“Some people say he has wires in his head. If you take off his face, you’ll see wires, because he’s a robot. He’s a machine”.
That’s Eric Paschall, Jalen Brunson’s former Villanova teammate, describing his leadership style. He never got too high, or too low, and it rubbed off on his teammates. He was the last one at the gym. When he became the favorite to win the National Player of the Year, he scaled back his aggression as a scorer so his teammates didn’t feel shrifted. He was every collegiate point guard cliche rolled into one; his father was even a point guard, and thus you could claim Jalen was born into the role without sounding like a cliche yourself.