Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges of the New York Knicks share a great locker-room bond and relationship that dates back to their college days, playing for the Villanova Wildcats. Even their families have grown close to each other over time. But, if a recent conversation between Hart and Jalen’s father Rick Brunson is anything to go by, the bond wasn’t always as tight as it is now.
Hart and Brunson had invited Rick as the guest for Roommates Show pod. At one point in the 98-minute conversation, the mood in the room became slightly tense. This was when Rick, an assistant coach with the Knicks, and Hart revealed their first impressions of each other.
Rick admitted he initially went by what Jalen had told him about Hart since he had no first hand interaction with Josh or any others in the team.
“I did not know you guys at Villanova. I only knew you through what he [Jalen] would say as you notice I wasn’t at practice,” he said.
The former NBA player recalled how Jalen would come home and talk about his day: “‘Oh yeah, you know Josh try to beat me up.”
Rick added: “I’m like ‘what, why would he do that, what did you do?’ Or he would come home and say this or that but I didn’t know you guys. I knew you guys are all good friends.”
From the little information he gathered about Hart, Rick admitted he was impressed by the combo guard’s basketball abilities.
“But my impression of Josh was I always liked him, you know that he reminded me of myself. He was really intense, he didn’t work as hard as I worked… I was impressed like at Villanova I thought he was a great player,” Rick said.
However, Hart didn’t like Rick initially.
“But for you not liking me I was, that was hurt,” Rick revealed.
On his part, Hart did provide a reasonable justification for not having a great first impression of Rick. The rare occasions when Rick made his way to the training facility, he maintained a “straight face” that made him less approachable.
“I didn’t know you… I was like, ‘Damn bro, this dude don’t (like anybody)’. I was like, ‘He’s just like off to the side’… You got like the straight face where you just be looking and it looked like ‘oh he ain’t rocking with nobody’. So I was just like bro I don’t know about this dude,” Hart explained.
Rick’s “angry expression” had something to do with whom he played for during college —Temple University. Rick’s alma mater and Villanova have one of the fiercest rivalries in college sports (famously known as the Mayor’s Cup). It was the norm for Temple players to consider Villanova and their players to be “beneath” them. Rick did too. And perhaps that was the reason he was less enthusiastic about spending time with Jalen’s teammates.
Since then, Rick has developed a strong connection with most of Jalen’s college teammates, especially Hart. Their off-court camaraderie has translated into a solid coach-player relationship, contributing to Hart’s growth as a player.