NBA life coach on impact Johnnie Bryant can have on Knicks, including core players RJ Barrett and Mitchell Robinson

The NBA entered the 24-25 season planning for referees to call fewer fouls as they did during the second half of the 23-24 season. While fouls increased over the first couple weeks of the season, they have dropped since.

“I’m very happy with where we are now,” Monty McCutchen told ESPN this week. “We worked with individuals as we always do. I didn’t get the group together and say, ‘Oh, we’re blowing too many whistles.’ None of that kind of thing took place. Our work though demands that we work towards driving individuals to better performance.”

There has been a dip in free throw rates since the start of the season.

“In the first week to 10 days [the foul] average was higher,” McCutchen said. “But we didn’t see that every game had more fouls. We had some outlying games that may or may not have had more physical play, may or may not have had some individuals that were putting air in the whistle on plays they shouldn’t have. And that’s the work that our group needs to have every year.”