{"id":2067098,"date":"2026-07-29T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T06:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2067098"},"modified":"2026-07-29T09:00:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T06:00:22","slug":"jalen-brunson-has-exceeded-expectations-at-every-level-five-words-explain-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2067098","title":{"rendered":"Jalen Brunson has exceeded expectations at every level. Five words explain why"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This story is part of Peak, The Athletic\u2019s desk covering the mental side of sports. Sign up for Peak\u2019s newsletter here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s the summer of 2011. Blake Drazner is about to go to eighth-grade football practice on a brutally hot Chicago day when he notices one of his classmates walking down the block with a backpack on and a basketball in his hands.<\/p>\n

He thinks to himself: Why is Jalen walking with a backpack in this heat? Maybe he\u2019s going to a friend\u2019s house.<\/em><\/p>\n

Then the same thing happens the next day: backpack, basketball, heat.<\/p>\n

And the day after that.<\/p>\n

And the day after that.<\/p>\n

And even on the days when it rains.<\/p>\n

It becomes a running joke in the Drazner family: Guess who I saw walking today?<\/em><\/p>\n

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One day, Drazner asks Brunson what he\u2019s doing and where he\u2019s going, and Brunson tells him: Walking to the gym, working out, then walking home.<\/p>\n

Years later, Drazner looks up the distance: three miles there, three miles back, a workout sandwiched in between.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a mentality,\u201d Drazner says. \u201cAnd he\u2019s always had it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s the summer of freshman year. Brunson is playing in Stevenson High School\u2019s summer league, with three or four games in a day, usually lasting until 9 or 10 at night.<\/p>\n

After the final game, Brunson and his best friend, Connor Cashaw, pack their stuff and get in the car. They don\u2019t have to say anything. It\u2019s just understood what they\u2019re going to do.<\/p>\n

Brunson tells Cashaw they have three buckets \u2014 academics, working out to get better and being social \u2014 but realistically he says they can only pick two. For Brunson, the choice doesn\u2019t feel like much of a choice: academics and working out. It\u2019s just part of him.<\/p>\n

Twenty minutes later, they\u2019re in the gym at the Berto Center, the practice center for the Chicago Bulls. It\u2019s one of the perks of having a dad on the coaching staff: You get to use the team\u2019s facility.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear in those late-night workouts that Brunson thinks differently than other kids his age: How can I get better? How can I take the next step? How can I prepare for when I\u2019m on varsity?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the mindset,\u201d Cashaw says. \u201cOne step at a time, one shot at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s his senior year of high school. Brunson is a five-star recruit.<\/p>\n

Kansas, Villanova, Illinois \u2014 they all want him.<\/p>\n

His coach, Pat Ambrose, starts hearing about Brunson\u2019s Friday nights after games. The rumors reach him via calls and texts.<\/p>\n

Did you hear Jalen was over there at 11 o\u2019clock?<\/em><\/p>\n

I was at the gym the other night. Did you know Jalen was over there?<\/em><\/p>\n

So Ambrose talks to Brunson. He wants to make sure his star player isn\u2019t worn out. How many teenagers can handle a midnight workout after a game?<\/p>\n

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Brunson assures him he can. Ambrose can\u2019t argue. Every day in practice, he sees the same energy, the same intensity, the same desire, the same mentality.<\/p>\n

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Brunson knows the cost, the sacrifice. He tells the Chicago Tribune that year: \u201cI missed a lot of things socially, I missed a lot of things with my friends. \u2026 (But) it doesn\u2019t feel like work. It feels like something I love doing, the way some people collect cards or action figures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those late nights are why Ambrose tells people now: \u201cJalen didn\u2019t take the elevator. He took the stairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s his freshman year of college. The days are packed.<\/p>\n

Every morning, Villanova\u2019s players spend an hour working on individual technique. Every afternoon, they practice as a team for 2 1\/2 hours.<\/p>\n

And every night after team dinner and schoolwork, Brunson and his dad return to the gym at 10 p.m.<\/p>\n

Jay Wright starts to get nervous. The Villanova coach worries that Brunson is fatiguing, mentally and physically, so he meets with Rick Brunson and his son.<\/p>\n

The night workouts have to stop, Wright tells them, or he\u2019ll ban Jalen from the morning session. Two workouts in a day are enough.<\/p>\n

Rick makes his case, but ultimately, he understands, and the night workouts stop.<\/p>\n

But the following season and the one after that? Jalen and his dad are back in the gym at night. They don\u2019t say anything to Wright, and he doesn\u2019t say anything to them.<\/p>\n

By then he\u2019s learned that Brunson can handle it.<\/p>\n

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Jalen Brunson and the “underdog effect”<\/div>\n
Elise Devlin<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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