3 Jalen Brunson stats that New York Knicks fans will love
By Adam Kester
The New York Knicks have an exciting new point guard in Jalen Brunson. With New York and Brunson agreeing to a four-year, 104 million dollar deal, expectations will be high for the 25-year-old guard. While there have certainly been some differing opinions from fans and analysts on just how much Brunson will ameliorate the Knicks’ woes, there is reason to be optimistic.
Brunson took a leap this past season with the Dallas Mavericks. As he jumped into a more prominent role, playing over 31 minutes per game, all of his per-game totals increased. Brunson now has an opportunity to take on an even greater role with New York.
Brunson is one of those players who upon closer examination, pops off the screen in both the eye test AND the stat sheet. There are some specific Brunson stats we can look at from last season that bodes incredibly well for his future as a lead guard on the Knicks.
3 Jalen Brunson stats that New York Knicks fans will love
Jalen Brunson’s true shooting percentage
Brunson is best known as a dynamic ball handler who finds creative ways to get buckets. At 6’1”, he HAS to be extra inventive with how he creates space for himself. His knack for breaking down defenders, coupled with his shooting touch, results in a scorer that truthfully is a lot more elite than I think some may realize.
Simply put, true shooting percentage is a statistic that takes into account 3-point shooting and free throws to help measure how effective a player is at scoring. It’s imperfect (as all stats are) but is still a good categorizer. The guards with the highest true shooting percentages are either some of the most efficient role players in the league or the flat-out best scorers in the league.
Brunson’s true shooting percentage last season was 58.1%. If you filter the list of guards who actually played big roles (over 10 shot attempts per game), Brunson ranked 12th out of 72 eligible guards. That’s behind players like Steph Curry, Zach LaVine, Trae Young, and just ahead of players like Devin Booker, Chris Paul, and Jayson Tatum.
Think of the degree of difficulty on some of Brunson’s shots. As a 6’1” guard, he shot over 50% from the field in his last two seasons, while taking a plethora of tough turnarounds and off-balance shots. He is a fantastic scorer. His high-level scoring shows up exceptionally well in another key area.