Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports activities
Jalen Brunson is one other season or two on the degree he confirmed in 2023-24 from flying up this rating, as the previous Villanova standout is hitting his stride now as an All-NBA-level participant, if not as a borderline MVP candidate (earlier than you scoff, he completed fifth within the MVP in 2023-24). Because it applies to this text, it’s a enjoyable anecdote that Brunson has reached this degree as a member of a Knicks group that his father, Rick Brunson, is an assistant coach for.
The elder Brunson was an NBA participant himself, a bulldog of a guard, although not one was even near the identical offensive degree as Jalen Brunson. Rick Brunson spent 9 seasons within the NBA, enjoying for eight completely different groups in that point span whereas averaging 3.2 factors and a pair of.6 assists in 337 appearances within the Affiliation.
Much more fascinating is the truth that Jalen’s present head coach, Tom Thibodeau, has identified his All-Star guard since he was a toddler, as Rick Brunson would carry his son into the Knicks locker room whereas Thibodeau was an assistant coach for the group within the late ’90s (by way of ESPN):
Wearing his regular grey Knicks pullover earlier than a latest recreation, Thibodeau can solely chuckle when he thinks concerning the first time he met Jalen Brunson. Rick’s son, as he was identified then, simply 5 or 6 years outdated on the time, would come into the Knicks locker room after video games, imitating then-Knicks stars reminiscent of Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell. Thibodeau, who initially labored as an assistant with the Knicks from 1996-2003, knew that the younger boy had made an impression inside a veteran Knicks locker room. “You haven’t any concept that he’s going to finish up being a professional or something like that, nevertheless it was uncanny,” Thibodeau mentioned. “Everybody would simply crack up. He had all their footwork down, jab steps, all the pieces. “‘Do Allan Houston,’ increase, increase, increase. ‘Do Latrell,’ increase, increase, increase. So loads of enjoyable. He’d are available, he’d down the L for Larry Johnson. He’s only a nice child. And then you definately noticed how a lot he beloved the sport. Rick would carry him to observe on occasion within the summers. He was within the gymnasium on a regular basis, and he was a sponge.”
The time the youthful Brunson spent across the NBA as a toddler, together with when his father turned an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls underneath Thibodeau in the course of the Derrick Rose period, performed an enormous half in how he has developed as a participant, in highschool, school and now the NBA:
Thibodeau credit Jalen’s improvement to each Rick and Brunson’s mom, Sandra. However each the Knicks coach and his star level guard are fast to notice the youthful Brunson’s rise inside the recreation is due, at the very least partially, to rising up across the NBA world. Rick Brunson had been out of league for 3 seasons when Thibodeau introduced him on board in Chicago — on the identical time one other younger level guard was starting to make his mark on the NBA. Derrick Rose had already been Rookie of the 12 months and an All-Star earlier than Thibodeau’s arrival, however he blossomed into the league’s MVP in Thibodeau’s first season.
These Bulls stars of the early ’10s, together with Rose, would even present as much as watch Brunson’s highschool video games because the now-27-year-old become a top-level school prospect:
Rose and plenty of different Bulls gamers embraced the younger Jalen, with lots of them displaying as much as watch him as he grew his recreation at Stevenson Excessive Faculty in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Virtually 15 years after they first met, Rose, now a backup level guard for Thibodeau’s Knicks, nonetheless serves as a sounding board as Jalen, 26, enters his NBA prime. “That’s somebody who I idolized rising up,” Brunson mentioned of Rose, “Seeing what he’s finished as a participant and speaking with him on a regular basis, simply boosts my confidence.” Stated Rose: “It’s humorous how all the pieces comes full circle. Me having the ability to watch him ever since he was youthful, seeing the development yearly, seeing how devoted he’s yearly, seeing how he listened. I’m not shocked how he’s enjoying proper now due to how severe he’s taking [everything], how skilled he’s with all the pieces.”
Jalen’s stats: 16.9 ppg, 4.7 apg, 3.2 rpg, 0.7 spg, 0.1 bpg, 39.1 3P%, 48.9 FG% in 422 video games
Rick’s stats: 3.2 ppg, 2.6 apg, 1.3 rpg, 0.6 spg, 0.1 bpg, 36.2 3P%, 37.8 FG% in 337 video games
