One of the reasons that Jalen Brunson thrived in Tom Thibodeau's offense is that Thibodeau prefers to play at a slower, risk-averse tempo, and Brunson rarely commits turnovers. That superpower of his, taking care of the ball, will become more important than ever under Mike Brown, who loves playing an up-tempo, fast decision offense.
While the hounding ball pressure from the Indiana Pacers eventually broke Brunson and the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, Brunson has a reputation for making smart, sound decisions when he is controlling the ball. Admittedly, when you play as slow as the Knicks have during Brunson's tenure, that becomes a tad bit easier.
Pretty jarring contrast between Brunson and Cade in regards to turning the ball over this series https://t.co/cnuAs8NAFU pic.twitter.com/TmiWGH35Bh
— AOP_NBA (@aop_nba) April 29, 2025
Under Brown, everything that the Knicks do is expected to speed up, from the ball crossing half court faster, to them getting into actions quicker, to their ability to make quicker passes; it is all going to be done at a new tempo. Brunson is the straw that stirs the proverbial drink in New York. If the up-tempo offense is to be a success, it will have been because Brunson was able to run it while still managing to keep turnovers down.
History is on Brunson's side
Last season, out of 39 players who faced at least 200 double teams while in the backcourt, no player in the league had a lower turnover percentage than Brunson, according to league tracking data.
Brunson faced double teams on just under 400 of his back-court touches in the regular season, good for the eighth-most last season. Yet, he only committed turnovers on 5.09 percent of those touches. Keeping that number low will be critical for the Knicks as they attempt to get into their sets quicker.
In the front court, Brunson had the 16th-lowest turnover percentage of any player who had at least 2,000 front-court touches in the regular season, another number that will have to remain low.
The Eastern Conference Finals were not on Brunson's side
While it is an outlier, the Eastern Conference Finals did happen. And Brunson did struggle with ball security. The positive is, few teams outside of the Oklahoma City Thunder have the depth and personnel to sustain that sort of ball pressure for an entire game.
Still, there will be lessons to be learned for the Brunson and the Knicks as a whole. They will need to do a better job of making decisions under pressure, something that Brown will need to iron out as he establishes his new offense in New York.