Let's talk Jalen Brunson foul baiting

[TheGeneral99]

He's a **** smart ass player.

When I watched that series I thought Brunson was going to score every time he had the ball, dude is unreal. He's so smart, shifty, strong and balanced. I honestly don't know he's able to get his shot and floaters off from different angles with little space given his short stature, but he pulls it off and it's nice.

Scary mofo.

[jym85]

If anything only getting 6.5 freethrows while averaging 28.7 ppg in the regular season seems rather low
Especially with all the drives. Not like he lives by the 3

[bronxknicksfan1]

Prime example. Look at this foul Brunson gets on Batum.

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Read on Twitter

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He beat Batum to his spot and pulled up. He’s not throwing himself back like Trae would do to get the foul. That’s on Batum for bumping him in the back and not staying in front of him.

I agree it's still technically a foul, but the subject here is foul baiting. Here he clearly is baiting for the foul as he is not even looking at the basket when he initiates the shooting motion. In this action, his intention is not to get a clear shot at the basket but to bait for a foul.
The bellow statements are not mutually exclusive:
- The defenders have to be more intelligent when defending because in the textbook it's a foul
- Baiting for fouls (intention of drawing foul vs intention of scoring a basket) is ugly basketball

Overall, I think Brunson is lightyears away from being a Trae, Embiid, Harden type of foul baiter, he overall plays fair, but this move is the one that stands out when coming to how he can get a couple of "guaranteed" fouls.

He made the shot.

[sp6r=underrated]

if you dont foulbait in todays league, you are just dumb sorry. no one cares if you are an honorable baller. at teh end of the day you get judged on stats and accolades and these guys are professionals, they gotta take every inch they can get.

its been part of the game for so long now, at some point you gotta live with it. And JB is not even in the top20 foulbaiters in the league

agreed, the league has changed the rules constantly to help offensive production and reduce defensive contact, and players are smart enough to recognize and exploit that, so increased foul baiting is what we get as a result. Brunson's just doing what makes sense in today's game, he's not even one of the worst ones out there really.

I'm no fan of all the overexaggerated contact from players these days either, but it is what it is.

Agreed as well. The NBA has written a rulebook tilted towards offense over defense. Players are taking an advantage of it. And we as fans really shouldn't complain. The reason the NBA's rulebook is so absurd is because fans made clear they prefer perimeter players, pick and roll spam, slashing dunks and 3s. The NBA rulebook is giving fans what they want.

[NoStatsGuy]

The only thing I don't like about this aspect of his game is when he puts somebody on his back and then throw his head back to get an automatic foul. Technically it looks like a correct call, but to me it's just not enjoyable basketball, very comparable to a few years ago when Harden was swinging his arms in the defender to create contact.

It's a tough thing to address because of course, offensive player should be allowed to stop and shoot but here he is really specifically looking for this to happen. I guess it's also a matter of defenders having to be more aware of that.
I think Trae Young was the "first" one to foulbait with this move but he was doing it more flagrantly than Brunson.

what is the difference to pump faking and jumping into the defender? you abuse your position on the court, thats all it is. does he have to cock back his head on those moves? no he probably doesnt. but i really dont see the difference.

and lets get the record straight, CP3 invented this not trae young. CP3 has been doing that since his pelican/hornets days. whatever franchise that was, i mix that up all the time, forgive me. maybe some of the true veterans here have another crafty PG from back then who did stuff like that. but cp3 was the first where i recognized, hes intentionally running infront of trailing defenders

[tribulations]

if you dont foulbait in todays league, you are just dumb sorry. no one cares if you are an honorable baller. at teh end of the day you get judged on stats and accolades and these guys are professionals, they gotta take every inch they can get.

its been part of the game for so long now, at some point you gotta live with it. And JB is not even in the top20 foulbaiters in the league

^^sadly true

[stuporman]

Prime example. Look at this foul Brunson gets on Batum.

[x]

Read on Twitter

?s=46[/x]

He beat Batum to his spot and pulled up. He’s not throwing himself back like Trae would do to get the foul. That’s on Batum for bumping him in the back and not staying in front of him.

I agree it's still technically a foul, but the subject here is foul baiting. Here he clearly is baiting for the foul as he is not even looking at the basket when he initiates the shooting motion. In this action, his intention is not to get a clear shot at the basket but to bait for a foul.
The bellow statements are not mutually exclusive:
- The defenders have to be more intelligent when defending because in the textbook it's a foul
- Baiting for fouls (intention of drawing foul vs intention of scoring a basket) is ugly basketball

Overall, I think Brunson is lightyears away from being a Trae, Embiid, Harden type of foul baiter, he overall plays fair, but this move is the one that stands out when coming to how he can get a couple of "guaranteed" fouls.

He made the shot.

He's not allowed to take a jump shot while someone is spooning him on the basketball court, at least without asking for consent, even if he makes them....apparently.

[cgf]

Prime example. Look at this foul Brunson gets on Batum.

[x]

Read on Twitter

?s=46[/x]

He beat Batum to his spot and pulled up. He’s not throwing himself back like Trae would do to get the foul. That’s on Batum for bumping him in the back and not staying in front of him.

I agree it's still technically a foul, but the subject here is foul baiting. Here he clearly is baiting for the foul as he is not even looking at the basket when he initiates the shooting motion. In this action, his intention is not to get a clear shot at the basket but to bait for a foul.
The bellow statements are not mutually exclusive:
- The defenders have to be more intelligent when defending because in the textbook it's a foul
- Baiting for fouls (intention of drawing foul vs intention of scoring a basket) is ugly basketball

Overall, I think Brunson is lightyears away from being a Trae, Embiid, Harden type of foul baiter, he overall plays fair, but this move is the one that stands out when coming to how he can get a couple of "guaranteed" fouls.

Brunson is still trying to score there though, he just knows that the contact from behind is coming because Oubre & Batum have been all over him, even when he’s blown past them. That’s why he gets the and-1 on so many of those, he’s looking to score without getting his shot blocked from behind.

[BobbyPortisEyes]

He baits for fouls when he's already got the defender beat, I see nothing wrong with that. He's a relatively unathletic, below-the-rim player so he'd get swatted a lot from behind if he didn't do it. As a fan, I'd be furious if he stopped doing it, especially in the playoffs.

[seren]

I agree it's still technically a foul, but the subject here is foul baiting. Here he clearly is baiting for the foul as he is not even looking at the basket when he initiates the shooting motion. In this action, his intention is not to get a clear shot at the basket but to bait for a foul.
The bellow statements are not mutually exclusive:
- The defenders have to be more intelligent when defending because in the textbook it's a foul
- Baiting for fouls (intention of drawing foul vs intention of scoring a basket) is ugly basketball

Overall, I think Brunson is lightyears away from being a Trae, Embiid, Harden type of foul baiter, he overall plays fair, but this move is the one that stands out when coming to how he can get a couple of "guaranteed" fouls.

He made the shot.

He's not allowed to take a jump shot while someone is spooning him on the basketball court, at least without asking for consent, even if he makes them....apparently.

Defender runs into a jump shooter from the blind side. The fan complains the shooter is foul baiting by the simple act of beating the defender and taking a jump shot which unsurprisingly he makes. How dare Brunson tries to score a basket.

[Stannis]

Brunson would be averaging 40 PPG if he got superstar treatment lol

[Stannis]

Brunson is a small player. He attacks big guys. They tend to get clumsy and over shoot their predictions and hit Brunson. What Brunson is doing is a form of art.

[Im Coming Home]

He's not at Embiid level, but wow as a neutral I noticed a ton of flops from him, as well as being gifted just stopping in front of defenders which in other series wasn't getting called. Tonight he out FT'd Embiid, going to the line 16 vs. Embiid's 13.

How much of a foul baiter do you think Jalen Brunson is? I realize this is colored by most of us rooting against Embiid, but try to remember all of Brunson's sneaky moves. And not that I blame Jalen, he got the calls and wants to win.

This isn't an anti-Brunson poll, I'm curious where people think he stands. Great player!

Brunson ranks like top 2 in the playoffs in drives to the lane per game, he deserves every FTA he gets, also the 'stop in front of defenders' thing is different from the way Trae Young used to do it, Brunson is legit getting fouled most of the time he does it because he continues to go forward, and makes a basketball play going towards the basket, where as back in 2021 Trae Youngs move that got banned was him jumping backwards or sideways into the player not making a real basketball play/move.

As far as him 'flopping' I don't think he flops, flopping to me is like throwing your body on the floor after minor contact. Does Brunson sell contact sometimes though, yes I agree that he does, but I wouldn't call that flopping, just selling the contact.

And you have to understand, he was routinely getting hosed by officials all 2nd half of the season, he deserves to get way more foul calls from the amount of drives per game he generates, and the numbers don't really show that often times. Meanwhile Embiid a jumpshooter last night took a turnaround jumper from the free throw line with no contact from the defender and they blew the whistle, it just doesn't make sense.

I feel like based off his size, Brunson gets less respect than most normal 'small guards' have in the past, its usually the stronger 'bully ball' type of players that don't get the calls they deserve.

[enigmatics]

Definitely a foul baiter.

He's also allowed to project himself like a wrecking ball at defenders unlike anything I've ever seen allowed.

[Im Coming Home]

if you dont foulbait in todays league, you are just dumb sorry. no one cares if you are an honorable baller. at teh end of the day you get judged on stats and accolades and these guys are professionals, they gotta take every inch they can get.

its been part of the game for so long now, at some point you gotta live with it. And JB is not even in the top20 foulbaiters in the league

^^sadly true

I mean its always been apart of the game, they just used to say it was clever, but now that players like Harden and Embiid have abused it completely to basically make a mockery of the sport at times, its become something seen as negative.

You can go back to clips from the 70s and watch players pumpfake and jump into the defender and get an And1, etc. So its always been there.

[Im Coming Home]

Definitely a foul baiter.

Really can't stand his style of play in general - he's allowed to project himself like a wrecking ball at defenders unlike anything I've ever seen.

Tell me you've never seen Jalen Brunson play basketball without telling me you've never seen him play basketball

[enigmatics]

Definitely a foul baiter.

Really can't stand his style of play in general - he's allowed to project himself like a wrecking ball at defenders unlike anything I've ever seen.

Tell me you've never seen Jalen Brunson play basketball without telling me you've never seen him play basketball

Trust me - I saw enough of it during the recent Suns/Mavs playoff series.

[Im Coming Home]

Definitely a foul baiter.

Really can't stand his style of play in general - he's allowed to project himself like a wrecking ball at defenders unlike anything I've ever seen.

Tell me you've never seen Jalen Brunson play basketball without telling me you've never seen him play basketball

Trust me - I saw enough of it during the recent Suns/Mavs playoff series.

But thats not his playstyle at all, so that makes no sense. His game is finesse and footwork and being clever and sly. No where near "projecting himself like a wrecking ball"

[Jamaaliver]

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[cgf]

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Damn Brunson slipping his jersey into Batum's hand!