Under the coaching of Jay Wright, the duo of Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart propelled Villanova to an NCAA championship in 2016. Less than a decade after this, the duo also elevated the profile of the New York Knicks under the tutelage of Tom Thibodeau. While Hart is the all-around energy bunny, Brunson takes the scoring reins. Appearing on the Roommates show, hosted by the Knicks duo, their former HC expressed that Hart also has the potential to become a top-notch shooter.
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In a comical back-and-forth, the all-around guard relayed that he can’t become a consistent scoring threat because he is more like a power forward who rebounds and facilitates. However, Wright insisted that Hart work hard on his shooting mechanics during the offseason as he is on the cusp of becoming a high-quality scorer.
“You should be a great shooter, man. That should be your summer, this summer, you’re so close to being a great shooter,” Wright claimed.
As his coach kept repeating the same words, the guard joked that his coach Tom Thibodeau insisted on swinging the ball to Brunson at every turn. Hart quipped,
“Thibs was like, ‘Josh when you get the ball, just give it to Jalen, you don’t have to worry about shooting, you just gotta give it to Jalen and let ‘im go to work.’ I said, ‘Coach, don’t worry I got you’.”
Jalen "Someone can actually shoot on this f*kin call"
Josh "Not my role"
Coach "It is…You should be a great shooter, that should be your summer, you're so close"
Josh "I will"
…
"Thibs told me 'Josh when u get the ball pass to Jalen' 😆"Coach "I know Thibs not saying that" pic.twitter.com/Rh6N91YN2M
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) June 21, 2024
Coach Wright was amused by this explanation but refused to believe that Thibodeau would suggest something like that. At any rate, Hart and Brunson always engage in such hearty banter and despite his best attempts at keeping a serious face, their former HC also had to laugh at Hart’s comments. They even had a blast with their current head coach.
Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson love lightening up serious conversations
Recently, the Knicks’ wonder duo also had their HC Thibodeau on the show. During the episode, Coach Thibs posited that his game style during his playing days was a mix of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Russell Westbrook. Of course, his Knicks athletes weren’t going to let this chance slip.
They turned their attention to a newspaper clipping in the 1970s where the Knicks HC had 22 rebounds as a high-schooler but his scoring contributions were rather dry. Hart joked that his coach is more like rebound maestro, Dennis Rodman than the elite scorers.
The Knicks guard quipped, “You don’t score. You didn’t have any points in that news clipping, you just had 22 rebounds. So, you’re Rodman.”
It proves that the Brunson-Hart one-two punch doesn’t switch their humorous characters even in the presence of their coaches. It implies that they must be bringing cheerful vibes to the Knicks locker room which would have helped their team chemistry. It was visible during their well-heralded 2023-24 campaign.
