NEW YORK -- Former Knicks coach Larry Brown loves what his old team did in the NBA Draft, but says the Knicks will need a strong veteran presence in the locker room for the team to maximize its potential. Brown was still coaching at SMU when Knicks rookies Kevin Knox and Mitchell Robinson were being recruited in the Class of 2017, and he has high praise for them.

"I think their draft was great," Brown told SNY.tv while coaching a college all-star team at Columbia University this week. "I was recruiting when Robinson and Knox were around and I've watched them grow. Knox played with Rod Strickland's son, he's going to Wisconsin."

Knox was a sensation for the Knicks, earning All-NBA Summer League First Team honors while averaging 21.3 PPG and 6.5 RPG.

"He's a really high-IQ kid," Brown said. "People forget he's only 18. He doesn't even have hair on his body. When you play at Kentucky with all those good kids, a lot of guys have to sacrifice. So it's not about numbers, but when you get to the NBA you're going to be prepared to play."

As for early comparisons to Kevin Durant, Brown stopped short of going that far.

"Oh, that's not fair," he said.

In terms of Robinson, whom Knicks coach David Fizdale has compared to a young Clint Capela, Brown is a big fan as well.

"Robinson to me, he was as athletic and mobile as any of the big kids I was watching," Brown said. "Blocked shots, runs the floor, so those are two really good pieces."

Brown would have coached Knicks point guard Emmanuel Mudiay at SMU, but Mudiay chose to play overseas in China instead. Brown believes the Knicks have a lot of young, talented pieces to go along with Kristaps Porzingis, when he returns from ACL surgery, but says those young players need a strong veteran presence in the locker room.

"Emmanuel Mudiay was coming with me at SMU and he's there with Trey Burke and Damyean Dotson and they got Frank [Ntilikina] so I think they're getting athletic, they're getting long," Brown said. "They got guys who can play multiple positions. The one thing that worries me is that all the great teams that have young kids have great veteran leadership that can teach you how to play.

"I don't think they have it right now. They got Courtney Lee who's a really good teammate and Lance Thomas is a great teammate."

The Knicks are hoping to land some big free agents in 2019, when Durant, Kyrie Irving and Jimmy Butler hit the market, but Brown says it's more about developing their own guys right now.

"I think the big thing is [with] David, they'll develop the young players so when these other people come they'll be grown," he said. "That's the thing about the NBA that troubles me a little bit.

"The younger kids that are higher draft picks go with teams that haven't won. And there's a reason, maybe bad culture, bad locker room, maybe bad coaching. And then the kids that stay in school a while, they get drafted later and they go to the great team that there's a reason these teams are great. Great locker room, great culture, great coaching, so I always worry that some of these young kids coming in, people say they failed, they can't play. Well, no, the system failed them because you're taking an 18 or 19-year-old kid. You can't assume that he's going to be able to guard Kevin Durant or LeBron or Kyrie. You gotta teach them how to play and the value of earning minutes to play and the value of making your teammates better. Be a professional."

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