Drafted by the Dallas Mavericks, Jalen Brunson ironically got his ‘Welcome to the NBA’ from Derrick Rose while he was on Tom Thibodeau’s Minnesota Timberwolves side. Now making an appearance on Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart’s podcast, Thibodeau and Brunson decided to dive right into the game where D-Rose was looking to ‘kill’ the Knicks star.
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Expounding on what happened during the recent episode of The Roommates Show Brunson first spoke about how the Minnesota Timberwolves were coached by Thibodeau at the time, who was looking to exploit Brunson every time on the defensive end.
“My first home game as a rookie, we played the Minnesota Timberwolves. And you know who’s coaching the Timberwolves? Tom Thibodeau. Do you know who comes off the bench for the Timberwolves? Derrick Rose.”
The Knicks star then revealed that Thibs wasn’t even intricate about what he was doing. Instead, he simply told Derrick Rose to run exactly the same play every time he had JB on him.
“You know what Thibs does every time Derrick Rose brings the ball up the court and sees me guarding him? Runs the same exact play, Derrick Rose continues to kill me.”
Thibs was the man behind Jalen’s welcome to the NBA moment 🤣
Full episode: https://t.co/UKytlNLbcd pic.twitter.com/dzDzuhV3O3
— Roommates Show (@Roommates__Show) June 13, 2024
As Jalen Brunson went on to narrate the story, his now-head coach Tom Thibodeau admitted that he actively wanted to give Brunson his ‘Welcome to the NBA’ moment. However, he also said that he was confident it would make Brunson a better player as he continued playing in the NBA.
Over the summer, Tom Thibodeau would include that play in practice and Brunson mentioned looking at him and seeing Thibodeau giving him a smirk. The Villanova product hilariously went on to call his coach an “a**hole” on the podcast.
But looking back at that game and where Brunson is now, it is safe to say that Tom Thibodeau’s aim of making Jalen a better player did eventually work out. After all, he is one of the best players in the NBA today and is arguably even the cornerstone of the New York Knicks at the moment.
However, he alone is not the reason behind the success the New York Knicks saw during this past NBA season. The incredible chemistry this team shares has quite a bit to do with it as well.
Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Co.’s relationship with Thibs
Tom Thibodeau has often been at the business end of heavy criticism for his often-extreme decisions on the court. Due to this, the head coach does not always get the respect and recognition he deserves.
However, since taking over the helm for the Knicks, he has developed a great relationship with the roster. So, when there was criticism floating around that Thibodeau’s practices led to players getting injured, Hart hopped right in to defend his boss.
The 29-year-old immediately criticized the media for fabricating narratives, despite not knowing what goes on within an organization.
“People love to have a narrative or a label. They love to run with it. None of those guys are here watching us practice. [This is] the seventh year of my career. I probably had off days by the years…Everybody thinks we do three-hour practices of scrimmaging.”
He then continued to portray the same message, posing that it was foolish to brand his head coach in the way he had been.
“It’s idiotic to put that on him. He’s not going to say anything about it…At the end of the day, people are going to say things for clicks. They are going to say things that make them feel like they stuck it to him.” [Per Basket News]
The players have immense respect for him to the point where they would defend their head coach this strongly, something that is indicative of the deep well of chemistry within the roster. And given the playoff run New York had during this postseason, the relationship between everyone within the organization will likley have only gotten better.
