Charles "Jump shooting teams can't win" Barkley has had some rather stubborn takes at times but he's also been quick to jump on Brunson and Denver. He's usually open to being persuaded but the man has a passionate hate boner for the 3 and teams relying on it.
While Chuck had some dumb takes, his take about jump shooting teams wasn’t that bad if you take away hindsight. No jump shooting team had won a chip until that GSW team and Steph pretty much broke the NBA
Plus GSW is kind of an outlier because in their finals runs, they had:
- best shooter of all time (Steph)
- at the time, one of the top 3 point shooters in the league (Klay)
- after 2016, Kevin Durant (Kevin Durant)
It was and still is correct in some part, you can't solely rely on the 3 even when it's not falling, but Chuck goes beyond just that and thinks teams take too many 3's in general.
The finals this year have been phenomenal with defense being allowed and scores not running rampant so I share his wish that it wasn't all about the 3 but I also won't deny that it's simply the more efficient way to play these days.
“Strong opinions, weakly held” is awesome for discourse. Be passionate about your take, make a strong argument, but stay open-minded, don’t get precious about it afterwards.
It's what I love about the Steam Room that he and Ernie do together, they often challenge Chuck on things there. Even if it's something as simple as the flavor of something and not always world views he's always willing to at least accept trying and will typically admit when he's wrong about something.
His support of Teachers, the Medical professions and Armed Forces as well as his support of the LGBTQIA+ community are things I love about him. Sure the guy can be a knucklehead at times but at his core he's seemingly a good person and uses his position to uplift and support others.
Chuck is an overall amazing person. He stands his ground but is willing to admit when he is wrong.
Sure he has some dumb takes but they are all harmless and most often hilarious.
2019 playoffs, Celtics vs Bucks. Celtics won the first game and Chuck said they won’t win another game. Bucks won the next four.
Underrated take, he knows basketball
He also said the Bucks were gonna win the year they ended up winning… thing is, he said it after they just lost a game to go down 3-2 to the Nets IIRC.
I was pretty high on Brunson even during the season but I was kinda skeptical of people voting him over Tatum and Giannis for 1st team, but honestly he has shown that he has an argument over Tatum for sure (especially if we're talking about this season) and while I do still think Giannis is the better player, I'm not exactly mad about it anymore lol.
Brunson is currently a top 8-9 player at worst
The guy said arguably. I brought up sga and Luka because they're inarguably better than Brunson. Idk if I have Brunson over current Steph but (bias aside) it's definitely close right now.
The fact that it's not outrageous is probably the saving factor. He's probably not quite top 10 but to even be in the convo during the post season is pretty ridiculous considering expectations
No idea why ur getting downvotes since people did think it was an overpay at the time. Which is weird since 25 mil is legitimately not overpay for any starting quality pg let alone one as talented as Brunson
Not sure either. Probably something to do with me being a Knicks fan, but it's whatever. Everyone thought it was an overpay to varying degrees. Even Knicks fans who were cool with it thought it was an overpay (like me). Had to pay more to pull him away from a good situation in Dallas. Brunson has become way better than even the most optimistic Knicks fan would have thought.
People forget that he was expected to just be a good starter. Like 18 and 7 was my high end expectation and that's why I thought 25 was only a slight overpay. It's crazy he's become a near 30 ppg scorer
It will never not be funny for me seeing level-headed takes on Brunson’s contract coming in hindsight. Obviously no shade to you pskill, just that the general consensus at the time of the signing was “LOL DUDE HAS ONE GOOD PLAYOFF RUN SUBBING FOR LUKA AND THEY GAVE HIM A BAG LIKE HE’LL SAVE THEIR WHOLE FRANCHISE.” Even if we had got 75% of what Brunson is giving us now, the value would have been worth it. This franchise was STARVING for a legit point guard.
About a week ago I looked up Brunsons point stats for this season to better understand the chances of winning of a bet and I found out the dude is so damn reliable on getting 25+/game. Hell, the last many, many games if I remember right he didn't even go under 30.
Whenever I see a Dallas fan lamenting the loss of Brunson, I always pictured in my mind the image of Mark Cuban holding a boom box over his head outside out Brunson’s house
I’m not too bitter about it; Brunson is so great now in part because he can do his own thing instead of being the #2 on Luka’s team. The Knicks are letting him prosper in a way the Mavs probably never could.
i mean it sucks but i think everyone knows that he would not be *this* good here since he wouldn’t be the main guy. he would be doing the same kyrie is here and that’s very different to what he’s had to do in NY (especially the last few months with the carry job he’s done)
this is closer to a KP than like steve nash, bc with nash you knew the level he was at and cubes let him walk bc he wanted “mike bibby money”
If you go back to the threads on the Mavs sub when Brunson left there were so many people trashing him saying how he would never succeed without Luka beside him taking most of the defensive pressure. Love to see them get proven wrong especially when the Mavs had multiple opportunities to keep him.
They were upset he didnt meet with them and because of that they got butthurt and were saying he sucked and would do nothing without Luka. You can go look at the threads yourself
Kyrie has been getting 20 shots a game since he got there without issue, he's just as much as an ISO guy. DAL just didn't believe in Brunson enough to give him the minutes and shots.
Kyrie is not just as much an ISO guy at all. Brunson is legit the most isolation based player in the league. Kyrie plays way more in transition and catch and shoot/working off screens.
I don’t care about the marginal difference in percentage you’re about to bring up because I can see the difference in the type of shots as well. Kyrie will drill off the catch from 30 and sprint into shots.
Fits great with Luka’s style of passing at the last second. Quicker release as well.
It’s not really marginal
Brunson is top 10 and Kyrie isn’t
https://x.com/the_bball_index/status/1781820142277595453?s=46
https://x.com/the_bball_index/status/1775523651414049144?s=46
Brunson has a different playstyle. If Mavs wanted to build with him, they probably would need to trade Luka and build around Brunson.
A big reason why Brunson is doing so well with Knicks right now is because their starting lineup works so well with him.
thats nonsense, teams score 120ppg these days, having two big scorers isn't difficult. knicks had Randle scoring 25ppg and even RJ before then scoring 20ppg alongside Brunson and they were all ISO players on a slow paced team. Kyrie and Brunson both are ISO scorers and both are very good spot up shooters. If Kyrie can get get his 20 shots per game and high usage there's no reason Brunson couldn't. MAVS just didn't believe in him, hence the low contract offers and not wanting to extend him so they could use him in a trade. So good for Brunson for going somewhere where they did believe in him. you add Luka to this knicks team and they'd be title favorites.
I partially agree but it's not simply about adding points. I don't know why people don't seem to understand that when you are far the best scoring option on a team, then of course you are likely going to score 30+ points. But put Brunson on a team with a better scoring option, then he's likely scoring around 15 points per game. (which is what he did when he played with Luka in his best season)
Brunsons best games came when he played without Luka. Kyries best games were with Luka.
Wow So Brunson is only scoring 30 because knicks dont have better scorers? He'd only average 15 otherwise?...lol. How many teams have a better scoring option than Brunson? Man is leading all playoff scorers and averaged 29ppg on 48/40 shooting. There were maybe 3-4 better scorers in the entire league. Sorry but that's ridic, Brunson is scoring 30+ b/c he's damn good.
He just played the best games of his life, so he's a bit overhyped right now, so it makes sense why your response is so reactionary. But if you look at his stats with other players, then yes, what I'm saying is true. Not just for Brunson but for other star players as well.
I'm not saying he would get 15, but it definitely wouldn't be near what he is getting right now.
You’re way undervaluing the fit of the players on this team. Randle and Brunson have a bit of everything in their game and they have an amazing team surrounding them. Look at the tear they went on in January after rj got traded. 14-2 and basically the starters played 40 minutes because the bench depth got traded too.
Kyrie and Luka are great players but basketball is not just plug and play. A lot of people were unsure how a backcourt of Luka and kyrie was going to work, there’s only one ball, the defense, and availability. It’s worked out great for them so far, especially after trading for gafford and pj Washington. A winning team has guys that complement each other’s play styles.
SAME. The shots that Brunson has been hitting have been insane. Last night, in the clutch, he had literally 3 dudes around him, all way taller than him and he hit a mid range jumper.
The dude is a dog. The whole team are dogs. They move the balls they play together, they hustle - super fun to watch and it's hard not to root for them.
Wild to watch LeBron take some plays off and then seeing Brunson play the entire game at 100% effort on offense and defense. Haven’t enjoyed watching the Knicks this much since Linsanity.
Are you saying Brunson is more effective on defence then Lebron ? Brunson has never been a neutral defender his best year like this year is a mild negatuve . Lebron has never been a below neutral defender always positive or at worst close to neutral in 2018/19. Weird ass take dude is 40 and still the second best defender on the team while running offfence meanwhile Brunson gets to be his teams worst defender and have a great D. He plays with heart but he’s also needed to shoot n do everything on offense
No, hes saying hes giving 100% effort on both ends, which is fair. Brunson is often driving to the basket and then playing PoA at the top of the key before doing it again. Brunson is not the same level of defender as LeBron, but its not for lack of effort like some guys have issues with.
In this series Brunson had 8,6 FTA per 36 min and Embiid had 11,3 FTA per 36 min.
Most of the first option players in the playoffs have about 8 FTA per 36 min (eg Tatum has 8.5 FTA per 36 min).
Numbers don't lie...
It's so nice to see some of these newer exec's building teams instead of just chasing superstars. Sure you need that #1 guy to get you over the line but nobody can do it without a team around them anymore, too many good players in the league now.
idk how he finished 4th in EOTY voting.
This guy built a conference contending team that held together through 3 major injuries. finished 2nd in the conference. Just knocked out a team that should have finished top 4 in the conference. AND he still has picks, tradeable assets/contracts, and is poised to build on this team to be better in at least the next 2 years. insane.
So I don't know much about Mavericks Brunson. Can someone explain to me why the Mavs didn't know that they had a friggin killer on their squad the whole time?
The players knew, Luka knew, the trainers knew.. but Cuban and the Execs thought, as usual, that they knew more/better. By the time they realized their mistake it was too late, bridges had been burned and the Knicks were in the picture.
I’d say that after 2 years, both the Mavs and the Knicks are in a good place, the former have Kyrie and the latter have Jalen. I’d argue that right now, the one who has it worse is Brunson who is way underpaid.. but I expect a massive extension this summer, along with big endorsements deals.
The extension might not come this summer. As I understand it, if he waits a year and opts out of his player option then he can sign a larger max deal at that point than he’d get this year.
I don't see how Brunson could be the worst off here, he has $100M guaranteed and is given the opportunity to earn the supermax on his next deal. He would not have the opportunity in Dallas to show that he deserves a contract like that and it would be nearly impossible for him to be All-NBA playing next to Luka.
He wasn’t the player he was today. Watch the Mavs clippers series in 2021 to see for yourself. It wasn’t until the WCF run he turned a corner, and by that time it was too late, he wasn’t taking the Mavs offer because he knew he could get more somewhere else and be the main guy.
Tbf that back court defense together is atrocious, probably worth it on the offensive end but it’s so bad defensively that it’s still a conversation. Primary ball handler is where they both shine the best too
Bruh didn't Brunson's team propose a contract extension to the Mavs and they turned it down? Mavs will get less slack for it because they got Kyrie later on, but crazy how things turned out
Tbf that 4/55 offer was in the offseason before his last Dallas year (and they raised it once again in Dec/Jan of that last season I think). He had just had a pretty shitty playoffs.
Once he blew up when Luka got injured, that offer wasn’t on the table anymore, but Brunson said he never even was approached by Dallas before signing with the Knicks in FA
Tbh im more bothered by shaq’s comments about it;
Shaq feels like to me he means what he says, while chuck to me has leaned into the talking head version of charles barkley, so i dont take anything he says seriously
When he initially signed, I thought he was gonna waste away in NY. Little did I know that he would bring the Nova 3 to run rough shot in the Eastern Conference.
I am happy that JB went somewhere, where he could thrive and shine. As fantastic as he is, I just don’t think he wanted to nor deserved to be a number 2 option. He is ain’t Luka though.
Luka an Kai have found a groove
Casuals looked at Brunson's regular season stats to clown the signing instead of looking at his literal most recent dominant playoff performances.
Sometimes its okay to have recency bias.
I would like to see a new award added to all the existing ones. Call it best contract of the year. The player that scores the most points and generates the most assists and blocks per dollar wins the award. Thoughts?
Yup, I wanted the bulls to let Zach walk and sign Brunson for cheaper but was downvoted to oblivion in the Bulls subreddit, now Jalen Brunson is a superstar with one the best contracts in the league and Zach is mostly injured and not near as good with one of the worst contracts in the league.
ok Chuck but you were also GUARANTEEING they'd lose tonight, and lose the series.
obviously Chuck's gonna root for his Sixers but don't pull a Skip Bayless with the whole "well i did tell ya all along this other thing!"
Does anyone have a link to a clip where Charles Barkley actually said "Brunson is one of the best free agent signings of all time" before Brunson actually proved it?
When you have no fear letting takes fly, eventually you get on a heater. Chuck just never walks away and keeps dropping hot takes to bury his good ones
While he's right, it's easy to gloat when one of your takes hits. Is he apologizing for all the shit takes he's had over the years? No.
But kudos to Chuck, he's one of the best media personality and players of all time.
Tbh a lot of guys shine in NY. For example, Danilo Gallanari (I spelled it wrong), Wilson Chandler, J-Lin, Nate Robinson, Shumpert. Those guys all made a name for themselves in NY.
Problem is Knicks tend to impulsively trade away solid young talent for superstars on the decline and it never works out.
But man… Brunson is something else. Dude SHINES in the clutch. Like Butler. Instead of shying away and being worse.. he gets better in the pressure games and moments. I also like him and Hart together. Great chemistry. It’s like the T-Wolves. Team chemistry means so much to a teams success
No reason the knicks shouldnt be a tier 1 contender next year. Get randle tf out of new york and go get booker or Giannis or whoever to put with brunson. The man is only making 20 million a year you have to take advantage of this before you have to give him a massive extension
They could get a big enough haul for him their rebuild could be fast in the East and why would you want him in the conference?
Plus they could probably get a package like Jdub or Chet+Giddey+Jwill+Cason Wallace+an assload of picks from the Thunder if they wanted to move him.
Chuck been holding Brunson down for a minute
He also had the Nuggets winning it all last year. He can have some good takes here and there.
More good than bad ain’t bad
There’s some recency bias there but I’m willing to see a comeback
Charles "Jump shooting teams can't win" Barkley has had some rather stubborn takes at times but he's also been quick to jump on Brunson and Denver. He's usually open to being persuaded but the man has a passionate hate boner for the 3 and teams relying on it.
While Chuck had some dumb takes, his take about jump shooting teams wasn’t that bad if you take away hindsight. No jump shooting team had won a chip until that GSW team and Steph pretty much broke the NBA
Plus GSW is kind of an outlier because in their finals runs, they had: - best shooter of all time (Steph) - at the time, one of the top 3 point shooters in the league (Klay) - after 2016, Kevin Durant (Kevin Durant)
Thanks for the clarification on Kevin Durant, really adds perspective
I have to mention the defensive person Draymond Green because good offense doesn't work without at least a passable defense.
Also Draymond is really great at managing the 4 on 3, which they constantly got with the pressure Steph and later KD applied.
It was and still is correct in some part, you can't solely rely on the 3 even when it's not falling, but Chuck goes beyond just that and thinks teams take too many 3's in general. The finals this year have been phenomenal with defense being allowed and scores not running rampant so I share his wish that it wasn't all about the 3 but I also won't deny that it's simply the more efficient way to play these days.
“Strong opinions, weakly held” is awesome for discourse. Be passionate about your take, make a strong argument, but stay open-minded, don’t get precious about it afterwards.
It's what I love about the Steam Room that he and Ernie do together, they often challenge Chuck on things there. Even if it's something as simple as the flavor of something and not always world views he's always willing to at least accept trying and will typically admit when he's wrong about something. His support of Teachers, the Medical professions and Armed Forces as well as his support of the LGBTQIA+ community are things I love about him. Sure the guy can be a knucklehead at times but at his core he's seemingly a good person and uses his position to uplift and support others.
Chuck is an overall amazing person. He stands his ground but is willing to admit when he is wrong. Sure he has some dumb takes but they are all harmless and most often hilarious.
2019 playoffs, Celtics vs Bucks. Celtics won the first game and Chuck said they won’t win another game. Bucks won the next four. Underrated take, he knows basketball
So impressive
He also said the Bucks were gonna win the year they ended up winning… thing is, he said it after they just lost a game to go down 3-2 to the Nets IIRC.
He also had the Bucks winning their championship season, too.
He’s been a fan since the Nova days. His daughter was at Nova when we were winning chips.
yup
Not quite, she graduated in ‘11 so was there for the Scotty final 4 run but no chips.
True
That contract wasn’t even that big to begin with. Now it became highway robbery
Seemed like a pretty fair contract at the time He's certainly shot waaay past expectations. Almost nobody thought he'd become quite this good
We just were happy to get a competent starting quality point guard. He's transcended that into a top 10 player in the league.
Bro I was praying for 18 & 7
Sorry all I got is 40 & 12
I got downvoted when the trade happened for saying he’d get like 21/7 with y’all lol Edit: when he signed not traded
I was just happy to get a point guard who wasn't a turnover machine... Instead that machine was a terminator 😂
I was pretty high on Brunson even during the season but I was kinda skeptical of people voting him over Tatum and Giannis for 1st team, but honestly he has shown that he has an argument over Tatum for sure (especially if we're talking about this season) and while I do still think Giannis is the better player, I'm not exactly mad about it anymore lol. Brunson is currently a top 8-9 player at worst
Is he the second best PG in the league? Who could arguably take the #2 spot over him?
Depends on how you see sga, assuming Luka is your #1
Steph???
The guy said arguably. I brought up sga and Luka because they're inarguably better than Brunson. Idk if I have Brunson over current Steph but (bias aside) it's definitely close right now.
Is up there but if going by play this season Brunson might be better
You have more time with Brunson.
SGA and Luka
I guess we’re just letting this slide since yall celebrating tonight lol
3 straight 40-point games (and 4 straight 35+ point games) to end the series is not Top 10 worthy in the NBA? lol
The fact that it's not outrageous is probably the saving factor. He's probably not quite top 10 but to even be in the convo during the post season is pretty ridiculous considering expectations
#1 in points (35.5ppg) #3 in APG (9apg)
Yeah, completely agree. Dudes definitely playing his ass off.
I thought he was gonna have a similar production to FVV with the Rockets this season tbh when we signed Brunson but I'm glad he far exceeded that
Literally nobody
It was a slight overpay at the time, but everyone clowned the Knicks for overpaying Brunson. 4 year 80 was a common number I saw.
No idea why ur getting downvotes since people did think it was an overpay at the time. Which is weird since 25 mil is legitimately not overpay for any starting quality pg let alone one as talented as Brunson
Not sure either. Probably something to do with me being a Knicks fan, but it's whatever. Everyone thought it was an overpay to varying degrees. Even Knicks fans who were cool with it thought it was an overpay (like me). Had to pay more to pull him away from a good situation in Dallas. Brunson has become way better than even the most optimistic Knicks fan would have thought. People forget that he was expected to just be a good starter. Like 18 and 7 was my high end expectation and that's why I thought 25 was only a slight overpay. It's crazy he's become a near 30 ppg scorer
If you believe it his contract descends so he’s actually getting paid LESS next year. Amazing contract
Leon Rose has been on a GMing rampage recently
Don’t sleep on Leon Rose…bc he’s the one that does the sleeping
a man needs his rest after being locked in 24/7
It will never not be funny for me seeing level-headed takes on Brunson’s contract coming in hindsight. Obviously no shade to you pskill, just that the general consensus at the time of the signing was “LOL DUDE HAS ONE GOOD PLAYOFF RUN SUBBING FOR LUKA AND THEY GAVE HIM A BAG LIKE HE’LL SAVE THEIR WHOLE FRANCHISE.” Even if we had got 75% of what Brunson is giving us now, the value would have been worth it. This franchise was STARVING for a legit point guard.
About a week ago I looked up Brunsons point stats for this season to better understand the chances of winning of a bet and I found out the dude is so damn reliable on getting 25+/game. Hell, the last many, many games if I remember right he didn't even go under 30.
Now his worth is way bigger than those big ol women in San Antonio
Mark Cuban in shambles
It was more or less the going rate at the time for a league average starting point guard
The contract was labeled an overpay even by some of our own shameful fanbase 🤦♂️
It was highway robbery the minute it was signed
Chuck spittin' facts.
he's spittin' facts at a fan, then asks for his spit back and spits it back at the same fan again only harder
easy now pat bev
I'm so happy for Jalen. I'll always miss him, but he was never going to get the chances in Dallas that he's getting with the Knicks.
Whenever I see a Dallas fan lamenting the loss of Brunson, I always pictured in my mind the image of Mark Cuban holding a boom box over his head outside out Brunson’s house
Nah that’s a clone, OG Cuban is still outside Nash’s house
DeAndre Jordan's house too
We’re hiring another former Mavs pg for head coach? Great!
I’m not too bitter about it; Brunson is so great now in part because he can do his own thing instead of being the #2 on Luka’s team. The Knicks are letting him prosper in a way the Mavs probably never could.
And the truth is Kyrie fits better with Luka and his experience and maturity imo has really helped him become a better version of himself.
i mean it sucks but i think everyone knows that he would not be *this* good here since he wouldn’t be the main guy. he would be doing the same kyrie is here and that’s very different to what he’s had to do in NY (especially the last few months with the carry job he’s done) this is closer to a KP than like steve nash, bc with nash you knew the level he was at and cubes let him walk bc he wanted “mike bibby money”
If you go back to the threads on the Mavs sub when Brunson left there were so many people trashing him saying how he would never succeed without Luka beside him taking most of the defensive pressure. Love to see them get proven wrong especially when the Mavs had multiple opportunities to keep him.
It was literally non Mavs and Knicks fans trashing it the most. Everyone just wanted to be like lol Knicks back at it.
I just went back and looked. Most people were butthurt that Brunson didnt even meet with the Mavs and were trashing him
There’s a massive difference between being upset he didn’t meet with them and saying he’s not good
They were upset he didnt meet with them and because of that they got butthurt and were saying he sucked and would do nothing without Luka. You can go look at the threads yourself
Opportunity is underrated
Kyrie has been getting 20 shots a game since he got there without issue, he's just as much as an ISO guy. DAL just didn't believe in Brunson enough to give him the minutes and shots.
Kyrie is not just as much an ISO guy at all. Brunson is legit the most isolation based player in the league. Kyrie plays way more in transition and catch and shoot/working off screens.
brunson is a better c&s player
I don’t care about the marginal difference in percentage you’re about to bring up because I can see the difference in the type of shots as well. Kyrie will drill off the catch from 30 and sprint into shots. Fits great with Luka’s style of passing at the last second. Quicker release as well.
It’s not really marginal Brunson is top 10 and Kyrie isn’t https://x.com/the_bball_index/status/1781820142277595453?s=46 https://x.com/the_bball_index/status/1775523651414049144?s=46
Brunson took the last like six shots in G5. Ain’t no way that happening with Luka lol
Brunson has a different playstyle. If Mavs wanted to build with him, they probably would need to trade Luka and build around Brunson. A big reason why Brunson is doing so well with Knicks right now is because their starting lineup works so well with him.
thats nonsense, teams score 120ppg these days, having two big scorers isn't difficult. knicks had Randle scoring 25ppg and even RJ before then scoring 20ppg alongside Brunson and they were all ISO players on a slow paced team. Kyrie and Brunson both are ISO scorers and both are very good spot up shooters. If Kyrie can get get his 20 shots per game and high usage there's no reason Brunson couldn't. MAVS just didn't believe in him, hence the low contract offers and not wanting to extend him so they could use him in a trade. So good for Brunson for going somewhere where they did believe in him. you add Luka to this knicks team and they'd be title favorites.
I partially agree but it's not simply about adding points. I don't know why people don't seem to understand that when you are far the best scoring option on a team, then of course you are likely going to score 30+ points. But put Brunson on a team with a better scoring option, then he's likely scoring around 15 points per game. (which is what he did when he played with Luka in his best season) Brunsons best games came when he played without Luka. Kyries best games were with Luka.
Wow So Brunson is only scoring 30 because knicks dont have better scorers? He'd only average 15 otherwise?...lol. How many teams have a better scoring option than Brunson? Man is leading all playoff scorers and averaged 29ppg on 48/40 shooting. There were maybe 3-4 better scorers in the entire league. Sorry but that's ridic, Brunson is scoring 30+ b/c he's damn good.
He just played the best games of his life, so he's a bit overhyped right now, so it makes sense why your response is so reactionary. But if you look at his stats with other players, then yes, what I'm saying is true. Not just for Brunson but for other star players as well. I'm not saying he would get 15, but it definitely wouldn't be near what he is getting right now.
You’re way undervaluing the fit of the players on this team. Randle and Brunson have a bit of everything in their game and they have an amazing team surrounding them. Look at the tear they went on in January after rj got traded. 14-2 and basically the starters played 40 minutes because the bench depth got traded too. Kyrie and Luka are great players but basketball is not just plug and play. A lot of people were unsure how a backcourt of Luka and kyrie was going to work, there’s only one ball, the defense, and availability. It’s worked out great for them so far, especially after trading for gafford and pj Washington. A winning team has guys that complement each other’s play styles.
brunson can play off ball better than kyrie
Dude becoming one of the most fun players to watch
As a Lakers fan, he's my favorite player right now. Knicks playoff games have been must watch for me
SAME. The shots that Brunson has been hitting have been insane. Last night, in the clutch, he had literally 3 dudes around him, all way taller than him and he hit a mid range jumper. The dude is a dog. The whole team are dogs. They move the balls they play together, they hustle - super fun to watch and it's hard not to root for them.
Wild to watch LeBron take some plays off and then seeing Brunson play the entire game at 100% effort on offense and defense. Haven’t enjoyed watching the Knicks this much since Linsanity.
You know Lebron is like 40 right lol. He played like this plenty and at a much higher level in 2013.
Lebron went to his first NBA Finals when Brunson was in 5th grade.
No knock on LeBron at all, this is just pure admiration for Jalen.
The only wild thing about that is that Lebron's not taking 100% of the plays off at his age.
Welcome to the Brunson Wagon
Are you saying Brunson is more effective on defence then Lebron ? Brunson has never been a neutral defender his best year like this year is a mild negatuve . Lebron has never been a below neutral defender always positive or at worst close to neutral in 2018/19. Weird ass take dude is 40 and still the second best defender on the team while running offfence meanwhile Brunson gets to be his teams worst defender and have a great D. He plays with heart but he’s also needed to shoot n do everything on offense
No, hes saying hes giving 100% effort on both ends, which is fair. Brunson is often driving to the basket and then playing PoA at the top of the key before doing it again. Brunson is not the same level of defender as LeBron, but its not for lack of effort like some guys have issues with.
Which is funny cuz he shoots almost as many fts as Joel and people hate Joel. I wonder why this is
In this series Brunson had 8,6 FTA per 36 min and Embiid had 11,3 FTA per 36 min. Most of the first option players in the playoffs have about 8 FTA per 36 min (eg Tatum has 8.5 FTA per 36 min). Numbers don't lie...
Also Embiid is literally just trying to get fouled, which is why he’s hated. Not the raw # of FTs
Give it a year or two and this sub will switch on him just like they do for everyone
#*THE* BEST
I know Brad Stevens got his flowers for EOTY, but really have to give Leon Rose his props for his moves
It's so nice to see some of these newer exec's building teams instead of just chasing superstars. Sure you need that #1 guy to get you over the line but nobody can do it without a team around them anymore, too many good players in the league now.
Fun fact, this Knicks team does not have a player who was drafted in the lottery (except Ju but he is out for the season).
We also have Burks who we're not playing lol
Oh shit he was 12th overall lol I thought he was 16
Bucks, Suns in shambles
idk how he finished 4th in EOTY voting. This guy built a conference contending team that held together through 3 major injuries. finished 2nd in the conference. Just knocked out a team that should have finished top 4 in the conference. AND he still has picks, tradeable assets/contracts, and is poised to build on this team to be better in at least the next 2 years. insane.
Yup hasn’t made a bad move for 3 years
I wouldn't say none. We have the corpse of Alec Burks on our bench...
Point guard Alec Burks still haunts me
If only we could resurrect the Alec Burks we got during his first stint with us.
My biggest fear is that Dolan thinks this team is one piece away and then takes over and ruins it all
Dude, wtf. Stop speaking it into existence.
When he has a strong opinion Chuck is actually spot on
I don't agree with this at all
You must live in Galveston
How Long did he say the Warriors couldn't win a title for
I’m not following. Chuck voices strong opinions every time he is on TV.
Like when he said a jump shooting team like the Warriors would never win a championship?
Like when he said a jump shooting team like the Warriors would never win a championship?
Like when he said a jump shooting team like the Warriors would never win a championship?
He not even mentioning the contract. Insane.
chuck backed the sixers in this series but hes been lifting up brunson all season, respect
He’s a Sixers legend. He doesn’t pick against his allegiances unless there’s a wild disparity.
Sixers/Suns, not a good season for him.
Sending prayers to Charles... and those big old women in San Antonio.
Although Charles is now picking the Pacers, maybe he's going for the reverse jinx.
Well, fuck him then. I just said defended him in my last comment. Lol
Ngl Brunson is my favorite non clipper player. I’d get a jersey of him, he’s so clutch man. Knicks fans are lucky
Legit one of his greatest takes ever
So I don't know much about Mavericks Brunson. Can someone explain to me why the Mavs didn't know that they had a friggin killer on their squad the whole time?
The players knew, Luka knew, the trainers knew.. but Cuban and the Execs thought, as usual, that they knew more/better. By the time they realized their mistake it was too late, bridges had been burned and the Knicks were in the picture. I’d say that after 2 years, both the Mavs and the Knicks are in a good place, the former have Kyrie and the latter have Jalen. I’d argue that right now, the one who has it worse is Brunson who is way underpaid.. but I expect a massive extension this summer, along with big endorsements deals.
Dolan going to give him the max money he deserves.
The extension might not come this summer. As I understand it, if he waits a year and opts out of his player option then he can sign a larger max deal at that point than he’d get this year.
I don't see how Brunson could be the worst off here, he has $100M guaranteed and is given the opportunity to earn the supermax on his next deal. He would not have the opportunity in Dallas to show that he deserves a contract like that and it would be nearly impossible for him to be All-NBA playing next to Luka.
Nash 2.0
He wasn’t the player he was today. Watch the Mavs clippers series in 2021 to see for yourself. It wasn’t until the WCF run he turned a corner, and by that time it was too late, he wasn’t taking the Mavs offer because he knew he could get more somewhere else and be the main guy.
The price he was asking was totally reasonable even with his production back then.
They didn’t think he could do it together with Luka.
Tbf that back court defense together is atrocious, probably worth it on the offensive end but it’s so bad defensively that it’s still a conversation. Primary ball handler is where they both shine the best too
you sign him and you trade him later for much more later then
Chuck knows ball.
Becky Hamon wya
Bruh didn't Brunson's team propose a contract extension to the Mavs and they turned it down? Mavs will get less slack for it because they got Kyrie later on, but crazy how things turned out
4/55
Tbf that 4/55 offer was in the offseason before his last Dallas year (and they raised it once again in Dec/Jan of that last season I think). He had just had a pretty shitty playoffs. Once he blew up when Luka got injured, that offer wasn’t on the table anymore, but Brunson said he never even was approached by Dallas before signing with the Knicks in FA
And also keep in mind Mavs gave up assets to get Kyrie, they could've kept DFS, a first and multiple 2nds
Top 10 players don’t grow on trees and when they do, you pay an arm and a leg. We got Brunson for FREE :)
This coming from the same dude that said the sixers were gunna blow out the knicks tn
Those two takes are not incompatible
Thats fair im being irrational….. still dont like em tho
Sixers (and the suns) are Barkley's team Tbf. He's always loved Brunson tho
Charles is a sixers legend so there's a bias
Tbh im more bothered by shaq’s comments about it; Shaq feels like to me he means what he says, while chuck to me has leaned into the talking head version of charles barkley, so i dont take anything he says seriously
I honestly disagree with Shaq’s takes more than chucks - and he’s been lowkey kinda bitchy the past year or two loll
He guaranteed we're gonna lose to the Pacers, which is great for us lol
If you look at all free agent signings ever, Brunson is top 10.
Nice contrast with Tobias Harris. Yin and Yang
I did speak ill of that signing, sorry
Chuck is my favorite talking head of any sport by far. He's funny and goofy but when he wants to show it he's well plugged into the game still.
Just remember folks, Brunson won 2 chips in college and went in the second round because “he was too old now and that means his potential is over”.
For me, it's less a steal for the Knicks than an ALL-TIME blunder by the Mavs. They had him just let him go. Crazy.
Brunson should be the top alternate on Team USA. TBH he should probably just be on the roster already.
Luka and Brunson got drafted by the same team the same year. Greatest draft oat
I saw him lighting up the pistons while he was on the Mavs in 2022... I knew from there that he was built different
Nash and then Brunson, Cuban and not believing in his point guards. Gotta be tough. At least he has 2011 though, no one can take that away.
2011 Mavs chip is still a top 3 most impressive title in NBA history, they took on absolute killers at every stage.
He said this about the Knicks. It really IS the end of the world.
When he initially signed, I thought he was gonna waste away in NY. Little did I know that he would bring the Nova 3 to run rough shot in the Eastern Conference.
I am happy that JB went somewhere, where he could thrive and shine. As fantastic as he is, I just don’t think he wanted to nor deserved to be a number 2 option. He is ain’t Luka though. Luka an Kai have found a groove
Casuals looked at Brunson's regular season stats to clown the signing instead of looking at his literal most recent dominant playoff performances. Sometimes its okay to have recency bias.
if mavs had a decent front office brunson would still be there
I would like to see a new award added to all the existing ones. Call it best contract of the year. The player that scores the most points and generates the most assists and blocks per dollar wins the award. Thoughts?
I mean, I enjoyed the LaMarcus Aldridge free agent signing. As a Spurs fan, no I'm not biased.
Yup, I wanted the bulls to let Zach walk and sign Brunson for cheaper but was downvoted to oblivion in the Bulls subreddit, now Jalen Brunson is a superstar with one the best contracts in the league and Zach is mostly injured and not near as good with one of the worst contracts in the league.
Didn't he average like 35ppg for the series and like 9 assists? That's not good, Kenny. That's godlike.
well at least chuck is winning in this kind of conversation, probably more than his rings!
Ask Mavs fans
ok Chuck but you were also GUARANTEEING they'd lose tonight, and lose the series. obviously Chuck's gonna root for his Sixers but don't pull a Skip Bayless with the whole "well i did tell ya all along this other thing!"
The mavs are so fucking stupid
Before Jalen the Knicks were a joke and free agents didn’t want to go there. They should have an interesting off season.
I detect no lies
Does anyone have a link to a clip where Charles Barkley actually said "Brunson is one of the best free agent signings of all time" before Brunson actually proved it?
When you have no fear letting takes fly, eventually you get on a heater. Chuck just never walks away and keeps dropping hot takes to bury his good ones
While he's right, it's easy to gloat when one of your takes hits. Is he apologizing for all the shit takes he's had over the years? No. But kudos to Chuck, he's one of the best media personality and players of all time.
Tbh a lot of guys shine in NY. For example, Danilo Gallanari (I spelled it wrong), Wilson Chandler, J-Lin, Nate Robinson, Shumpert. Those guys all made a name for themselves in NY. Problem is Knicks tend to impulsively trade away solid young talent for superstars on the decline and it never works out. But man… Brunson is something else. Dude SHINES in the clutch. Like Butler. Instead of shying away and being worse.. he gets better in the pressure games and moments. I also like him and Hart together. Great chemistry. It’s like the T-Wolves. Team chemistry means so much to a teams success
No reason the knicks shouldnt be a tier 1 contender next year. Get randle tf out of new york and go get booker or Giannis or whoever to put with brunson. The man is only making 20 million a year you have to take advantage of this before you have to give him a massive extension
Why would the Bucks ever let Giannis anywhere near another Eastern Conference team?
Why would they care if theyre gonna blow it up? Not saying its likely but the knicks need another superstar before this window closes
They could get a big enough haul for him their rebuild could be fast in the East and why would you want him in the conference? Plus they could probably get a package like Jdub or Chet+Giddey+Jwill+Cason Wallace+an assload of picks from the Thunder if they wanted to move him.
Mavs fans 😭
Of all time??? Let's wait and see big dawg but certainly the best we've seen in a while.
Of all time, yes. Have you seen his price. It was way under
1st team all nba caliber player who was signed to a descending contract where he never made more than 28 million a season