ATLANTA – Quin Snyder knew.
The former Utah Jazz head coach game-planned against Jalen Brunson each of his final four seasons in Salt Lake City before taking the Atlanta Hawks head coaching job last year.
Snyder is not surprised Brunson is thriving as Knicks floor general after playing sidekick to Luka Doncic on the Dallas Mavericks. He averaged 24 points and six assists on 49 percent shooting from the field and 42 percent shooting from downtown in Year 1 in New York City and is expected to take another leap this season.
“Not [surprised] in the slightest,” the Hawks coach said ahead of tipoff against the Knicks on Friday. “Beginning when he was in college, the command that he had over the game, his understanding. He’s unique in his ability to play with his feet on the floor and the way that he changes speed and his strengths.”
Snyder, of course, knows Brunson well. The 6-foot-2 guard was one of the final opponents he saw before the Jazz fired him after the 2022 Western Conference playoffs.
The Jazz were perennial dark horse championship contenders due to their defensive identity and scoring potential with Donovan Mitchell in the back court — and Doncic missed the first three games of the series against Utah with a left calf strain.
The Jazz went to Dallas and stole Game 1 before Brunson hung 41 points on 61 percent shooting to secure Game 2 — a game where Mitchell shot 13-of-30 on the night and finished with one more point than field goals attempted.
Brunson then outplayed Mitchell in Salt Lake City in Game 3, scoring 31 points on 12-of-22 shooting from the field despite missing all four of his three-point attempts.
The Mavericks went on to win the series in six games.
“That series, he was the best player on the floor and Luka was out, and there’s times where he was the best player on the floor when Luka was in,” Snyder recalled. “So it was very obvious the level that he was capable of playing at, and it showed certainly at that point, too, to people that saw that.”
WHO’S TEAM IS IT?
The Knicks have two players with All-Star potential this season: Julius Randle, who’s been named an All-Star three times in his career, and Brunson, who could earn his first nod this upcoming season.
What’s the pecking order for an opposing head coach game planning against the Knicks?
“1A and 1B,” said Snyder. “I’m not sure which one would be 1A and which one would be 1B. You focus on both of them particularly because they both impact the game in different ways.”
Snyder said the availability of not one, but two offensive stars is what makes them a threat in the Eastern Conference.
“So you have to know whether it be matchups or things you try to do to make it hard,” he explained. “That’s really all you can do is try to put them in situations where you’re playing percentages and understand when you play a really good player like that, there’s times where you can play really good defense and not have success.
“So it’s both, which is what makes them good.”
