and Landry Shamet on team-friendly deals. Many believed that New York had done a great job of maintaining its core, having lost only one rotation player from their historic championship run.

And with how dominant they were during said run, it seemed like a strong plan. Bring back as many players as possible, trust the process, and run it back. But as the summer has progressed, they have started to lose members from their team.

Besides Mitchell Robinson, former players Ariel Hukporti, Jeremy Sochan, and Trey Jemison III have all departed. And last week, Gersson Rosas, a pivotal piece of the Knicks' front office, revealed he would be leaving as well. On Friday, the Knicks took yet another hit. Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported that Jordan Brink, a respected member of Mike Brown's coaching staff, had taken a job as an assistant coach on Tiago Splitter's bench in Chicago.

Jordan Brink's departure is another blow to the Knicks

Brink may not be quite as well known as Chris Jent, another highly regarded assistant on Brown's staff, but this is still a hit for the defending champions. Brink has spent the past two seasons being in charge of the team's challenges-an area the Knicks were very successful in. Numerous times during his tenure, the Knicks, thanks to Brink, won crucial challenges. It was one of their biggest advantages over opposing teams.

While Brink's ability to consistently be among the best challengers in the league was on display, he'll most be remembered for his challenge late in game two of the NBA Finals. In the closing minutes of a back-and-forth game in which the Knicks were blowing a double-digit lead, OG Anunoby lost the ball while going up for a three-pointer. The original call on the floor was out on the Knicks. But Brink got Brown to challenge the call. As he usually was, Brink was correct, and Anunoby was awarded three free throws, which were crucial in the Knicks' momentum-swinging road win.

After the stressful game, Brown made sure to mention that this is what Brink does.

I rely totally on him. Every once in a while, I lose my mind, get emotional, and try to stick it to the refs, even though I like all of them. But that never works. So, I try like heck to follow Jordan’s lead, and it was 100 percent his call, Brown said (h/t Jared Schwartz of the New York Post).

Brink, whose contract was up, will be taking on a larger role in Chicago. He'll not only be the assistant coach but also the new director of player development. For the Illinois native who has ambitions of becoming an NBA head coach one day, this was a no-brainer and a very logical decision.

The Knicks may be able to fill his shoes with another coach. Or they may decide to ask another coach to take on Brink's former role. Regardless of which route they go through, it'll be extremely difficult to replace him.

It's evident that there is still a wide disparity between the coaches and teams who are good and bad at challenging. And the Knicks were great with Brink. Losing him to the Bulls may not hurt as much as losing a key player, but it's likely they'll still feel his absence throughout the season. Whenever there's a stretch of bad challenges, or even if there's just one atrocious challenge, Brink will come to mind for some.

This is also just the latest moves that prove how difficult it is to keep every single person after a championship run. New York has done well to bring back as many people as possible. But next season will be different and will very likely provide a new set of problems and challenges.

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