Rick Brunson needs to see a longer body of work before he is ready to crown his son.
Soon after the Knicks won Game 5 of the Finals to secure their first championship since 1973, Rick went viral for going out of his way to make it clear that he does not yet think Jalen Brunson is the best-ever Knick. Brunson had just delivered a Finals masterpiece for the ages, scoring 45 of the Knicks’ 94 points.
“I love my son,” Rick said on ESPN not long after the final buzzer. “Patrick Ewing is the best Knick that I’ve ever witnessed.”
Rick expanded on that sentiment and explained why the claims from a plethora of fans that Brunson had elevated above any other Knick were premature.
“You have to understand we strive for perfection,” Rick told New York Magazine. “I’ve always pushed him. I’m going to continue to push him. People get caught up in the things he’s done in a short period of time, which is tremendous. I mean, look, I’m a proud father, but you have to do this for a long time to be great. I tell him that all the time. You can’t take away from the great ones — the Walt Fraziers, the Willis Reeds, the Patrick Ewings. They did it for a long period of time. So we still have a long way to go, but we’ll get there.
“You always think about next season. That’s how his mind works. We want to get back to where we were this season and hopefully have a chance to compete for another championship. You want more.”
Rick was teammates with Ewing during his two brief stints with the Knicks as a player.
Ewing has all the franchise’s statistical records and carried them through an iconic ‘90s era that fell just short of a title. Frazier was the engine of the two previous championship teams — in 1970 and ‘73 — and the King of Cool who later became a beloved announcer for the team. Reed was the anchor of those two championship teams, winning Finals MVP both times along with the NBA MVP award in ‘70 and delivered one of the most iconic moments in league history.
One thing they all have in common is their longevity, not just in the league but with the Knicks specifically. Right now, that’s something that Brunson does not yet have.
“Patrick Ewing, obviously, [that] I witnessed, is the greatest right now,” Rick said previously on “CBS Mornings.” “All-time leading rebounder, points, he has all the stats. But just the type of person Pat was, the type of teammate he was, the work ethic was similar. Pat was the hardest working guy we had and he was the best player.
“Pat did it for 15 years, Jalen did it for four. I don’t rank these players by championships, although it’s great. Pat’s always been a champion in my book. As of today, Big Fella is my favorite.”
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