Jalen Brunson (TF?!)

Looks matter in basketball.  And if you don't believe me, go down to your local gym or playground looking like you can't ball and try to get picked up for a game.  You better get there early to call next, or else, if the place is crowded, you may find yourself standing on the sidelines for hours.  Trust me, I know.

That's why it took so long for people to accept just how good Fred VanVleet has become.  I still have a hard time accepting it, because he simply doesn't look like an NBA player, or at least not on TV.  It's something about those short guys with big heads that just doesn't scream 'I can bust your ass in basketball'.  Desmond Bane also kinda has that quality, even though he's diesel AF.

And that brings us to Jalen Brunson.  A couple of months ago I had to privilege of peeping out a few Mavs games, and dude was out there totally and completely bustin ass.  And I'm just sitting there saying to myself like 'WTF?  Is this real?  Who is this guy?'  A couple of games, he even seemed to be outplaying, dare I say it, Luka Doncic himself.  Jalen Brunson is one of those players like I know I kinda heard of somewhere.  And it seems that the Mavs actually drafted him at the same time as they did Luka.

And now with Luka out, Brunson is doing the Jazz so bad that some dude over at NBC is even calling Utah "overrated".  I don't think the Jazz are overrated.  They just have bad playoff luck and, I believe, are not favored by the NBA.  And believe me - being favored by the NBA goes a long way.

And even still I'm reluctant to say that the Mavs are going to win the series.  But at this point, does it really matter?  I'm just glad I didn't right a post predicting this series, as I would have undoubtedly foretold that the Jazz would swiftly do away with the Luka-less Mavs.

CONCLUSION

Believe it or not, one of the advantages Jalen Brunson has is not looking like he can play basketball.  It doesn't matter if he scores 100 points in a game, his looks will remain the same.  And that one split second when the defender is saying to himself 'lol, look at this guy' is all Brunson needs at this point.  That's like some evolutionary psychology type shit, like a natural advantage he has over others.