{"id":20189,"date":"2022-07-20T12:49:47","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T12:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/knicks-are-one-big-family-for-me\/"},"modified":"2022-07-20T12:49:47","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T12:49:47","slug":"knicks-are-one-big-family-for-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/knicks-are-one-big-family-for-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks are &#8216;one big family for me&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>In his first comments since leaving Dallas for the Knicks, Jalen Brunson framed the move as being about family, not finances.  The 25-year-old point guard \u2014 who has familial ties to the coaching staff and familiarity with the front office \u2014 said the Garden just felt like home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYeah, I&#8217;m excited.  I&#8217;m very excited.  It&#8217;s like a whirlwind of emotions for me.  Just a lot.  This building is very special, and we hopefully create some new memories here,\u201d said Brunson, whose father, Rick, was a Knicks player in the late 1990s and was hired as an assistant coach last month.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt brings everything full circle.  I remember seeing the guys in the locker room when I was a kid.  It&#8217;s crazy sitting here right now.  I don&#8217;t want to say it&#8217;s emotional, but it just brings back a lot of memories, and it makes me feel like I&#8217;m supposed to be here and I&#8217;m just very excited to get things going.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rick Brunson played for the Knicks from 1998-2000, and again in the 2000-01 season.  He was the very first client for then-agent Leon Rose, who is now the Knicks president and at one point represented Jalen as well.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><figcaption>Jane Brunson<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">knicks<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The elder Brunson served as an assistant for mentor Tom Thibodeau in Chicago, Minnesota and now again with the Knicks.  And that comfort level with not just his father on staff but Rose and even William \u201cWorld Wide\u201d Wesley made it easier for the younger Brunson to leave a Mavericks team he thought he&#8217;d retire with.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s family.  It&#8217;s a comfort level to this, and something I just couldn&#8217;t turn a blind eye to.  I knew that these guys have my best interests at heart.  They&#8217;ve known me since \u2026 I think Leon probably saw me before my dad did,\u201d joked Brunson, speaking a fan event closed to the media.  \u201cIt&#8217;s just it&#8217;s just one big family for me, and I&#8217;m just super excited.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"\/>\n<p>Of course the money didn&#8217;t hurt.<\/p>\n<p>An undersized second-round pick who has worked himself into being a standout player, Brunson declined Dallas&#8217; four-year, $55.5 million contract extension offer after the trade deadline, banking on himself in free agency.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>Brunson averaged 16.3 points and 4.8 assists in his breakout campaign, giving the Mavericks a second option to superstar Luka Doncic.  And despite questions about his height, he landed a four-year, $104 million deal with the Knicks, who&#8217;ve struggled to land top free agents in spite of their prime location.<\/p>\n<p>The Knicks have just one postseason berth and no playoff series wins in the past nine years.  But Brunson \u2014 who won a pair of Big East championships at the Garden with Villanova \u2014 lauded the electric environment and hopes to experience it on a winning Knicks team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis place has an atmosphere about it that&#8217;s just unmatched,\u201d said Brunson.  \u201cAnd whenever we play in this arena, you feel the energy, since I can ever remember and the energy has been the same since I was a little kid.  So it&#8217;s just the energy here is \u2026 I mean, it&#8217;s unreal.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/Brunson.jpg?resize=556%2C411&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"knicks\" class=\"wp-image-23123300\" width=\"556\" height=\"411\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/Brunson.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=278 278w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/Brunson.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 483w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 556px) 100vw, 556px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><figcaption>Jalen Brunson and his family<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">knicks<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Brunson&#8217;s father was on the last truly successful Knicks squad, reaching the 1999 NBA Finals and then getting back to the Eastern Conference Finals the following season.  Getting the Knicks back to that level, and delivering winning basketball to the long-suffering fans in the Garden, would be extra special to him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;d mean a lot,\u201d said Brunson.  \u201cIt&#8217;d mean a lot, and I think the city deserves that.  They deserve a team to get back to that.  They deserve that.  I mean, it&#8217;s definitely a process, and as long as we&#8217;re taking everything day by day, focused on getting better every single day and with the end goal in mind, but we&#8217;ve got to focus on one day at a time, and I think that&#8217;s the best way you can get better.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In his first comments since leaving Dallas for the Knicks, Jalen Brunson framed the move as being about family, not finances. The 25-year-old point guard \u2014 who has familial ties to the coaching staff and familiarity with the front office \u2014 said the Garden just felt like home. \u201cYeah, I&#8217;m excited. I&#8217;m very excited. It&#8217;s &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/knicks-are-one-big-family-for-me\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Knicks are &#8216;one big family for me&#8217;<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[309,68,312,307],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23069,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/family-ties-with-knicks-brings-accountability\/","url_meta":{"origin":20189,"position":0},"title":"Family ties with Knicks brings &#8216;accountability&#8217;","date":"July 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Much has been made of the many Knicks connections that played an integral part in landing new point guard Jalen Brunson. Team president Leon Rose is Brunson's former agent and a family friend. Brunson's father, Rick, was recently added to coach Tom Thibodeau's staff. And Brunson has a bond with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Jane Brunson","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/GettyImages-1240546037.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8852,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/mark-cuban-has-no-hard-feelings-about-jalen-brunsons-knicks-move\/","url_meta":{"origin":20189,"position":1},"title":"Mark Cuban has no hard feelings about Jalen Brunson&#8217;s Knicks move","date":"July 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 If there are hard feelings between the Mavericks and the Knicks over Jalen Brunson, Mark Cuban did a good job of hiding any animosity. The Dallas owner had only positive things to say on Friday about the point guard who has agreed to a four-year, $104 million\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Jane Brunson","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/GettyImages-1391939381.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1990,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/derek-harper-promises-knicks-fans-will-love-jalen-brunson\/","url_meta":{"origin":20189,"position":2},"title":"Derek Harper promises Knicks fans will love Jalen Brunson","date":"July 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Derek Harper chuckled at the narrative that was spun this week, that Jalen Brunson was being overpaid to join the Knicks. Just wait and see, the Mavericks' television analyst said. Watch how he impacts winning. \u201cPeople are going to be shocked at what Jalen Brunson brings to the floor every\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Derek HarperJalen Brunson ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/newspress-collage-22896130-1656731944840.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":462,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/dallas-mavericks-informed-jalen-brunson-intends-to-sign-with-new-york-knicks\/","url_meta":{"origin":20189,"position":3},"title":"Dallas Mavericks informed Jalen Brunson intends to sign with New York Knicks","date":"June 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Dallas Mavericks have been informed that guard Jalen Brunson intends to sign with the New York Knicks in free agency, sources told ESPN.A meeting with the Mavs scheduled to be held soon after the opening of free agency on Thursday evening was canceled in the afternoon, sources confirmed, as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/newspress-collage-23123127-1658274986539.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1658260737&w=1024","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}