Mikal Bridges admits he struggled handling Nets’ losing as fresh start with Knicks begins

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Mikal Bridges officially started his Knicks career Tuesday with an understanding that his previous stint in Brooklyn, while a frustrating disappointment, was also a valuable learning experience.

“Yeah, it was tough in Brooklyn, we were losing. Even personally, I think I didn’t handle it as well as I could,” Bridges said after finishing his first practice with the Knicks in training camp. “I always preach mental toughness and never losing your spirit. But it was just something I never dealt with like that. And, I think it was just a lot just for that team in general when I was there and the expectation for everybody and I think I didn’t handle it as good as I should have.

“But coming here, it’s good. Everybody’s locked in and everybody’s motivated and coach [Tom Thibodeau] got everybody locked in. So it’s great to be here.”

With the Nets, Bridges took on the burden of the No. 1 offensive option and struggled with efficiency as the focus of the opposition’s defense.

It’ll be a different role in MSG alongside Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.

“When you got two All-NBA guys like that, that’s what it is,” Bridges said. “It’s definitely going to open up spacing.”

Bridges is expected to start in the backcourt with Jalen Brunson, his former teammate at Villanova.

“I know how he plays, he knows how I play,” Brunson said, “the chemistry is still there.”

Mitchell Robinson, who is officially out indefinitely while recovering from ankle surgery, did not travel with the Knicks to Charleston for training camp.

The center remained in New York to rehab at the team’s facility.

Although Thibodeau declined to provide a timeline for Robinson’s recovery, a league source targeted December or January as a rough estimate, depending on the progress of rehab.

Thibodeau explained why the Knicks returned to Charleston for a second straight year for camp.

“We did it every year when I was a Knicks assistant in the ’90s, and we always enjoyed coming down here,” the coach explained. “Beautiful place and a chance to get away. The players enjoy being able to get away. They can walk and go to nice restaurants at night and spend time with each other. The teambuilding aspect of it is terrific.”

Asked about the backup point-guard rotation, Thibodeau touted the “versatility” of his options.

He mentioned several players but interestingly skipped over rookie Tyler Kolek.

“We have a number of guys that can play both on the ball and off the ball, and I think sometimes that’s the hardest thing to guard,” Thibodeau said. “You want to create the pace, and then you want to create the movement. Sometimes as we did the second half of last year, we had Jalen off the ball and Josh [Hart] initiating a lot of offense for us last year. Mikal’s comfortable with it, Cam [Payne], Deuce [McBride] is good with both. So I like that versatility a lot.”