Jason Kidd on Jalen Brunson: I’m happy he got paid

“I tell a player on the first day of camp, ‘Tell me what you want,’ ” said Kidd, who was the runner-up when the Knicks hired Tom Thibodeau as head coach in July 2020. “Everyone wants shots. Everyone wants minutes. But that’s not the truth. They want to get paid and want to play. Cool. I can help you do that. The other part of that is I’m going to ask for a couple of things. Trust, communicate and play hard. If you ask Brunson, he will tell you he listened [to me] and good things happened. I just want to put people in position to be successful.’’ -via New York Post / September 13, 2022

During an interview with USA Today’s Sports Seriously, Brunson revealed that opinion and talked about what it was like to play with Doncic over the last few years. “It wasn’t really difficult (to play alongside him) because you knew what it was. Luka is such a great talent. He can do anything on the court,” said Brunson. “I think, for me, I kind of figured out how to play with him because he’s so dominant. He knows how to play the game, he knows how to help his team win. I truly loved playing with him because we were in a position to win every night, because of him. “I’ve said this numerous times and I’ll continue to say it until I speak it into existence; That dude is a first-ballot Hall of Famer.” -via Sports Illustrated / September 12, 2022

“I’m not being negative about those guys,’’ Van Gundy said. “Randle made an All-Star team, Barrett they hope continues to become a more efficient player. Jalen is in that category of fringe All-Star. “That being said, if you’re going to make a significant jump in the Eastern Conference — when you have [Boston’s Jayson] Tatum, [Jaylen] Brown, [Brooklyn’s Kevin] Durant, [Milwaukee’s Giannis] Antetokounmpo , [Miami’s Jimmy] Butler, and [James] Harden and [Joel] Embiid in Philly, you need a top-20 player in the league. That’s what you build around. They’re still searching for that.” -via New York Post / September 7, 2022

“Some guys become leaders, and some guys are born leaders,” Murphy said. “Cade Cunningham is a born leader, he’s a connector. He does everything by example and he’s also able to communicate and teach guys on the fly as well. You have guys like Magic Johnson, Jason Kidd, Mark Jackson, some guys that when they hit the floor, guys just follow. -via Detroit Free Press / September 9, 2022

Head of the Slovenian national team and a new Mavericks player-development assistant this season, Milic, the NBA’s first Slovenian player, has a long history with Doncic and Dallas coach Jason Kidd that will continue with major title pursuits during the EuroBasket knockout rounds this week and through the upcoming NBA season. In a 1-on-1 interview with The Dallas Morning News during the EuroBasket group stage, Milic, 45, reflected on memories of Doncic as a young hooping prodigy and explained how he plans to take a personal, close, flexible approach to Doncic’s development in Dallas. “More pressure, it is more him smiling,” Milic said. “Sometimes he enjoys the pressure, he enjoys the game. This is the thing you’re born [with]. You can build the muscle. You can learn to shoot, but if you don’t have this inside, it’s pretty tough.” -via Dallas Morning News / September 8, 2022