Jalen Brunson places it in air quotes. “Added pressure.”
It’s not one thing he’s giving a lot credence to as he enters his first season with the Knicks, strapped with the kind of contract that suggests he’ll finish the franchise’s lengthy point-guard drought.
“For one, it’s not really pressure to me. I’ve played a long time,” Brunson mentioned. “And two, I’m just gonna be myself. I’m ready to go. Whatever it takes.”
Brunson could not really feel stress internally, however excessive stakes are connected to his success or failures. Reputations and jobs are on the road. After final season’s plunge out of the playoffs, the Knicks made Brunson their lone vital addition. It value workforce president Leon Rose the eleventh total choose for cap area and $104 million to pry Brunson from Dallas. As Mavericks ahead Dorian Finney-Smith mentioned the opposite day about his former teammate, “You see how much money they gave him? I would have been mad if he stayed here.”
Brunson arrives with out a lot NBA expertise as a lead guard, however the Knicks have made clear their perception that the 26-year-old is well worth the cash. The logic, as echoed by coach Tom Thibodeau on Thursday, is Brunson is a frontrunner who has received and improved at each stage.
“Sometimes he can fool you because doesn’t necessarily look the part,” Thibodeau mentioned, “however he’s the half.
“His mind is spectacular, the way he sees the game.”
There are doubters, for positive. Brunson’s familial connections to this Knicks regime contributes to the concepts that not solely was tampering concerned, but in addition the purpose guard’s checking account benefitted from Leon Rose’s ‘Family and Friends plan.’
But Brunson is skilled in nonbelievers. He’s confirmed most of them incorrect. After successful two NCAA titles at Villanova, Brunson’s dimension and athletic limitations dropped him to the second spherical of the 2018 draft to the Mavericks, who had picked Luka Doncic about an hour earlier.
Brunson performed off the ball to accommodate Doncic of their three seasons collectively, then blossomed on this yr’s playoffs when his celebrity backcourt mate was injured. The postseason efficiency boosted Brunson’s free company worth and Knicks gave him the ball. Older followers could have PTSD from signing a free agent based mostly on a single playoffs — (ahem, Jerome James) — however Brunson has a observe file of enchancment past final season.
“I was just doing what I think I have the ability to do,” Brunson mentioned of his playoff success. “Everyone else, the outside world, they just were able to see it at that point in time.”
Thibodeau has seen many NBA gamers defy the expectations of their draft place. He coached Jimmy Butler, who was taken thirtieth total by the Bulls in 2011. He referenced second-round choose Draymond Green.
Brunson, up so far, doesn’t stand as much as these two however the Knicks are betting on his continued rise.
“It’s his DNA. He has a winning DNA,” Rose advised James Dolan’s cable community. “You look at his history — state champions in high school, two National Championships in college, last year with and without Luka Doncic, leads the Dallas Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals. And he’s improved every year because of who he is and what he’s about. …We needed that person that was going to stabilize us.”
Rose served because the agent of Brunson’s father, Rick, who’s now a Knicks assistant coach. Rose’s son, Sam, now represents the youthful Brunson. Beyond simply the tortured Knicks followers hoping for his or her first championship since Richard Nixon was president, there are lots of people contained in the group with private stakes in Brunson’s efficiency. That would possibly look like stress however the level guard mentioned he doesn’t really feel that emotion.
“I look at it — last season — as just another stepping stone to me getting better,” Brunson mentioned. “It was Year 4, I made strides, now this is Year 5 and I have to continue to make strides. That’s all.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com