If you think it’s been too long since the last edition of the Bulletin, you’re not wrong.
If you can’t wait for the start of the season — hell, the preseason or even training camp or, yikes, media day — well, you’re like me and we’re almost there!
Advertisement
Here’s what a couple Knickerbockers have publicly said of late.
Jalen Brunson
On team chemistry and continued improvement:
“I think we’ve been taking steady steps every year. The best part about our team is the chemistry we’ve grown and we’ve created. A lot of people help us on this journey, and to be able to be where we are now, it’s nothing to be satisfied about. Hopefully we don’t have that mindset going into the season where we think we’re just going to jump back into the Eastern Conference Finals. We need to be able to go through this process again and continue to get better and the fight to get over that hump.”
Advertisement
On the importance of team unity after roster changes:
“It’s going to take all of us. It’s not going to take just one change or another small thing. It’s going to take all of us together to kind of put everything aside and pull together.”
On Karl-Anthony Towns’ impact on the Knicks:
“He’s been phenomenal for us, in the locker room has been great. On the court, he’s been great. The things that he’s been able to do in a short period of time being a Knick has been amazing. Having him as a teammate has been really fun. I think that gets overlooked how good of a teammate he is. Obviously, he’s a great player and what he does on the court. But the teammate he is and what he brings to the locker room for us is special. So I’m really happy to have him.”
On why Karl-Anthony Towns is a unique player:
“Don’t think you can compare him. He shoots the ball so effortlessly, and he can make plays. He has great touch around the rim, so he’s pretty much his own person. He picks different games of styles of basketball, and kind of makes it into his own.”
On learning from playoff experience:
“I think our process and everything we’ve been doing going forward has been great for us. It’s been a great test, having learned. Everyone says, ‘Oh, you need to get experience.’ Well, this is us getting experience. This is literally us going through the trials and tribulations of being a good team. So continue to do that and just find a way to see what can we do to get over that hump.”
Advertisement
On personal goals vs. team success:
“All my personal goals are team-based. If everyone’s able to feed off that, that’s all I’m worried about. I’m not really worried about anything that benefits me solely if it doesn’t help us to get where we’re going.”
On not being a big NBA 2K fan:
“I’m not a big video game player and I’m not a big 2K player. I’m very thankful for my rating, obviously. I’m in the 90’s. I think in my first year in 2K I was made right-handed. I haven’t played 2K after that.”
Deuce McBride
On what excites him about Mike Brown’s new system:
“I’ve talked to [Brown] a lot, and I think the big thing is just going to be a lot of player movement. He’s giving us the foundation, and we’re just going to work off of it. So I’m really excited to see all our creativity with each other that we’ve been working on these last couple months. Really excited to see where it takes us.”
Advertisement
On becoming a father and author at the same time:
“It was a crazy thing to put out a children’s book and then have my daughter be born really at the same time, lining up. But it means so much more, just the fact that she’s going to grow up with a dad who was able to do something like this. And hopefully have more books coming after this.”
On Kobe Bryant’s post-retirement impact:
“It’s kind of interesting because I really wasn’t a Kobe fan growing up. And then after he retired and started leaving a legacy off the court of giving back to the game, that’s when I really became more of a fan of his. Since I was younger, I always wanted to grow up and be a role model for younger kids. And I felt like doing a children’s book would be a good start in leaving a good legacy.”
On the reception of his book:
“We’ve had some people order pretty large amounts of the book, people at the public readings for their classrooms and for their schools. So it’s been pretty well received.”
On planning his next book project:
“I’ve started thinking about the next book and excited to see where the journey takes me.”