Mike Brown: Knicks Jalen Brunson top NBA leader because ‘he walks the talk’
· Yahoo Sports
Knicks head coach Mike Brown is unsurprised by Jalen Brunson’s ranking among NBA general managers as the best leader in the NBA.
“He studies the game, and that helps a lot because you can always grow in any field you do. But he walks the talk,” Brown said ahead of tipoff against the Toronto Raptors in the Knicks’ preseason finale on Thursday. “He works extremely hard, and he strives for perfection from himself. And when you do that, your peers see you do that, and you’re looked upon as the best player on the team, and it gives you credibility to tell somebody else when they’re not given their all or when they need to do this a little bit better or that a little bit better.”
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Brunson earned 53% of the vote for best leader in basketball in a poll of all 30 NBA general managers who were not allowed to vote for a player on their own team. Last year, Stephen Curry finished in first place with 43% of the vote and Brunson tied with LeBron James for second. This year, Curry earned 20% of the vote and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 7%.
“He’s not afraid because, as a leader, sometimes you can be on an island because you have to always be conscious of ‘I got to do more, I got to do more’ in terms of work harder, focus, everybody’s going to make mistakes, but those little things,” said Brown. “And so when you tell your teammates, they can get pissed at you, or they can be like, ‘hey, screw him because who is he to tell me what to do?’ And so you have to have some thick skin because it’s not going to always be you telling somebody to do something, then they embrace it.
“And I think Jalen has that thick skin and a toughness about him to be in a seat like this.”
Brunson also earned the second-most votes for both best point guard in the NBA behind Gilgeous-Alexander and player taking a shot with a game on the line behind Curry. NBA GM’s ranked the Knicks star the third-most likely player to go onto become a head coach behind Indiana’s T.J. McConnell and Boston’s Mike Conley.
Brown finished third for best coach behind OKC’s Mark Daigneault and Miami’s Erik Spoelstra and fourth for best motivator/manager of people. He also received votes for best in-game adjustments and best offense.
The Knicks received 60% of the votes to finish first in the Eastern Conference, 20% of the votes for best home-court advantage and 17% of the votes for NBA’s most efficient offense this upcoming season. OG Anunoby tied fourth for most versatile defender and received votes for most versatile player and best perimeter defender.