Knicks' Jalen Brunson and Tom Thibodeau's successful relationship was years in the making
New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau and guard Jalen Brunson. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
BOSTON — It’s easy to watch Jalen Brunson with the ball in his hands late in the game, in the moments that have earned him the NBA Clutch Player of the Year Award, and assume it is some magical quality, something that has appeared out of nowhere.
But the skills that put him in those spots with confidence came from decades of work. It came from the now-familiar images of Brunson as a child working with his father, Rick, out in the heat on a court in Virginia and from hanging around locker rooms and gyms while his father made his way through nine seasons on the fringes of NBA rosters. They exist even now, as the elder Brunson guides Jalen through pregame workouts and is on the bench offering pointers during games.
But it’s not just the work, and not just his mother and father who have helped put him in the spotlight as he tried to lead the Knicks through the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the second game of which came at TD Garden against the Boston Celtics Wednesday.
The Knicks don’t have the pedigree of the defending champions, nor the massive array of championship banners. But they have a history that puts Brunson here, playing the hero.
The story has been told. Knicks president Leon Rose became an agent when he was asked to help out what would become his first client — Rick Brunson. The elder Brunson, in his stops along his playing career, connected with Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, first as an assistant in New York and then when Thibodeau was an assistant in Houston. And Thibodeau brought him onto his coaching staff in Chicago, then Minnesota and finally with the Knicks.
Connect all of the dots and you have an organization that has a history, an alignment together that has put them all on the same page.
“Yeah, I think that we all have one goal,” Jalen Brunson said. “I think we all have an understanding of what we want to accomplish and I feel like we’re able to talk about stuff and we’re able to sit down and have conversations. There’s always going to be conversations where some people think they’re right, [other] people think they’re right. And then how do we get to a happy medium?
“I’m not saying I’m in the room making decisions or helping make decisions. But when questions are asked of me, I give my opinion, I say what I feel is best for the team. But the best part about Thibs and Leon and even Mr. Dolan – I don’t why I called him Mr. Dolan. … Conversations are had. So when we have dialogue like that, it makes it easier for everyone.”
It rolls into how the Knicks have managed to be something more than the individual pieces in Brunson’s first two seasons with the organization - when they were an overachieving group that warmed the hearts of New York. And maybe how, even in a rebuilt state, they are still surprising teams - winning the first game of the series in Boston after being swept by the Celtics in the regular season (along with the other top teams in the NBA, Cleveland and Oklahoma City).
“The relationship helps,” Thibodeau said. “And I think he’s benefited greatly by having his father in the pro game, just growing up in the pro gym, around pros his whole life. I think the way he’s wired, he’s a sponge. He’s had that - we used to get a kick out of it when he was five or six, the way he could imitate every player. He’s just been a student of the game and he’s never satisfied. He’s always trying to get better. He’s got great poise under pressure.”
While Thibodeau can come across as gruff, and certainly is hard-driving, in Brunson he has a kindred spirit who grew up knowing what it took to reach the level of NBA basketball that he now finds himself. While the Celtics are deep and boast two All-NBA players in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Brunson not only leads all players in postseason scoring and clutch points this season, but has the highest jump from career regular-season scoring average to postseason average (6.7 points) in NBA history.
“I was always thinking about the NBA, since I was a kid,” Jalen Brunson said. “But my relationship with [Thibodeau] was primarily my dad and his relationship. When I saw him, he always said what’s up, always had words of wisdom to say. It was always about working hard and being prepared and all the stuff you hear now.
“And so, being young and hearing that and coming here and seeing that he’s the same person, it’s all about the hard work you put into stuff. What makes you prepare to be successful, I feel like I heard that all the time. So when I hear it now, I know what he’s about. Our relationship, it’s great because I got to see him from afar. And I knew him. And being a player in his system I feel like I have a little advantage just knowing his mindset.”
Brunson paused and added, “I would say we have a good relationship. It could be better. It’s on his part though.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
