5 things to know about new Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson

3: He played for the Knicks

As mentioned on the previous page, Rick played in the NBA from 1997 to 2006. His career started in Portland and ended in Houston with the Rockets. During the nine seasons that he spent in the league, Rick played for eight different teams.

During the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons, he played for the Knicks. And after Rick played in seven games for the Boston Celtics in 2000-01, he made his way back to New York and appeared in 15 games that season for the Knicks.

His first year in New York marks the last time that the Knicks made it to the NBA Finals, where New York fell to the San Antonio Spurs in five games.

In fact, in the three years that Rick was with the Knicks, the team made the postseason each time, although it had far more to do with the likes of Patrick Ewing and Allan Houston.

In 1999-2000, he played in 37 regular-season games for New York and averaged 1.9 points and 1.3 assists in 7.8 minutes. He shot 41.4% from the floor and 15.4% from the 3-point line. The point guard’s best year was in 2004-05, when he averaged 5.5 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 5.1 assists in 80 games (39 starts) for the Los Angeles Clippers.