New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson had an NBA Finals for the ages as he helped the team to its first title in decades, and his high school coaches had a feeling his star would rise quickly.
Brunson moved to the Chicago area when his father Rick was an assistant coach for the Bulls, and he honed his skills at Adlai Stevenson high school in the northern suburbs, winning individual and team accolades during his time there.
Pat Ambrose, his former coach at Stevenson, said Brunson was the kind of player whose energy was infectious, while at the same time praising his incredible skills and focus on the floor.
“He was terrific, he was fantastic on and off the floor, a real prankster with his teammates, kind of before and after practice, but just really a hard-nosed competitor when he crossed these lines and hit this floor,” he said.
Under Ambrose’s tutelage, Brunson and Stevenson captured the IHSA state championship in the 2015 season. Individually Brunson was a highly coveted recruit out of high school, winning Illinois Mr. Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year honors in his final high school season.
Ambrose said that Brunson’s stature, standing 6-foot-2 in high school, made him realize he needed to use his basketball IQ as well as his prodigious talent to succeed.
“That probably propelled him more to recognize I need to be even better in other aspects of the game, a better shooter, better dribbler, better passer and having a greater understanding of the game could be a secret sauce, where he wasn’t gifted physically, so he has to be mentally better,” he said.
At the collegiate level Brunson continued to excel, winning two national championships with Villanova before being drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the 2018 NBA Draft. Ultimately he ended up with the Knicks, and that’s where his career has hit another level.
Brunson scored 45 points in the Knicks’ Game 5 clinching victory over the San Antonio Spurs, tying the NBA record for a player on the road in a series-clinching victory. He also won NBA Finals MVP honors after averaging 32.6 points in the series, helping the Knicks to their first championship since 1973.
Now, with high school, college and NBA championships under his belt, Brunson still has another mountain to climb in his incredible career.
“Maybe one of the next things on his bucket list is an Olympic gold medal, but he is definitely in rare air,” current Stevenson head coach Will Benson said.
Benson said even with all of the success Brunson has had in his career, he still takes time out every year to return to his former high school to speak to the team’s current basketball stars.
“Whether it’s administrators, or trainers, or coaches, or kids, and it’s just, he just treats everybody with such great respect,” he said.
The Knicks are considered one of the biggest title contenders next season as well, along with the Spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Boston Celtics.
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