ESPN NBA analyst and former NBA journeyman Tim Legler takes a shot at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: How will Mike Brown impact Jalen Brunson?
A: The biggest way he can impact Jalen Brunson is for there to be less overall amount of time that Jalen Brunson is dribbling the basketball because I do think that is a difficult road to navigate if your leading scorer is your point guard who has time of possession to the extent that Jalen Brunson does. I just think that’s a really hard thing to pull off for four rounds and win a title in the postseason when teams are getting more and more physical with you, they’re geared to stop him. It’s not like he’s 6-(foot)-8, can shoot over the top of guys. Mike Brown is gonna be able to take the ball out of his hands a little bit more to conserve some of that energy without him having to work so hard, the way that it does some nights when you watch Jalen and you just think, “My goodness, the workload on this guy, the usage rate on this guy, the amount of dribbling that’s taking place,” it wears you out. And I think Mike is gonna have a way to alleviate some of that and take that off his plate that’ll keep him, hopefully, fresher longer and fresher potentially for a two-month run, which is really what it’s all about.
Q: How will Mike Brown impact Karl Anthony-Towns?
A: I think he’s gonna be able to maximize his efficiency more so than what it was before. He drifts around the perimeter for long stretches of games at times. I think Mike Brown’s gonna utilize Karl Anthony-Towns where maybe his touches aren’t quite as high as they were before, but I think the places that he catches the ball are gonna be better. So he’s gonna have more nights where I think he’s scoring the ball like he typically does in that 20-25 point range, but his efficiency’s going to be better because I think the shot selection and overall shot quality for their offense is going to be better.
Q: How critical is the health of Mitchell Robinson?
A: It’s massive because he gives them a differentiating factor, he gives them that physical presence on the offensive glass, he gives them that rim protection, he gives them a guy in the frontcourt that can not only give you rim protection, he can jump out and do an adequate job on the switches that take place in this league all the time — whether you want to or not and you’re out there and it’s required to be able to keep the ball in front of you, and it’s not a straight line dribble-drive blow-by where your defense is compromised. You have to be able to do an adequate job sliding your feet against some of the elite scorers and ball handlers in the Eastern Conference. Mitchell Robinson can do a better job of that than anybody else they have in the frontcourt, but he can also give you the rim protection and the offensive rebounding. He’s a major, major, major component if they want to actually fulfill their goal and make a run through the East.
Q: What is your take on the Giannis Antetokounmpo-to-the-Knicks talk?
A: It’s probably gonna be something that’s gonna circulate around Giannis Antetokounmpo his entire career. A lot of people think it’s some foregone conclusion that at some point he ends up, (if) it’s not New York, one of those markets. None of it surprises me anymore. If you can trade Luka Doncic, anybody at any time can move.
Q: If you’re the Knicks, do you consider it?
A: Definitely. If Giannis Antetokounmpo is somebody that you feel like is attainable, if you can put together something to get him, I definitely would. Because I still think the way he looks this year, he absolutely looks physically as good as he ever has right now. He’s one of those special, unique players that dominates the game in such a way, he gives you an advantage every single night.
Q: What are your thoughts on Josh Hart?
A: The ultimate winner. A guy that just does everything required to help you win games.
New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown (M) speaks with New York Knicks guard Josh Hart #3 (L) and New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson #11 (R) during the third quarter. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Q: OG Anunoby?
A: Definition of a guy that’s transformed his game from a guy that was gonna be looked at as simply an elite defender and make an occasional shot, to a guy now that can be dominant on both ends of the floor.
Q: Mikal Bridges?
A: On any given night can lock down a guy defensively, or he can give you 25 if that’s what’s required. The fact that the guy plays every night, and signing up for 82 means 82 to you.
Q: Miles “Deuce” McBride?
A: If not the biggest, one of the biggest X factors on this team. When Deuce McBride gives them quality bench production, they seem like a team that a lot of nights is gonna be very difficult to beat, because that’s like the one thing that fluctuates dramatically with their team is the bench production and bench scoring. There are a handful of guys in the league that come off the bench that what they do to check an item in a box score means more than just that item because of the reaction of the crowd. I think Bobby Portis is in Indy category, Naz Reid is in that category. He is so incredibly popular with the crowd that if he hits a shot, has an assist, gets a steal, dives on the floor for a loose ball, it’s worth more than just that one moment to his team.
Knicks president Leon Rose. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Q: Leon Rose?
A: TBD because they have transformed their team dramatically since he’s gotten there. And the opportunity is now there, so let’s see how this plays out and if they can take this thing all the way. He’s gonna be given an awful lot of credit if they’re able to do that because not everybody agreed with some of the moves that they made. He had a vision and we’re still very much in the midst of that process.
Q: Is it NBA Finals or bust?
A: I think it is. As I’ve said, if not this year, then when the hell is it gonna be?
Q: Who would be the biggest threats in the East to the Knicks?
A: Going into the season, I said it was Cleveland and New York were the two teams that had the path through the woods clear for them. I’m not so sure now that Detroit isn’t a team that can go toe-to-toe with either of those teams. Milwaukee and Philly, to me, are the two, like, X factor teams depending on staying healthy. If (Joel) Embiid ends up playing 50 games and he‘s healthy the whole time and they end up using him every night in the playoffs, he’s so different and so special, who knows? If you’ve gotta count on Paul George in that situation, too, which I have very little faith in that would happen, so I don’t know that I’d put Philly and Milwaukee in the same category. Cleveland and New York at the top, I think I’d put Detroit as the next team.
Knicks guard Jordan Clarkson drives down court as Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen defends in the first half at Madison Square Garden in New York, Wednesday, October 22, 2025. JASON SZENES/ NY POST
Q: Who threatens Oklahoma City in the West?
A: Denver and Houston are the two teams that probably have the best chance of taking on Oklahoma City. We’ll see how much not having, like, a table-setting point guard, a guy that can organize them (Rockets) matters in late games. But they have so much offensive talent and they were a great defensive team last year and they’re the best offensive rebounding team in the league, gives them a lot of margin for error. I just think Denver improved their team dramatically from a year ago, and they took Oklahoma City to seven games last year.
Q: Biggest surprises?
A: Chicago’s been a really good story even though they finished 15-5 last year. The way they’ve played without Coby White has really surprised me. Miami has surprised me. I actually used the word “boring” to describe them going into the season, so Miami fans were upset with me about that — they’re not boring. They’re putting up big numbers every night. They’re a team now you’ve gotta be ready to play when you play against the Heat.
Q: Whatever comes to mind: LeBron James turning 41 next month.
A: Every single thing about that guy defies what I know about biomechanics and physiology. It doesn’t make any sense. The way my knees felt at the end of my career, and I was just a spot-up shooter mainly in the NBA, it’s unfathomable to me that anybody can have that amount of mileage on their legs as a professional basketball player and look the way he does physically.
Q: Cooper Flagg.
A: He’s a can’t-miss prospect. He is going to have ups and downs with his shooting for a while ’cause he’s got some mechanical things I think that need to be straightened out. But the competitive edge and the versatility that he has, the toughness, he’s going to be a star in this league. His anticipation on both ends of the floor is unlike anything I’ve ever seen for an 18-year-old. His verbal skills for a guy his age, most 18-year-olds come into the NBA, 19, like, they’re terrified, you don’t say anything in the locker room or on the floor, and I see him being very verbal because the IQ factor is there, he sees it, he communicates it. He’s built for all of this.
Q: Five years from now, describe Victor Wembanyama.
A: (Laugh) Five years from now, Wemby could basically sort of make the league his own, where he is not only the face of the league, he’s the guy that is driving his team to championships, winning MVPs … possibly. There are still things that he’s going to have to continue to add, and in his body frame there are going to be nights when people can get into him physically and push him off his spots and make him take off-balance shots and you have a chance against him. As he continues to add that functional strength, it could be lights-out for the league in about five years. I don’t know that there’s gonna be any answer from a personnel standpoint or a scheme standpoint to deal with him if he continues to add the functional strength he needs to play through contact.
Tim Legler reports during the game between the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings during the 2025 SoFi Play-In Tournament on April 16, 2025 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. NBAE via Getty Images
Q: VJ Edgecombe.
A: He reminds me a lot of a combination of Russell Westbrook and Jimmy Butler with a better jump shot. I think Edgecombe has the ability to become a threat from all over the floor because I think his shooting stroke is a little bit better than both of those guys.
Q: Anthony Edwards.
A: Anthony Edwards has everything required to be a guy that can be the face of a franchise and lead the team to a championship. I do think he has to find a way to not take the shot that the defense wants him to take as often as he does in the course of a game. I don’t think he should be taking 10-plus 3-point shots a game. If he can find a way to have more nights where the free-throw attempts are greater than the 3-point attempts, he has the want-to and the talent to be able to be the best player on a team that wins the title.
Q: Who was a better 3-point shooter, Steph Curry or Tim Legler?
A: (Laugh) You could have picked anybody else historically and I would have taken myself. People would attack me if I took myself over Curry. Having said that, every shooter believes they’re gonna win any shooting competition out there.
Q: How did you become such a terrific 3-point shooter?
A: I think I was lucky in that I didn’t take up the game seriously until I was 14 years old. I was a baseball guy, I was determined I was going to the major leagues, my dad was a baseball coach, that was the path I was on. I grew 7 inches in one school year and now here I am going into ninth grade and I’m like 6-3. I was big enough and strong enough that I could shoot a basketball with perfect form from the very beginning. My high school basketball coach knew how to teach it. I had been watching the NBA and I saw guys that shot the ball well and I kind of modeled it after them, I didn’t pick up any bad habits when I was a young player. It was kind of like a natural shooting motion. I became so addicted to becoming great ’cause I loved it so much. I challenged anybody on earth to tell me that they took more shots than I took from the time I was 14 until basically through college. I lived in the gym.
Tim Legler #23 of the Washington Bullets shoots during the 1996 AT&T Three Point Shootout on February 10, 1996 at the Alamodome in San, Antonio, Texas. NBAE via Getty Images
Q: Biggest obstacle?
A: I was in Minnesota for training camp, Bill Musselman was the head coach. If I made the team after the last cut of training camp, my contract was guaranteed for the year. And I had a great camp, had a great preseason. We’re on the flight back to Minnesota, and I’m literally thinking, “I did it. I’m gonna be in the NBA this year.” I got back, I called my parents, I called my friends, I called everybody. We’re about two hours from the deadline, like midnight was the cutoff. And I get a knock on my hotel room door. And I look through the peephole, and it’s the head coach, and I’m like, “Is he here to tell me I made the team?” I started to get a sick feeling in my stomach. And they told me they were going in a different direction because there was another guaranteed contract. And I felt like sheepishly he knew I shoulda made the team. At that point, I’m two years out of school, three years out of school, whatever it was. Definitely the lowest point for me. If I could earn it and still not get it, it’s never going to happen for me. I sat in a diner in Minneapolis until about 4 o’clock in the morning just kind of wallowing in pity and just thinking about bagging the whole thing.
Tim Legler in 2015. Peter DaSilva / ESPN Images
Q: Who were your favorite players?
A: My first favorite player was Elvin Hayes because I was a D.C./Baltimore kid till I was 12, so the Bullets were my first favorite team. But the guy that changed literally the course of my life, and it’s not an exaggeration to say this because I was a baseball player, at the exact same time I hit this growth spurt and started taking an interest in basketball, it’s the exact time Larry Bird came into the NBA. … His cockiness, his swagger, his toughness. It was fascinating to me to watch. You start to envision it, “I can get to that league.” He really changed everything for me. So Bird is my favorite athlete of all time, and then after him, the next five would probably all be Washington Redskins/Commanders.
Q: Describe playing at the Garden.
A: There’s no energy in basketball that compares to playing in Madison Square or broadcasting a game in Madison Square Garden or whatever it may be. It felt very much like the best college environment that I faced when I was in school. I don’t remember really having big games there or really feeling great. Maybe it was because they had such great defensive teams and they had “Don’t Leave Legler” responsibility, which a lot of times they carried out to perfection.
Q: If you could do a Coach’s Corner with one coach in NBA history, who would it be?
A: Pat Riley. He fascinated me because he was able to win with completely different styles, completely different types of personnel. He could play fast and entertaining and be more of an offensive-minded team, or he could play and coach rather like the Knicks teams, the Heat teams that were built a little bit differently, more physical, defensive-minded. I just felt like he had complete command of every situation. And I played against some of his teams, too, so I just had tremendous admiration for him.
Q: Why is Coaches Corner so much fun for you?
A: I’ve always viewed the game as a coach even when I played. I just felt like my ability to be able to kind of find every advantage I possibly could in anticipating offenses and defenses, seeing 10 guys at the same time when I watch film. I’ve always kind of thought that I see this as a coach, and as a result, sitting down with these guys and I guess kind of comparing notes a little bit in what I’m seeing and what they’re seeing, and that makes it a lot of fun for me.
Q: What was the biggest thing you learned from sitting down with Mike Brown that maybe you didn’t know?
A: One of his very first gigs, he was in Denver for a short time at the beginning of his career, he came to Washington, he was in his early 20s and I was playing in Washington, so that’s when we first crossed paths. I always viewed Mike as a guy that was only looking at one end of the floor — like defensively, how he was gonna coach — and that’s kind of what his role was in Washington. And now, you look up and he goes to Sacramento and he’s got this free-flowing, fun offense, so just to kind of pick his brain about how he evolved over the years and how he views the game and how his messaging is disseminated was really interesting to me. … And just taking on the challenge now of going to a market like New York where there’s just so much pressure, so much scrutiny, maybe never more so than now because the path has been cleared in a lot of ways to get to the Finals for a franchise that hasn’t done it in so long.
Q: What was his answer to dealing with the pressure?
A: You know what I loved about it? Typically when you ask a coach about pressure, and it’s like it’s known that it’s there, in certain situations it’s so palpable, and a lot of coaches will just deflect it, right? “Oh, I don’t really look at it that way,” and they give you that coaches speak stuff when you know that’s not the reality. Mike was very honest about it. He said, “Yeah, there should be pressure, I want expectation, I wouldn’t want a job if there wasn’t.” He’s fully aware of the expectation and the opportunity that potentially exists for this group with what’s going on with Boston and Indiana, the last two teams that have gone to the Finals from the East, they’re dealing with major injuries — there is a pathway to get there. And the Knicks feel like this is their year. In some ways, I feel like if not this year then when? And I think Mike is embracing it, and I loved it, I loved that he was honest about it, he feels it, he knows it’s there and he said that’s gonna even create a greater adrenaline for him. I applaud him for giving an honest answer.
Q: Describe your on-air style.
A: I am constantly trying to find something every trip up the floor that I know is an important detail that the average fan that’s watching might not understand that, that’s really important. I’m trying to find that nugget, that detail, that angle on a cut, the timing on a ball reversal, what a guy was looking at on the weak side of the floor as to why he didn’t make the rotation when he needed to. So I’m constantly trying to teach, but I’m not trying to do anything that’s like the mundane, or something you’re gonna hear somewhere else. … That’s what I’m trying to do every single night is just try to educate the fan in a way that the next time they watch a game, or even maybe the next possession, they’re smarter, and they’re looking for something that they didn’t know was important.
Mike Brown of the New York Knicks reacts on the sideline during the second half. Jason Szenes / New York Post
Q: Describe your broadcast partner, Mike Breen.
A: Mike Breen is legendary, iconic. … I think one of the greatest play-by-play broadcasters in any team sport ever. A friend, too. I’m very, very fortunate to be sitting next to him.
Q: Richard Jefferson.
A: R.J.’s tremendous. He’s really, really smart. He brings a great style himself and an energy and a personality to the broadcast as well. I just think that we’re meshing really well, and I think the best is yet to come.
Q: Who are announcers or broadcasters you’ve admired over the years?
A: How about a color analyst? I’ll start there. I always felt like one of the guys that I used to listen to that I admire tremendously — and I’m very honored to this day to call him a friend — I thought Doug Collins was one of the best NBA broadcasters I ever heard, and I thought his style is very similar to my style in that way, he’s pointing out stuff because he’s seeing all 10 players at the same time. He can see that with one eye but with the other eye he can see the other side of the floor to point out something that just makes you smarter and it’s so interesting in the delivery.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: My father, Eugene Legler, passed in 1992 when I was 25. Would love to catch up with him and make sure I made him proud; Muhammad Ali; Gen. George Patton. I’d also have our four dogs we’ve lost laying at our feet … just to let them know how big a part of our lives they were and that we wish they could have lived forever. Three lived to 16-plus years and one to 11 had diabetes. It still hurts every day.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “The Godfather.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Jack Nicholson.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Michelle Pfeiffer.
Q: Favorite entertainer?
A: Chris Rock.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Any type of pasta.
Kevin Negandhi ,Tim Legler and Scott Van Pelt commentate after the game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers during Game Five of the 2025 NBA Finals on June 16, 2025 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NBAE via Getty Images
Q: How would you sum up your career journey and what are you most proud of about it?
A: I might have been the poster child for perseverance and determination. There were a lot of times along the way early when I got out of LaSalle undrafted and I started down that journey of playing in different leagues — the CBA, the World Basketball League, I went overseas, I’d come back, I’d go to a camp, I’d get cut or I’d get 10-day contracts out of the CBA, get sent back. All that lasted for about four years. I was a very good student, I had opportunities kind of waiting for me if I decided to go, like, white-collar world. … But at the end of the day, I just had so much belief in myself that if I could just get to an opportunity where somebody could say, “Man we’re gonna let you play through mistakes, let you play through missed shots, we’re gonna let you stay on the court if you get beat off the dribble by somebody.” And once I finally found that situation, it changed everything for me. … Dallas was the worst team in the NBA, I was leading the CBA in scoring, Gar Heard and Brad Davis were the two coaches, they called me up to a hotel room. I met with them on the road, I had not even met with the team yet, and I’ll never forget what they said, it changed my life. They basically said, “Look, we believe you can be a really good player in this league, you’re gonna play every night, you’re gonna play though misses, you’re gonna play without looking over at the bench, and you’re gonna play free.” … (I) kind of reached the pinnacle in ’95-96 when I led the league in 3-point shooting, I won the 3-point shootout, everything changed at the end of that year when l tore three ligaments in my knee. And nothing was the same for the next four years when I finished out my career. I shoulda had another seven, eight years at that level. It was kind of cruel that that was waiting for me at the end, but the bottom line is I did crack the code, I created a name for myself in the league. I considered myself the best shooter in the NBA at that time, and it led to this career in broadcasting, really. So no regrets now on the knee injury. I guess that’s how I would sum it up, I wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Q: Give me a story from your pre-NBA days.
A: I get drafted in the summer of ’88 by the Rochester (Minn.) Flyers of the CBA. We’re in training camp, and I’m rooming with a guy named Glen Clem who played at Vanderbilt. And Glen and l were becoming pretty good buddies. And we walk to the gym one day, and we walk in (laugh) and there’s a guy out on the court being worked out by the coaching staff, and he’s wearing all of Glen’s stuff. So I kind of look at him, he looks at me, they call Glen off to the side, he goes back to the locker room, I’m putting my sneakers on getting ready for practice, next thing you know, here comes Glen Clem and he’s walking out and he’s got his bag full of stuff. He says they just signed this guy, they cut him, he went back to the apartment we were sharing, he got his stuff, he left before I got back from practice, I never saw or spoke to Glen Clem again. … My very first CBA game. We were down three late, they put me in the game, I get the ball, guy closes out on me hard inside five seconds to go in the game, so I have to pump fake, he flies by, I take a dribble, but when I took the dribble both my toes on both feet went over the line. I shoot a jumper at the buzzer thinking I tied the game, and we lost by one ’cause I stepped on the line. That’s how my professional career started.
Q: What drives you today?
A: I am addicted to competition. And I feel like what I’m doing now in some ways I’m contributing to the competition. That’s really what gets my juices flowing. I sit down at that table, the ball’s about to go in the air, there’s electricity in that building …there’s nothing like it when you’ve got an NBA game about to start. I absolutely love the game of basketball. I think it’s the most beautiful sport played when it’s played the right way.
