Stefan Bondy shares his opinion on people saying that Jalen Brunson shoots too much
February 11, 2026
Stefan Bondy shares his opinion on people saying that Jalen Brunson shoots too much
26 comments
no shade on Brunson he is more than capable of taking over in the clutch but those 2 shots late in the 4th was rushed. You have time, draw the double, swing the rock, find the open man..it cant always be the brunson show every night. Just felt like we could have gotten better, higher percentage shots off than off the dribble 3s
Anyone hating on Brunson is a prisoner of the moment, but these games in the dog days of the regular season should be used to try and get other guys the confidence to make a play in crunch time. We know what Brunson can do, but the regular season was supposed to be used to experiment and grow. Very Thibs like from Brown last night.
Im not mad at JBs shots. Sometimes they go in sometimes they don’t. Want I can’t stand is that it seems the team often has to work hard to try and get a decent look and then fall apart like immediately on defense and give up an easy one
If this is true, which meh, it’s an indictment on the FO that they assembled a first apron team that has only one player that can create their own shot against good defensive teams
I agree the problem is we don’t have anybody other than Brunson who can create in half court. Towns just can’t do it effectively
if we were playin’ a lick of defense last nite none of this happens
It’s not questioning Brunsons individual ability, more about getting other guys going in Towns, Mikal and OG.
He has no chemistry with any of them, OG had his best stretch of games last year when Brunson was out. Towns who we brought to have a deadly pick and roll with Brunson hasn’t been dynamic on offense and it’s been to different coaches.
Our offense becomes predictable and easy to stop, that’s why we got rid of Thibs and the problem persists.
This was the biggest concern with getting rid of Randle, but we just gotta deal with it cuz its the roster we got
Bruh. We watched the game. In overtime, how many touches did Kat get in overtime before he stupidly fouled out? Zero. There were like three offensive possessions. Kat touched the ball zero times. That is not good offense. Brunson has saved us many times. He’s dope. But he made some poor decisions last night. We just want our coach and team to not just be Brunson ball every time. Yes, he’s the best option. But every team knows that and is ready to defend it.
Both viewpoints can be true. In close games you want your generational scoring talent to take shots, and you also want the ball to move.
Why doesn’t the offense emphasize him creating shots for others? Nobody is saying we should iso bridges or shamet
You could definitely argue though they should post Kat more when there’s mismatches.
The “Brunson can do no wrong” crowd is more annoying than any complaints about him needing to play less hero ball.
Teams that don’t double him is a fair consideration for why he shoots more, but that doesn’t mean they can’t run actions to keep others involved.
I was watching the game last night and from about the 5 minute mark in the fourth quarter, there were plenty of opportunities where people (most notably KAT) were wide open and Brunson didn’t even look up. It’s undeniable that at points he gets into ruts where he just puts his head down and drives.
He also shoots at damn near 50%
This is also funny because people say nobody criticizes brunson when people we criticizing kat or others
He’s misdiagnosing the problem. He doesn’t shoot too much, he DRIBBLES too much. He’s elite at creating space and angles and making tough shots, but the shots don’t have to be this tough.
Dribble less, pass more, and the ball will come back to the team’s best player. And probably result in an easier shot.
It’s the same complaint (but less extreme and with better results) as we had with Carmelo and Randle — too much iso, too much dribbling, too much shot clock. Pass the ball, like the team did in the first few weeks of the season.
Sure he’s the only guy who can create his own shot, but if it’s the same predictable iso play, it’ll make our offense that much easier to guard and predict.
Jalen moving the ball around from time to time in those late possessions, not only keeps the defense guessing, but it also makes his life easier, if he does go back to iso ball.
This argument is broken.
So he’s saying Leon Rose built a Brunson or bust roster.
The problem is our defense – it’s just not consistently good. It looks good on paper, but Brown clearly hasn’t figured out a repeatable/adjustable solution for different matchups. There’s time – but he’s gotta get to work on it.
Well his opinion is wrong. I’ve seen this team win many games when other people touch the ball down the stretch. KAT in Detroit ? Mikal in Boston ? KAT in Indiana ? Josh in Philly ? To take the ball up the court and it never touches anyone else’s hand is not the best play for the Knicks in 2026. Brunson 100% should pass and find the ball back on a hand off or catch and shoot minimum. Should not be 3 possessions in a row where no one else gets a touch. That would make the defense cold and players just watching on offense. It’s not good basketball.
My only push back is that we need better offensive sets at the end of the game. I 100% want JB taking the shot but the offensive sets need to be more creative and less predictable
God forbid anyone has a bad game.
Stefan Bondy is a certified moron for this take. Anyone with eyes could see Mikal was creating good looks (and converting those looks) in the 4th and KAT wasn’t touching the ball at all. To immediately go away from those guys and never let them even get involved is bad game management. Let your best players touch the god damn ball on offense.
As with most things nowadays, I feel like nuance is lost.
Brunson has a green light to “hero ball,” but that doesn’t make every decision during that stretch unimpeachable.
Did Brunson’s choices cost us the game? No, too many other things are at fault there.
Should he watch the film during that stretch and learn what he could’ve done better? Yes, and I trust that he will.
He’s the only one capable of creating his own shot. This isn’t going change no matter who’s the coach. When the game is tight the guys who can create their own shots is going get more shots at the goal.
I disagree.
Bondy isn’t a basketball strategist.
He is a fan with a journalism degree.
The Knicks are full of first option or second option scorers, and Brunson feels the need to go nut 3 out of 4 times a week.
He is the reason this team doesn’t look as good as they should.
I don’t mind Brunson shooting a lot or taking the last shots at all, but the process that leads to those shots in the clutch needs to improve.
The other thing is, if the team had sustained *any* defense last night we would not have been in a position of JB needing to bail the team out in the clutch. There should never have been a clutch. The Pacers fucking suck and for the most we just dogged it last night.
26 comments
no shade on Brunson he is more than capable of taking over in the clutch but those 2 shots late in the 4th was rushed. You have time, draw the double, swing the rock, find the open man..it cant always be the brunson show every night. Just felt like we could have gotten better, higher percentage shots off than off the dribble 3s
Anyone hating on Brunson is a prisoner of the moment, but these games in the dog days of the regular season should be used to try and get other guys the confidence to make a play in crunch time. We know what Brunson can do, but the regular season was supposed to be used to experiment and grow. Very Thibs like from Brown last night.
Im not mad at JBs shots. Sometimes they go in sometimes they don’t. Want I can’t stand is that it seems the team often has to work hard to try and get a decent look and then fall apart like immediately on defense and give up an easy one
If this is true, which meh, it’s an indictment on the FO that they assembled a first apron team that has only one player that can create their own shot against good defensive teams
I agree the problem is we don’t have anybody other than Brunson who can create in half court. Towns just can’t do it effectively
if we were playin’ a lick of defense last nite none of this happens
It’s not questioning Brunsons individual ability, more about getting other guys going in Towns, Mikal and OG.
He has no chemistry with any of them, OG had his best stretch of games last year when Brunson was out. Towns who we brought to have a deadly pick and roll with Brunson hasn’t been dynamic on offense and it’s been to different coaches.
Our offense becomes predictable and easy to stop, that’s why we got rid of Thibs and the problem persists.
This was the biggest concern with getting rid of Randle, but we just gotta deal with it cuz its the roster we got
Bruh. We watched the game. In overtime, how many touches did Kat get in overtime before he stupidly fouled out? Zero. There were like three offensive possessions. Kat touched the ball zero times. That is not good offense. Brunson has saved us many times. He’s dope. But he made some poor decisions last night. We just want our coach and team to not just be Brunson ball every time. Yes, he’s the best option. But every team knows that and is ready to defend it.
Both viewpoints can be true. In close games you want your generational scoring talent to take shots, and you also want the ball to move.
Why doesn’t the offense emphasize him creating shots for others? Nobody is saying we should iso bridges or shamet
You could definitely argue though they should post Kat more when there’s mismatches.
The “Brunson can do no wrong” crowd is more annoying than any complaints about him needing to play less hero ball.
Teams that don’t double him is a fair consideration for why he shoots more, but that doesn’t mean they can’t run actions to keep others involved.
I was watching the game last night and from about the 5 minute mark in the fourth quarter, there were plenty of opportunities where people (most notably KAT) were wide open and Brunson didn’t even look up. It’s undeniable that at points he gets into ruts where he just puts his head down and drives.
He also shoots at damn near 50%
This is also funny because people say nobody criticizes brunson when people we criticizing kat or others
He’s misdiagnosing the problem. He doesn’t shoot too much, he DRIBBLES too much. He’s elite at creating space and angles and making tough shots, but the shots don’t have to be this tough.
Dribble less, pass more, and the ball will come back to the team’s best player. And probably result in an easier shot.
It’s the same complaint (but less extreme and with better results) as we had with Carmelo and Randle — too much iso, too much dribbling, too much shot clock. Pass the ball, like the team did in the first few weeks of the season.
Sure he’s the only guy who can create his own shot, but if it’s the same predictable iso play, it’ll make our offense that much easier to guard and predict.
Jalen moving the ball around from time to time in those late possessions, not only keeps the defense guessing, but it also makes his life easier, if he does go back to iso ball.
This argument is broken.
So he’s saying Leon Rose built a Brunson or bust roster.
The problem is our defense – it’s just not consistently good. It looks good on paper, but Brown clearly hasn’t figured out a repeatable/adjustable solution for different matchups. There’s time – but he’s gotta get to work on it.
Well his opinion is wrong. I’ve seen this team win many games when other people touch the ball down the stretch. KAT in Detroit ? Mikal in Boston ? KAT in Indiana ? Josh in Philly ? To take the ball up the court and it never touches anyone else’s hand is not the best play for the Knicks in 2026. Brunson 100% should pass and find the ball back on a hand off or catch and shoot minimum. Should not be 3 possessions in a row where no one else gets a touch. That would make the defense cold and players just watching on offense. It’s not good basketball.
My only push back is that we need better offensive sets at the end of the game. I 100% want JB taking the shot but the offensive sets need to be more creative and less predictable
God forbid anyone has a bad game.
Stefan Bondy is a certified moron for this take. Anyone with eyes could see Mikal was creating good looks (and converting those looks) in the 4th and KAT wasn’t touching the ball at all. To immediately go away from those guys and never let them even get involved is bad game management. Let your best players touch the god damn ball on offense.
As with most things nowadays, I feel like nuance is lost.
Brunson has a green light to “hero ball,” but that doesn’t make every decision during that stretch unimpeachable.
Did Brunson’s choices cost us the game? No, too many other things are at fault there.
Should he watch the film during that stretch and learn what he could’ve done better? Yes, and I trust that he will.
He’s the only one capable of creating his own shot. This isn’t going change no matter who’s the coach. When the game is tight the guys who can create their own shots is going get more shots at the goal.
I disagree.
Bondy isn’t a basketball strategist.
He is a fan with a journalism degree.
The Knicks are full of first option or second option scorers, and Brunson feels the need to go nut 3 out of 4 times a week.
He is the reason this team doesn’t look as good as they should.
I don’t mind Brunson shooting a lot or taking the last shots at all, but the process that leads to those shots in the clutch needs to improve.
The other thing is, if the team had sustained *any* defense last night we would not have been in a position of JB needing to bail the team out in the clutch. There should never have been a clutch. The Pacers fucking suck and for the most we just dogged it last night.