LAS VEGAS — Blink.

Now think of the time that it took to do that and that is what the Knicks are trying to implement — a “.5 second” philosophy — as Mike Brown takes the first steps, fast steps, of his tenure as the Knicks head coach.

And maybe if you watched the first attempt Friday with the Knicks debut in the Las Vegas Summer League when you blink you might want to just keep your eyes closed rather than watch the performance the team put forth.

Brown was seated in the front row alongside Knicks executives and a handful of players who will be tasked with executing the real lessons — Mikal Bridges, Karl-Anthony Towns and Deuce McBride — and he saw what you did and still managed to smile through the game as the Knicks were beaten, 104-86, by the Detroit Pistons. In the first half they had 13 field goals and 12 turnovers, so all the effort to speed up the game was just speeding up how fast they were falling out of the game.

This was the basics only, a summer league squad attempting to execute a new coach’s plan with just a rudimentary version of the playbook and days to practice it. Brown is still working on introductions, still piecing together his staff, so this was just a first step.

It’s a wise strategy to put little stock in anything you see in the summer league. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas might be as apt for basketball as any of the indiscretions that happen among the gambling and nightlife. So by the second half this group of players — no hyped prospects or lottery picks among them — found its footing and began to show some signs of life.

“We’ve communicated on kind of foundational things we want to do on both sides of the ball,” said Jordan Brink, who is leading the summer league squad. “A huge part of it . . . is just playing fast. I thought it took us a while to get adjusted to the game. We played fast and we played with pace all week at practice. And then the first five minutes today we didn’t really have that.”

There will certainly be slip-ups now as Brink tries to put together a group of players who are barely past learning each other’s names and push them to become fast-twitch decision makers. And there will be these moments even when it’s Jalen Brunson leading the regular rotation through it. But now it’s starting to put the notion in the minds of the players. It's starting the process of urging them to make a choice to shoot, pass or drive in just a half a second after receiving the ball.

It’s not a new strategy. The Knicks were fifth in the NBA in offensive rating and scored more points in transition than the Sacramento Kings, the team that fired Brown after 31 games, last season even as the Knicks ranked near the bottom of the league in pace.

“It doesn’t just mean up and down,” Brink said. “It’s not like we just got to get out in transition. But the fast part is all of our stuff and our actions. We get the ball up the floor quick, we don’t have anything, we’re to the next action. So fast is just like really decision making, playing with the .5 mentality, pass it, driving it or shooting it quick. That’s fast, too. It’s not just up and down. I think even our guys early on, we want to play fast. We don’t want to play hurried. We don’t want to play rushed. We want to make quick decisions.”

Tyler Kolek, Pacome Dadiet and Ariel Hukporti are the lone members of the Knicks summer squad already under contract for the upcoming season and none exactly dominated in that opener. Kolek turned the ball over five times and was 0-for-5 from beyond the arc. Dadiet had a second-half flurry to finish with 17 points with 8-for-13 shooting and showed glimpses of what he can do finishing in transition. Hukporti showed some of the fouling issues that he had as a rookie.

All of them could have trouble finding opportunities in the rotation again this season. So dominating here under the eyes of a new coach would certainly help.

“You’re never starting over,” Kolek said. “What you have is your foundation and build off of that. No matter who the coach is. I’m sure coach has his people that he talks to and connects with about whoever, not just me but Jalen, about everybody. He’s trying to learn everybody’s personalities, what they like, what they don’t like. I think he’ll do a good job of that.

“I think every season is a new opportunity. Every year is a fresh start, new guys come in. We signed some free agents, so every year there’s fresh opportunity. And it starts right here, proving myself here, proving myself in August workouts, prove myself in camp, and then throughout the season. Just keep on proving myself until you get to where you have to be and then you have to do it all over again. It never really stops.”