After fracturing his hand and watching his Knicks fall to Indiana in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday, Jalen Brunson acknowledged that the team made “positive strides” in 2023/24, but responded “no” when asked if the season was a success, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
“Did we win the championship? Did we get close?” Brunson said. “So, no. That’s my mindset. That’s just how it is.”
It was a terrific individual season for Brunson, who set new career highs in points (28.7) and assists (6.7) per game during the regular season, finished fifth in MVP voting, and averaged 32.4 PPG in the postseason. But he continued to be his own harshest critic following the Game 7 loss, suggesting there’s still room for improvement.
“I would say there’s pros and cons to how I played,” Brunson said. “The pros, obviously, are I played well individually at some points in the playoffs. The cons are that I didn’t play well enough to help my team move forward. You can say I got hurt in Game 7, I wasn’t playing well in Game 7. We had a 2-0 and a 3-2 lead, it’s just hard to look at things individually when you don’t help your team.”
Brunson has one more guaranteed year remaining on his contract with the Knicks, with a player option for 2025/26. He’ll become eligible this offseason to sign a four-year, $156.5MM extension that would start in 2025 and replace that option. However, he cut off a question asking about that possibility during his postgame media session, replying, “I’ll talk about that another time.”
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- Head coach Tom Thibodeau briefly addressed his contract situation after Sunday’s loss, expressing a desire to remain in New York, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. “That’s something that my agent will take care of,” said Thibodeau, who has one year left on his current deal. “The Knicks have been great to me. So this is where I want to be.” Bondy cites a source who is confident that the two sides will reach an agreement, while Ian Begley of SNY.tv also suggests an extension seems like a foregone conclusion, noting that Thibodeau has the strong support of his players.
- OG Anunoby tried to play in Game 7 after missing the previous four contests with a hamstring injury, but he checked out after logging just five minutes and admitted after the loss that he “just couldn’t move” due to his hamstring, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. “Was just trying, but couldn’t really sprint, couldn’t really jump, but just tried my best,” Anunoby said. “Just wanted to play. I wanted to at least try and help my teammates. We’ve been working really hard so I wanted to at least be out there.”
- Thibodeau will face criticism from the “minutes police” for the way injuries decimated the Knicks’ roster down the stretch, but it’s not as simple as blaming all those injuries on overuse, according to Jared Schwartz of The New York Post (subscription required). While Thibodeau may deserve some blame, the team was also the victim of bad injury luck that forced the team to overuse players in the first place, Schwartz argues.
- As dangerous as this year’s roster was when fully healthy, the Knicks haven’t ruled out the possibility of trying to trade for another star this offseason, writes Fred Katz of The Athletic. Still, the organization will be wary of how any major move would affect the culture and chemistry that made this year’s group special. “I think (the future) is very bright,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said. “I think there’s hope for what we’re building, and I think that’s the biggest thing. … I think we built a foundation of a franchise that’s gonna be fighting, a franchise that’s moving in the right direction. It’s tough to end it this way, but we’re going in the right direction. I think we’re giving this city and Knick fans something to hope for.”
- Mark Deeks of HoopsHype and Bobby Marks of ESPN (Insider link) preview the offseason ahead for the Knicks, exploring the major decisions facing the team with its free agents (including Anunoby and Isaiah Hartenstein) and extension candidates (led by Brunson and Thibodeau).
Well well well how the turn tables.
If I were you I would be more cornered about my own team but hey nice to see someone caring about the Knicks.
Brunson is a great player.
The one thing I don’t like about his game is that he pulls the same contortionist crap that Trae
Young does to draw fouls.
The refs were supposed to call this activity an offensive foul this year, but stopped doing so after the first month.
It’s infuriating to watch and ruins the flow of the game.
“The one thing I don’t like about his game is that he pulls the same contortionist crap that Trae Young does to draw fouls.”
This criticism is overblown if you ask me. Brunson is nowhere near as bad as guys like Trae Young, Embiid, SGA, etc. Brunson only had 6.5 FTA per game despite 21.4 FGA. Young – 7.7 FTA on only 18.7 FGA. Embiid – 11.6 FTA on 21.6 FGA. SGA – 8.7 FTA on 19.8 FGA. And perhaps the biggest foul baiter in the league, Jimmy Butler – 7.7 FTA on a ridiculous 13.2 FGA.
And it’s not like his game is spot-up shooting. He’s constantly going off-dribble and driving and slashing to the basket. If anything, he doesn’t get enough calls.
Knicks got all offseason to heal up now lolllll
LaVine and Vooch to the Knicks!
Please let that happen!!!
I am a Bulls fan wishing this on the Knicks!!!
How dare you
It feels so good to type this: the Knicks are not that dumb.
Should Lakers trade for Randle?
Yes, because having three players start at the same position works.
You’re kinda salty this morning. Wonder why?
Ha. Yeah, that too.
Randle & AD would be duplication, Lakers need a pure shooter to properly space the floor for Lebron & AD…
Allowing OG to play in such a state was pretty reckless of the Knicks, but you can’t really pin that all on Thibs. The medical team should’ve shut the door on that possibility.
OG talked him into playing, Thibs made the call to remove him
Thibs isnt the type of coach that wins a championship unless he is given a generational talent, similar to what happened with Rick Carlisle in Dallas.
The problem with Thibs is that he runs the players and playbook at full throttle all season. When his teams make the playoffs, no matter what type of talent he has, his players tend to be worn and he has no mid-series adjustments because he used up all his plays.
Thibs is good to develop a team, but when you want to be a champiopnship contender instead of playoff sacrifical lamb, you have to go with another coach.
You can give Thibs a team of Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum and Nikola Jocic, and his team will still exit before the Finals in a series they should’ve won.
You always seemed to care more about New York teams then your own how sad
Is this all you can say to people on every board?
Troll with the other posters, junior.
Who is that type of coach then? I’ll wait
I think the Knicks need to start with a coach that understands that the regular season isn’t as important as the postseason. You can’t run your players in the ground and use 99.9% of your playbook to get the highest win-total and seed as possible during the regular season. Championship coaches pace their players, getting them ready for the postseason. And they save many plays in their playbook for the postseason, only using them in scattered portions throughout the season in games to test them out after they work on them in practice drills – not using them endlessly where potential opponents can properly prepare for those plays by the time the playoffs start. Just these parts alone have hurt Thibs’ teams in the postseason every single time – whether players are worn or hurt, or opposing coaches outcoach him in series in which they make unexpected adjustments while Thibs can’t bring anything new to a series because every coach has seen all his plays during the regular season and were already prepared with strategies to offset his plays.
This latter part perhaps is what the poster above means in that Thibs would need generational talent because when you have that, you can impose your will on teams when they know what’s coming. The problem is that it’s hard for Thibs to get generational talent because his organzations always get deceived into thinking they have enough because of the max effort to get as many wins as possible – thus making his teams have x-win total, but aren’t as good as the true championship contenders with the same or lesser win-total. So his organzations feel they don’t need more to match the true championship contenders.
@BMFB – That was funny. Still, if I were you, I’d keep these profound ideas of yours out of basketball discussions with knowledgable fans. You’ll sound less foolish.
For instance, playbooks matter in football, not basketball. Certainly not in basketball at the NBA level. Adjustments too, they rarely decide anything in the playoffs. While the NBA season is a grind, NBA players don’t get run into the ground (or become more subject to injury per minute) by playing a few extra minutes a game (if they did, the NYK, this year anyway, wouldn’t have been close to the most likely victim). No team has had more player-games missed due to injuries over the past few years than MIA; your fellow MIA fans (on this board) routinely claim they’re cursed. Nonsense, of course, but no more than what your spewing.
I’m interested, what “championship coaches” (at least in the years they’ve won the championship) have deemphasized the regular season after securing any playoff slot? Certainly not any coach in recent memory. Certainly not Spo with MIA. His only championships were in the strike year and then after a 66 win season, and didn’t pace themselves either time. FYI, HOU is the only seed below 4 to ever win an NBA championship, and that was before your time.
Wow…first of all, thank you for the comp;liment in thinking that Houiston winning that championship from a low spot was before my time. Thank you very much.
As for my statement, I know that Thibs is the latest savior of NY so you have to defending with whatever gibberish you can come up with. I’ll keep this simple. Thibs history with teams speaks for itself. And Spo has a good part in it. Spo has always outcoached Thibs head-to-head. Or you have a diffrent excuse for that too?
So basically every coach in NBA history
This is what needs to happen IMO…First resign OG, then do what it takes to resign IH that one won’t be as easy as OG, trade for Donovan Mitchell yes I understand the defense issues in the backcourt but offensively pick your poison of him or Brunson, find a taker for Randle, bring back a bench of Hart, DD, Burks, and Bogdanovic, sign a backup center finally get Brunson and Thibs extensions done…back up plan if Mitchell is a no go see if you can get Devin Booker or Mikal Bridges…I know the Knicks are always rumored for Karl Anthony Towns but not sure he will be looking to get out after how their season is going
Man, apparently you seem to think a lot of teams are looking to help the Knicks instead of helping themselves.
I guess you didn’t notice the Knicks got OG Burks and Bogdanovic and gave up a bunch of turds and not one 1st round pick…apparently teams do t mind helping out the Knicks…Quickley was the only loss really
So, the game plan is trying to see what teams will make bad trades with the Knicks all the time?
Good luck with that.
I guess you think David Stearns is still the NBA Commissioner, and he will make sure that NY, Chicago LA and Boston will get any player they want. I think it’s safe to say that won’t be happening again.
And don’t be fooled by a Thibs team. But I guess you Knicks fans take longer to figure that out since you will ignore his entire resume and it’ll take a few years where you exit earlier than expected before you all realize what everyone already knows about him and his teams. Two years in a row where you loss to teams you thought had no chance against your Knicks.
Love that the guys complaining about how much Thibs has his players play are also the guys who complain about stars not playing. Semi casuals are invading the NBA discourse. Thank you SAS
ESPN as a whole created the problem you refer to.
As for the complaints about Thibs, there is validity, but my criticism of him is more about how he uses up his playbook. My Heat always beat his teams when they face him because Spo outcoaches him. Thibs has no adjustments due to nearly using up his whole playbook the entire season while championship coaches save many plays for the postseason without showing them much during the regular season. Thibs is a max effort guy from Day 1 of the season, while the championship coaches pace their team and are focused on preparing their team for the postseason after they secure a playoff spot. The perfect example is what you see from Thibs versus Spo – one will try to get the top playoff spot in the conference at all costs, while the other is concerned more about being ready for the postseason, even if his team has to do a play-in to be a #8 seed, as long as they get to the Finals. That tells a bit of the Thibs story and criticism.
Remind us how far the Heat got this season and whether or not they were completely healthy. Maybe they should start taking the regular season more seriously so they don’t have to keep playing the top seeds in the first round. Maybe Butler should take it more seriously and get more into game shape so he doesn’t sprain his MCL in the first game he cared about in months against the 76ers.
2023-24 New York Knicks Roster and Stats ………
For All the Thibs mins gurus ????
Only two Knick players avg more than 35 mins a gm. Julius Randle (35.4) and Jalen Brunson (35.4) In the 2023-24 NBA season.
He didn’t have bodies for the playoffs. He’s not the old Thibs of the Bulls. Cause he didn’t do it in Minny either. Look it up stop swallowing everything they feed you.
link to basketball-reference.com
Name the last time a team that was coached by Thibs was healthy and headed into the playoffs Al. As a Bulls fan, this guy is the McCarthy of NBA coaches.
Timberwolves, blew up because KAT and Wiggins were soft
Knicks in 2021, that roster was crap (healthy, but crap) and Thibs rightfully got COTY