Knicks' Jalen Brunson appreciates tough love from his father Rick
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson drives on Suns guard Jordan Goodwin during the second half of an NBA game Friday in Phoenix. Credit: AP/Matt York
LOS ANGELES — In a world where NBA players often go viral for all the wrong reasons, Jalen Brunson found himself in his own internet moment — not for the 50-point performance Friday night, but for a workout video of a very young Brunson working out while his father, Rick, barks out orders and inspirational messages.
His reaction to seeing the video?
"PTSD," he said with a smile. “You probably saw how [angry] I was at the moment. But I guess it all worked out.”
Brunson said that the moody pre-teen in the video wasn’t rebelling against the pushing of his father, who now is a Knicks assistant coach.
“No, no, no. It wasn't like that always,” he said. "I always wanted to be pushed and stuff like that. I think I was more [angry] about my dad at the time was coaching at the University of Virginia, they had a new practice facility indoors, a nice air-conditioned place . . .. But in the middle of July, working out in the [hot] sun outside. That's what I was upset about.”
The influence of Rick Brunson is evident in everything he does, the father a long-time NBA player and coach, who knew what it took to reach the level — and the son has exceeded the accomplishments of the father. When Brunson put up that historic performance in Phoenix Friday, shooting 9-for-9 from three-point range and not missing any of his 12 shots in the second half, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau joked afterward, “I was telling his father, he had his career in one night.”
Now that the elder Brunson is a coach at the professional level, is it a similar approach?
“Message is the same but I guess the approach is different,” Jalen Brunson said. “It's pretty much the same. It's not like that. He was trying to make me mentally tough and stuff like that. It's pretty much the same. In a good way. “
The work that brought the undersized Knicks standout to the level he is at now is not uncommon among professional athletes. Julius Randle said he hadn’t seen the video of Brunson, rarely using social media. But he knew the sentiment.
“Yeah, my mom, she used to bully me when I was a kid,” Randle said. “Take me to the rec center, bully me, all that different type of stuff. But it made me tough. Made me tough.”
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.
