Sep 30, 2024; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau speaks during a media day press conference at the MSG training facility in Tarrytown, NY. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The New York Knicks aren't expected to be the team they want to be right out of the gate, and the team's first two games prove that it isn't a finished product yet.

None of the 30 teams, especially the new-look Knicks, have any expectation to be at their peak at this point in the season, and coach Tom Thibodeau has his team knowing the weight behind that.

"The games reveal exactly where you are, it tells you the things you need to work on, and even if it's going well, if you have slippage, you're gonna have to sort it out," Thibodeau said h/t Posting and Toasting. "So it's constant throughout the course of a season, and that's why you go in wanting to understand why you won or why you lost, make the necessary corrections and move on."

It's up to Thibodeau to get his players to buy into that concept, and it appears that Mikal Bridges has certainly embraced that train of thought.

"It's not going to be right away," Bridges said via SNY. "It's going to take time and building. You can be a mediocre, a solid to okay team, but that's not what we're striving to be. We have to continue and get better every day."

Eventually, the Knicks will prioritize wins and losses as it will affect their place in the standings. But for now, these games early in the season are all about building towards the future and figuring out how to win as a group.

If the Knicks can do that, the wins will come, and they will begin to find themselves where they want to be in the hierarchy of the Eastern Conference.

The Knicks will play their next game on Monday against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden.