Long before\u00a0guard\u00a0Jalen Brunson\u00a0silenced\u00a0critics\u00a0by guiding the\u00a0New York Knicks\u00a0to an\u00a0NBA\u00a0Finals win and earning Finals MVP honors, he had the legendary\u00a0Jay Wright\u00a0as a head coach when the two were with the\u00a0Villanova Wildcats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During a Sunday appearance on local sports radio station WFAN, Wright made a big admission about how he viewed Brunson before the 29-year-old became the new king of New York sports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I can\u2019t say that I saw that. I\u2019d be lying,” Wright said about Brunson becoming a Knicks franchise legend, per\u00a0Adam Zagoria\u00a0of NJ Advance Media and\u00a0Lou DiPietro\u00a0of Audacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those running the\u00a0Dallas Mavericks\u00a0also clearly didn’t see this coming, as they let Brunson reach\u00a0free agency\u00a0in the summer of 2022. Some at the time questioned if Brunson possessed the size and the athleticism required to serve as a so-called “1A” player for an advertised championship contender. Most recently, Brunson answered such questions when he scored 45 points on 14-of-27 shooting in the Knicks’ 94-90\u00a0Game 5 win that ended the franchise’s 53-year championship drought.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the process, Brunson tied Michael Jordan for the most points\u00a0tallied\u00a0in an NBA title clincher on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n“I always thought he\u2019d be an NBA champion because he has the leadership of a winner, but I always thought he\u2019d be the point guard as a No. 2 guy, like he was with Luka Doncic in Dallas,” Wright added. “When he made the decision to come to the Knicks, he told me he wanted to lead a team; I was like, ‘You do lead a team as the point guard,’ and he\u2019s proven it\u2019s not about saying it, it\u2019d about doing it \u2013 and he\u2019s done that Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant-type of willing his team to win, not just by attitude, but by pure execution and mental toughness. To mentally take it on his shoulders, make the right play and the big shot, take on the big moment and respond\u2026I can\u2019t say that I saw that, I\u2019d be lying.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
In the eyes of some, Brunson has\u00a0cemented\u00a0himself as the greatest player in Knicks history. Regardless of whether or not he guides the Knicks to another title, it now seems to be a lock that the franchise will retire his No. 11 jersey not long after he calls time on his pro career.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Long before\u00a0guard\u00a0Jalen Brunson\u00a0silenced\u00a0critics\u00a0by guiding the\u00a0New York Knicks\u00a0to an\u00a0NBA\u00a0Finals win and earning Finals MVP honors, he had the legendary\u00a0Jay Wright\u00a0as a head coach when the two were with the\u00a0Villanova Wildcats. During a Sunday appearance on local sports radio station WFAN, Wright made a big admission about how he viewed Brunson before the 29-year-old became the new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-416424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416424"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416425,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416424\/revisions\/416425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}