Saturday\u2019s NBA Cup semifinal win over the Magic<\/a> \u2014 40 points on 16-of-27 shooting \u2014 it feels like it\u2019s time to say the quiet part out loud: Brunson, pound for pound, is the NBA\u2019s best scorer.<\/p>\n\u201cHe\u2019s smart, man,\u201d said Orlando guard Jalen Suggs, one of the better point-of-attack defenders in the NBA. \u201cHe\u2019s got good pace, and he\u2019s really smart. He doesn\u2019t really get too bored with the game. He doesn\u2019t get too bored keeping it simple. He challenges you every possession.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best players in our league. I love the fact that we get to play him four times a year. I\u2019ve gotten better from our battles.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Brunson is doing isn\u2019t a flash in the pan or a cute moment for small guards. This isn\u2019t the Boston Celtics\u2019 Isaiah Thomas. Brunson, who is averaging 28.8 points per game season, hasn\u2019t averaged less than 24 points in a season since he came to New York four years ago and became the focal point of an offense. He hasn\u2019t averaged less than 26 points over the last three years.<\/p>\n
Right now, only seven NBA players average more points than Brunson. Five of those guys are 6-foot-5 and taller. Two of them, Philadelphia\u2019s Tyrese Maxey and Cleveland\u2019s Donovan Mitchell, are, like Brunson, listed at 6-foot-2 \u2014 and both of their listings might be generous, as well. However, both Maxey and Mitchell carry athletic gifts that Brunson doesn\u2019t. Maxey is as fast a player as there is with the ball. Mitchell can jump out of the gym.<\/p>\n
There are several players currently in the league who can score as well as any of the players the game has ever seen. Brunson, though, is often doing it against players three inches taller or 10, 20 pounds heavier. It\u2019s not as often that the Thunder\u2019s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or the Lakers\u2019 Luka Don\u010di\u0107 are being guarded by defenders much bigger than them.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve established that there are players who, literally, score more than Brunson. And, yes, Maxey and Mitchell are also representing smaller scoring guards well. Yet, when you factor it all in \u2014 Brunson\u2019s the smallest of these players in his scoring class, he\u2019s the least athletic guard of those players, he\u2019s got good efficiency and he\u2019s flirting with averaging 30 points per game \u2014 he\u2019s the best at putting the ball in the basket.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a barely 6-foot guard, he\u2019s not physically impressive and not athletic,\u201d said his teammate and honest friend, Josh Hart. \u201cHe\u2019s able to manipulate a defense. He\u2019s got a big head, so he\u2019s got a big brain and able to figure out his game and put himself in position to be successful.<\/p>\n
\u201cInch for inch, I think he\u2019s probably the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brunson\u2019s herky-jerky style is what separates him from a lot of his counterparts. He\u2019s not quick but may look it at times, because his scatterbrain dribble, powerful crossover, body fakes and footwork keep defenders off balance and allow him to get past those who have physical advantages.<\/p>\n
The footwork part, especially, is what makes Brunson a special player. His ability to play off two feet allows him to create shooting angles that other players don\u2019t have. It allows him to always be on balance while defenders are trying to predict his next move.<\/p>\n
That part of Brunson\u2019s game has been with him since he was in the fifth grade.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always played against (people) older than my age when I was younger,\u201d said Brunson, who has scored 30-plus points in four straight games. \u201cI had to be deceptive. I had to be crafty. That footwork lasts a long time. It\u2019s (been a focus) since fifth or sixth grade, really. That was the start of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike Brown has coached some of the greatest scorers the NBA has seen since 2000. He\u2019s not in the business of comparing Brunson to those guys, but he\u2019s mentioned a few times that Brunson\u2019s footwork rivals that of Kobe Bryant. Brown does, though, see a few common threads between the likes of Brunson, Bryant, LeBron James, Steph Curry and others who he has coached when it comes to the art of scoring the basketball.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a relentlessness to them where they just keep coming and coming,\u201d the Knicks coach said. \u201cThat\u2019s their competitive spirit coming out. They get denied, they get doubled, they get hit, but they just keep coming. When you have that, you know your team is in good hands, because at the end of the day, no matter what defense you see, no matter how physical your opponent is, he\u2019s going to be right there.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he\u2019s confident. That gives everyone \u2014 not just his teammates on the floor but his teammates on the bench, the coaching staff \u2014 the confidence he has breathes into everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are a handful of players every year who could seriously be in the conversation as the game\u2019s current best scorer. A strong case like this one could be made for every single one of them and there shouldn\u2019t be a huge uproar. The game is in great hands, and skill is at an all-time high.<\/p>\n
My money, though, is on the efficient, compact guard who, after winning Clutch Player of the Year last season, turned around this season and is the second-leading scorer in first quarters. My money is on the guy who might finish fourth to last in team sprints but can get himself open at any moment. My money is on the guy who can knock down a jumper with a hand in his face or without one. My money is on the guy who might not be able to jump over a phone book but still finds his shot dropping into the net in traffic.<\/p>\n
Pound for pound, when it comes to who is the best scorer in the NBA, my money is on Brunson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 When we talk about NBA unicorns, we tend to speak to something we\u2019ve never seen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,1666,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-348244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-new-york-knicks","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}