Knicks trying to mimic Villanova culture with Jalen Brunson signing

A question is now answered. Jalen Brunson’s NBA worth is not that of a second-round draft choice, but of a player worthy of a four-year contract for $104 million, making him the new centerpiece of the New York Knicks.

This could go one of two ways: Either Brunson turns out to be the perfect building block for a franchise desperate to return to past glory, or Knicks fans will eventually revolt at giving all that money to a player without enough Broadway razzmatazz in his game. (I’m thinking how Sixers fans often looked at Andre Iguodala and his big contract.)

If you’re looking to build a winner … he’s perfect.

If you’re looking to sell tickets … maybe the wrong guy.

Except, of course, winners don’t have to worry about selling tickets. Let’s assume the Knicks’ brain trust is committed to doing it right, with the realization that Brunson’s play this season for the Dallas Mavericks was no mirage. He was, in fact, a very, very good player for a very, very good team. Mark Cuban and company wanted him back even with a big salary.

The Knicks folks have been watching Brunson his whole life. (Not only is Brunson’s father a new Knicks assistant coach, Brunson’s agent’s father is president of the Knicks, and was his father’s agent.) They know that he wasn’t just a product of Villanova’s winning culture, but a key contributor to making it just right. If the Knicks are trying to recreate that kind of culture inside Madison Square Garden, maybe Brunson’s price is right at $26 million a year.

Maybe look at Brunson as an anti-Ben Simmons. Teammates actually want to be around him. Like Simmons, he’ll get them the ball in the right place. Unlike Simmons, he’ll take the big shot himself. If he’s no Simmons defensively, he’s proven that you don’t have to hide him out there. (Simmons, of course, will have every opportunity to prove this comparison wrong, separated only by a subway line.)

Let’s now take all this in an interesting direction. Say this is a long-term project. Say there eventually is an opening for a Knicks head coach. The Knicks have gone after Jay Wright before. They won’t try again?

Quick caveat here. Let’s not automatically assume Wright coaches again. He turns 61 in December. He’s established his Hall of Fame legacy on the Main Line, made his generations-changing money. John Wooden was 64 when he retired from UCLA, never to coach again. Wright doesn’t have to coach again to prove himself to anybody.

But this isn’t an assumption, just a simple truth. Next offseason, every top college program and every NBA team with a coach opening will check in with Wright to gauge his interest.

Wright knows that the NBA is different than college, that the stars run the show because they are the show. He’s had his opportunities to make the jump, always declined.

But what if the star who is running the show in New York is the exact player Wright would want in charge of a team culture? Make no mistake, Brunson isn’t the same guy who left Villanova after three seasons, two NCAA titles, a national player of the year award. He’s not just a pro, but someone who must be treated by any coach as a professional partner. This is all conjecture for a summer day, but what are the longer odds, that the 33rd pick of the 2018 NBA draft would sign for over $100 million in 2022, or that Jay Wright might eventually return to coaching?

Back to Brunson. All those skills seen at Villanova, they all translated. He was always a pro, was always going to have a long NBA career. What was to be determined was the role. Career backup? You could have thought that even after the 2020-21 season, when Brunson started 12 of 68 games. He averaged 12.6 points and 3.5 assists, so he was a premier rotation piece, but still mostly that.

This season changed everything. If you like basic stats, Brunson provided, with 16.3 points and 4.8 assists, and some big playoff performances. Like 31 points in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals at Golden State, or 24 in the semifinal series Game 7 clincher at Phoenix, or 41 in Game 2 of the quarterfinals against Utah, when Brunson never scored fewer than 23 in any of the six games, averaging just under 28 points a game. That’s probably the series when Brunson really earned this new contract. He could perform in the biggest spotlight, with Luka Dončić or taking over when Dončić was hurt.

If you like advanced stats, Brunson provides, proving over his career that he could be just as efficient as his minutes rose. For the season, Brunson was 25th in the league in win shares, seventh among guards, including both shooting and point guards. (Former Villanova teammate Mikal Bridges was 11th in win shares, behind only Jayson Tatum and Jimmy Butler among small forwards.)

Bridges also has been paid for his efforts, signing a contract that will pay him roughly $90 million over the next four years.

When there were some raised online eyebrows this week about the Brunson deal, Bridges himself took to Twitter, saying “Y’all must not know how cold JB really is lol.”

That in itself isn’t surprising. Those two won two national titles together. What was interesting was the quick responses from two non-Villanova or Mavericks players.

“Bro got game!” tweeted Desmond Bane of the Memphis Grizzlies.

“GAME,’’ responded Grizzlies superstar Ja Morant.

For the Knicks, all this adds up to the right move even at that price. What that franchise does from here will determine whether it was a winning move. Just know that the presence of Brunson will make more players interested in being there. And who knows, maybe even a coach.