Mike Brown’s success in New York will all come down to how he handles

The New York Knicks aren’t exactly a burning house, but Mike Brown is the coach you hire when you need an extinguisher.

Having coached LeBron James and Kobe Bryant and been on Steve Kerr’s staff in Golden State, he’s been around the torchbearers and doesn’t seem to buckle under the lights. Brown changed the culture in Cleveland his first time around and in Sacramento more recently, learning from Kerr about loosening up a bit. He even joked he carried around pen and paper when Kerr delivered his messages to the Warriors team because they were simple yet effective.

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He doesn’t have a checkered track record, being a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, but after his initial stint in Cleveland from 2005-10, he hasn’t lasted long in his next few situations. That could all just be a product of weirdness from front offices and ownership groups — coaching the Lakers for one season and five games of the next one before being shockingly fired in 2012, going back to Cleveland in 2013-14 for a 33-49 season — the year before LeBron James returned to Ohio — and then two-and-a-half seasons in Sacramento.

It seemed like organizationally the Kings were out on Brown even after two successful seasons of 48 and 46 wins, and being fired after a 13-18 start this season was the Kings being the Kings.

But managing up is a key component when having a job like this. Not just because Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose hasn’t held a news conference in years, meaning Brown will have to be the spokesperson for everything Knicks while he’s there, but Rose and senior adviser William “Worldwide Wes” Wesley are comfortable with him dating back to Brown’s days in Cleveland.

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Yet Brown will also have to manage the relationship with owner Knicks James Dolan. Dolan was never a Tom Thibodeau fan, sources told Yahoo…