Jalen Brunson of the Knicks during Media Day on Monday at the...

Jalen Brunson of the Knicks during Media Day on Monday at the team's training facility in Tarrytown, N.Y. Credit: Errol Anderson

The Knicks completed their training camp at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, on Saturday afternoon — hours spent in the gym among the military college students and a few more hours spent in dinners together, bonding and building what they hope are the first few steps in a memorable season.

The meticulously planned camp now turns to the unknown — just what the team can become — as the Knicks tip off their preseason schedule at Madison Square Garden on Monday night against the Celtics.

“Camp was good,” Jalen Brunson said. “We had a good couple days here and we made steps in the right direction. It was kind of fun to get away from New York and be in one place and just focus on getting better.

“Just focus on one day at a time. I know I sound like a broken record all year, but that’s just the mindset we have to have. We did something last year that not a lot of people thought we could do by getting to the second round, and for us to continue progress on that,  we have to focus on one day at a time. We can’t look back or forward, just focus on each day and the next and the next.”

While it starts now, even Brunson isn’t sure what comes next. The four-game schedule of preseason games includes an odd twist: a back-to-back set of games next week in Boston and then home against Washington. So even Brunson and coach Tom Thibodeau said they aren’t sure what to expect in terms of games played and playing time from the players in the nine-man rotation.

“That’s a great question,” Brunson said. “I should probably figure that out. I’m going to go with the flow. Yeah, I’ve never seen a back-to-back in preseason before. But like I said, we’re going to take it one day at a time.”

“Essentially the way it unfolds for us with the back-to-back, basically you’re looking at three games,” Thibodeau said. “So we have to just build our base, take it game by game. Usually the first game you’re going to get something and then you keep adding. The last one will be closer to the normal rotation.”

While neither the two-a-days in the Charleston heat nor the preseason  games will count in the standings, they  serve a purpose. Despite bringing back nearly intact the roster that made it to the second round of the playoffs last season, the Knicks did have something to gain here. Brunson has a full season in New York behind him, but last year the Knicks had Quentin Grimes sidelined for much of camp with a foot injury (and not yet a starter), Josh Hart didn’t arrive until February and Donte DiVincenzo is a newcomer to the rotation.

“I think as we’ve gotten into this and a lot of stuff is familiar,” Brunson said. “Obviously, we’ll refresh on some things and touch on some stuff. But it’s a lot of familiarity. We know what we want to do, know each other’s tendencies. So when we play, it’s a little difficult, it’s a little sloppy, but we know what each other do. And it’s what we want. We want everybody locked in. Everybody healthy. And just everyone is ready to go.”

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