Bulls coach Billy Donovan the latest to praise Jalen Brunson
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) controls the ball against Chicago Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu (12) during the first quarter at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY, on Friday, Dec 23, 2022. Credit: Brad Penner
You can add Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan to the growing list of those praising the change that Jalen Brunson has brought to the Knicks.
“I know just being around Jalen and even coaching him a year with the USA team, he’s the ultimate winner from my perspective,” Donovan said. “I think [Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau] can probably speak about how he’s impacted their group. But he’s got incredible substance and toughness.
“I think if you look at his career — be it high school or college — he’s always won at a very high level and he’s very smart, he’s very competitive, he’s tough-minded. I think he’s been tested in a lot of situations. He’s got a lot of belief and confidence in himself. There’s something about him — everybody uses that word — the ‘it’ factor; he has the ‘it’ factor. And that’s just going off my time with him and being around him.”
Step forward for Obi
Despite being a long way away from returning to the rotation after suffering a non-displaced fracture of the right fibula head, Obi Toppin has taken a step forward.
Thibodeau said earlier this week that Toppin was not yet doing any work on the court, just doing conditioning.
“He’s coming along, doing some work in the pool and that sort of thing,” Thibodeau said. “Some form shooting, but that’s about it right now. There will be a progression to it, so he went from the pool to the form shooting and then it’ll start 1-on-0 and then 1-on-1, 2-on-2, 3-on-3, and so there will be a buildup. You just have to be patient and let him work his way through it.”
Thibodeau said there is no timeline and that he believes Toppin has not yet undergone a reevaluation of the knee.
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.
