Derrick Rose ‘learning’ from Jalen Brunson as roles reverse with Knicks

Derrick Rose has been giving his 10-year-old son, P.J., advice lately to always have a ball in his hands.

“ ‘This has gotta be your first girlfriend,’ ” Rose tells him. “You laugh, but seriously. You gotta have a relationship with the ball that’s different from anyone else in the world.”

That advice comes from Rick Brunson, the current Knicks assistant, who helped turn his son, Jalen, into an NBA point guard. That process started more than a decade ago, when Rose was a superstar point guard for the Bulls, Rick was an assistant on Tom Thibodeau’s staff in Chicago and a young Jalen would help rebound for Rose. Rick made Jalen into a lefty, and he eventually became a five-star recruit at Adlai Stevenson High School outside Chicago who committed to Jay Wright’s Villanova.

Now, on Wednesday’s opening night against the Grizzlies, Jalen will start at point guard for the Knicks, with Rose coming off the bench. Rose didn’t talk to him much back then. But over the years, a relationship built up.

“The older he got, the more we started to talk,” Rose said following Monday’s practice. “And we never talked about the game. It was more like, ‘What’s up?’ He was in his lane and I saw that he was hooping. ‘Hey, I see you. I see you.’ It’s one of those things where I was acknowledging him. And the more he kept playing at ’Nova, it’s like damn, he may have a chance to get to the league.

“Then he ended up getting there, it’s like, all right, I’m playing against him in games now. And I’m going at him and I’m telling him, ‘Don’t back down. Don’t stop just because I’m attacking you. Keep competing.’ It wasn’t like he wasn’t, but I’m just putting it in his mind, ‘Hey, you still gotta go at me.’ And he did.”

Brunson, who signed a four-year, $104 million deal with the Knicks in free agency this summer, flew under the radar as a prospect despite winning the collegiate National Player of the Year Award along with the national championship in 2018, going in the second round of that year’s draft.

Rose, though, knew better.

“His IQ was through the roof and a lot of people didn’t know how he would adjust playing in the league, especially even when he was in college,” Rose said. “He was a winner, he was winning in college, but, ‘Oh, he’s not athletic. He’s not a freak of nature, he’s not jumping through the roof, this and that.’

“Like, bruh, he’s a hooper. He’ll find a way to get the job done.”

Now, Rose — who won the 2011 MVP Award playing a relentless style of driving, getting-to-the-hoop basketball — watches Brunson, impressed with the way he gets to the rim.

“The pivots that you have to use to get inside the lane, the jump stuff, the spins, just to get your shot off,” Rose said. “Whenever he gets in the paint, his float game, like everything, his shooting. Every day, every game, it felt like he kept getting better.”

Rose and Brunson are in the same practice group, along with Immanuel Quickley, and Rose called it “motivating” to shoot with Brunson on a daily basis. When Thibodeau makes every group call out their numbers at the end of shooting drills, Rose said, they’re usually on top.

“I’m learning from him,” Rose said. “He’s always picking people up every day. He’s very persistent with his energy. You always are hearing his voice and that’s what you need from your point guard. We’re very lucky to have him.”

And maybe, sometime soon, P.J. Rose will be lucky enough to rebound for Brunson.