Getty
Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks
It’s been a busy 10 days for the New York Knicks, who managed, through a pair of shrewd deals, to send off big man Guerschon Yabusele and bring back point guard Jose Alvarado at the NBA trade deadline, and then turned around and signed former lottery pick Jeremy Sochan after he was surprisingly let go by the Spurs last week.
It’s a lot of value added to the back end of the roster without the Knicks having to give much up.
Sochan has yet to make his Knicks debut, but Alvarado already has, and has done so with an exclamation point. In three games, Alvarado is averaging 14.0 points and 3.7 assists in just 20.7 minutes, a plus-42 in the box score. Already, the fact that Alvarado is a homegrown New Yorker and that he brings an intense point-of-attack defensive style has gotten Knicks fans to warm to him quickly.
Jalen Brunson: Jose Alvarado ‘Has Had a Great impact’
On Saturday in Los Angeles, as he prepares for Sunday’s All-Star Game, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson was asked about Alvarado and the quick impact he has made.
Said Brunson: “He’s had a great impact so far, and that’s with his energy, with who he is on and off the court, what it brings to the table. He’s a great person to be around as well. He’s already impacting our team.
“He’s going to be great for the Garden. Fans are going to love him, if they already don’t. It’s really exciting to get ready for this run and for the end of the season.”
That is an encouraging thing for the Knicks, who have had some concerns about toughness this season, in the starting lineup and throughout the bench. It’s one calling card for Alvarado now, as well as for Sochan. Brunson has already picked up on that.
Asked about Sochan, Brunson said, “Yeah, I’m very excited to see him. I think he brings a level of toughness. From what I’ve seen, he’s been a great teammate. Very excited. It’s a great opportunity for us and for him. We’ll see when we get back.”
Knicks Not Looking Ahead in Second Half
More generally, the Knicks have been good this year, but they have not quite been the dominant force many expected coming into the season. The Celtics are playing without Jayson Tatum, but are a half-game ahead of New York in the standings. The inexperienced Pistons lead the way in the East, and the Knicks have just been good-not-great.
But Brunson said the Knicks are hanging their hats on not getting ahead of themselves this season, taking things in stride. That might prove useful down the stretch, when the team will face a difficult stretch of games while trying to create momentum heading into the playoffs.
“Never looking ahead,” Brunson said of the Knicks approach. “You never want to look ahead. You want to focus on the task in front of you. I think most importantly after last year you can’t just jump right back into where we were. You have to start the journey all over again.”
Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney
More Heavy on Knicks
Loading more stories