Like the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Knicks have made an effort to surround their superstar point guard with a familiar face heading into the upcoming season.
While far from a blockbuster coaching move, it’s still worth reporting that the Knicks elected to hire Brunson’s 51-year-old former Dallas Mavericks coach.
“League Sources: The Knicks have hired Peter Patton as a shooting coach,” The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III reported Wednesday. “He’s been the director of player development in Chicago (Bulls) and a shooting coach for Minnesota (Timberwolves) and Dallas.”
Before entering the coaching world, Patton played four seasons at DePaul (1992-96) and made four professional stops in the late 90s (Carolina Cardinals, Dakota Wizards, Magic City Snowbears, and Kandid Olimpija Osijek).
Following his relatively short playing career, the 1997 All-IBA Second Team member was hired as a shooting coach for the Timberwolves (2016-18) and Mavericks (2018-23), which wasn’t surprising considering he was known for his sharpshooting on the hardwood (he shot 39.1% from beyond the arc in college).
Under Patton’s leadership, Brunson never shot below 46% from the field and 34.8% from three-point land in Dallas.
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Brunson, a two-time All-Star who averaged 26.0 points per game last year on 48.8% field goal shooting and 38.3% long-range shooting, should look forward to another productive and efficient year with Patton back in his corner.
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