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 totally different groups in that point span whereas averaging 3.2 factors and a couple of.6 assists in 337 appearances within the Affiliation.
Much more fascinating is the truth that Jalen’s present head coach, Tom Thibodeau, has recognized his All-Star guard since he was a baby, as Rick Brunson would deliver 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 typical 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 recognized then, simply 5 or 6 years previous on the time, would come into the Knicks locker room after video games, imitating then-Knicks stars similar to 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 don’t have any concept that he’s going to finish up being a professional or something like that, nevertheless it was uncanny,” Thibodeau stated. “Everybody would simply crack up. He had all their footwork down, jab steps, the whole lot. “‘Do Allan Houston,’ increase, increase, increase. ‘Do Latrell,’ increase, increase, increase. So lots of enjoyable. He’d are available in, he’d down the L for Larry Johnson. He’s only a nice child. And then you definately noticed how a lot he liked the sport. Rick would deliver him to apply 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 baby, together with when his father turned an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls underneath Thibodeau throughout the Derrick Rose period, performed an enormous half in how he has developed as a participant, in highschool, faculty and now the NBA:
Thibodeau credit Jalen’s growth 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 throughout the recreation is due, at the least partly, 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 similar time one other younger level guard was starting to make his mark on the NBA. Derrick Rose had already been Rookie of the Yr 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 changed into a top-level faculty prospect:
Rose and lots of different Bulls gamers embraced the younger Jalen, with a lot of them exhibiting 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 stated of Rose, “Seeing what he’s finished as a participant and speaking with him on a regular basis, simply boosts my confidence.” Mentioned Rose: “It’s humorous how the whole lot 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 critical he’s taking [everything], how skilled he’s with the whole lot.”
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
