The new-look Knicks make their preseason debut on Sunday

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Through the gym doors at the Citadel's McAllister Fieldhouse, you could easily hear the shouting and chatter as the Knicks ran the final session of training camp.

The first test of the rebuilding roster will come Sunday night when the Knicks make the short flight to North Carolina to face the Charlotte Hornets. And while their time together here is limited after waiting for Karl-Anthony Towns to be officially cleared to participate, coach Tom Thibodeau said he expects to get the entire team on stage.

“Just get a baseline,” he said of his plans in this first of four preseason games.

“I haven't finished everything yet, but usually you have a few starter sections and try to take a look at a lot of different things. We'll talk to medicine first and see where (cities) is. I think he wants to play and he’s done his best so far, so we’ll see where he wants to go today.”

A key part of this stretch of camp is getting Towns and Mikal Bridges on the floor with holdovers Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and OG Anunoby to get those pieces used to playing together as quickly as possible.

“I just feel like it’s going to be a learning process,” Brunson said. “Every day will be a challenge for us to get better. It won’t be perfect from day one, but as long as we have the right attitude we will continue to improve.”

“I think for all of us it's important for the camaraderie and continuity to just play with each other during these training camp days,” Towns said. “Every day I see that we are making better and better plays, so we are doing a good job at the moment.

“The goal will be the same every night – win the game, find a way to contribute to the success of this team and be the best teammate I can be.” Game 1 will be the same as Game 82 – just go out there and be the best version of myself.”

This was the second straight season that Thibodeau had the team spend the first week of camp in Charleston. Isolated from New York and distractions, they completed two-day training sessions over two days before moving on to a regular training schedule. It has been repeatedly emphasized that this group starts from scratch and is not a continuation of the Knicks' 50-win season in 2023-24.

“We basically treat the whole month as training camp,” Thibodeau said. “The next phase will be the first exhibition game that's not a regular season game, like, 'Okay, let's set a baseline there too.' So we got the camp where we saw where we were conditioning and things like that. And then how do we get out of this?

“Okay, now let’s start integrating the games. And then you improve every game until the last game, which is really the game where you want your rhythm and your rotation. You probably won't be quite at your minutes and rotation, but you'll be close by the last game. So you just take it game by game and go from there.”

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, as well as nearly every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.