Knicks' Jalen Brunson Must Improve One Trait

The New York Knicks will live and die by Jalen Brunson as long as he is the leader of the team.

Brunson's performance on both ends of the floor will likely dictate whether the Knicks are champions or one of the bridesmaids of the NBA season.

Brunson makes his money on the offensive end, but his defense could use some improvement and new head coach Mike Brown will be tasked with drawing that out of him.

"Brunson defended a total of 123 pick-and-rolls as the screener defender against the Indiana Pacers during the six-game conference finals series, per Genius IQ. That was nearly quadrupled from the year before, when Brunson was forced to defend just 32 pick-and-rolls over seven semifinal games against Indiana," ESPN's Chris Herring wrote.

"Brown's thoughts about how to use Brunson defensively — especially in tandem with [Karl-Anthony] Towns, who also was targeted on defense throughout his first season in New York — could go a long way in determining whether the Knicks end their title drought."

Tom Thibodeau would often take Brunson out in favor of Miles McBride on some defensive possessions late in games because the former wasn't as strong of a defender as the latter. If Brunson was a player that was capable of staying on the defensive side of things, it would make the Knicks a better team.

Opponents will pick up on this and hunt the mismatch if it's there, so the Knicks need to do whatever it takes to ensure that it isn't as big of a liability to keep Brunson out there.

If Brunson can get better on defending these pick-and-rolls, the Knicks have a chance at overcoming their playoff demons and advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.