Former Knick Jamal Crawford, who is an analyst for NBC Sports and called the Western Conference Finals on NBC and Peacock alongside play-by-play man Mike Tirico and analyst Reggie Miller, takes a shot at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: Your thoughts on Wemby (Victor Wembanyama)?
A: Transcendent, generational. His off-the-court view of life, his point of view of life are even more impressive than the stuff you can see on the court. He’s just different. And we use the term different so much in today’s culture, but he’s even more different than the people we call different.
Q: How about on-the-court different?
A: He could do everything. Look how the game’s evolved. We saw a 6-[foot]-9, 6-10 in T-Mac (Tracy McGrady), and that kinda graduated to Kevin Durant, who’s 7 feet, did the stuff T-Mac did but even more efficiently, and now if you stretch it out even more and go 7-4, 7-5 with Victor Wembanyama, so with him, he can do all those same things, but he has a whole different altitude that he’s doing it from, being that tall. He is just something special.
Q: Why does the city love the Knicks so much?
A: That fanbase and the connection to the fanbase, it’s one of the truly remarkable things in sports — in any sport. They’re like how the Cowboys are loved, how the Yankees are loved, how the Lakers are loved. It’s a different type of love.
Here’s an example: I came to a game a couple of years back, playoffs against Cleveland. And when I left, it was like I played and I had 30 in the Garden the night before, the fans were going crazy. I’m like, “This is crazy, I have not played here in almost 20 years at that point, and they still show that kind of love.” Once A Knick, Always A Knick, and they truly make you feel that.
Q: Paint the picture for me what the city would be like if the Knicks won the NBA championship.
A: They’ll literally party for one year straight like it’s 1999. It would be IN-credible. I don’t mean 1999 as a real year, I mean 1999 that Prince was talking about. It’s gonna be crazy.
Q: What impresses you most about the way the Knicks are playing?
A: They’re playing with a certain belief, like no matter the situation. no matter the outcome, they feel like they can win the game, like no matter how they start, if they get down during the course of a game, they play with a different belief. And the belief is like the strength in numbers. They’re believing that somebody will step up, somebody will provide a spark — obviously Jalen [Brunson] and KAT [Karl-Anthony Towns] and OG [Anunoby] and Mikal [Bridges] and Josh [Hart] — but then you’ll have Deuce [Miles McBride] come in, Mitchell Robinson to come in and get some offensive rebounds. They have so many different weapons, and they’re all pulling in the same direction, they have a different type belief in each other.
It’s really a championship-contending type belief.
Q: What makes Jalen Brunson unique?
A: I think most star players, superstar players, feel like they have to be the superstar all the time, and I think that he lets the game come to him and he lets other guys say, “Oh, they got it going, oh, this guy hasn’t taken a shot, oh, OK, I can kinda sit back and then take over for these next six minutes and give my team confidence.”
He just has a crazy, crazy feel of knowing what to do, how to do it and when to do it, and I think that’s what makes him special.
Q: What adjectives would you use to describe his game?
A: Smart … competitive … gritty … winner.
Q: So you’re not of the Becky Hammond belief that a small man cannot be the alpha champion?
A: No, I think anybody can be a champion. I think sometimes heart goes over height. I also think thinking quick on your toes and having supreme basketball IQ can negate even the biggest people.
Q: If the Knicks were to win, where would that place Brunson in Knicks lore?
A: Mount Rushmore, easy. And the funny thing about that is last season, before I started calling Knick games, I was watching the games and my wife was like, “Look, No. 11’s in the crowd, they’re wearing your number!” I said, “No, no, no (laugh), that’s Jalen Brunson’s number. I’m old news.”
Q: Does Josh Hart remind you of John Starks?
A: I think that No. 3 can be as beloved as Starks if they win a championship, that’s for sure. Yeah, he has some Starks, I think he has some Doug Christie in him when Doug was in Sacramento and just kinda made winning plays or whatever it took, he’ll guard the best player and he’ll provide toughness, he’ll provide extra ballhandling duties, he’ll provide a big shot.
Q: What impresses you about OG Anunoby?
A: That in chaos, he’s calm. When things are really going crazy or whatever, he can provide a big steal, a big rebound, a big shot, and I’m sure he has that internal fire, but on the outside, it looks just so calm, he’s kinda at peace with whatever he’s doing, a la Kahwi Leonard a little bit.
Q: What was your reaction when the Knicks traded for KAT (Karl-Anthony Towns)?
A: I told KAT, actually, I told KAT that he was gonna love it, he was gonna be beloved in New York ’cause I played with him in Minnesota. You can ask him, I was one of the first people that kinda said that to him. He’s so skilled, he’s so like transcendent in that way being a big guy who can do everything on the court. And I think that’s why him and Brunson work, to be honest with you. They both can float between 1A and 1B in the same game, in the same quarter, and they don’t care. There’s no ego in it. That’s what kinda helps make them special as well.
Q: When you played with KAT he was not the facilitator he is now, right?
A: No. At times he could see things. I was playing with a young KAT, I think I played with him the year he made his first All-Star game. He was kinda establishing himself as a player, as a scorer. I think he likes being the hub.
Q: Does Mikal Bridges look like the star player he used to be prior to the Knicks?
A: I don’t know if he looks exactly like a star player, but on this team I don’t think he has to be. I think he has to be shades of who he was at his best in different places — shades of Phoenix, shades of Brooklyn. I think all those different shades can show up at different times whenever the game calls for it, and I think he’s done that.
Q: What are your thoughts on the job Mike Brown has done and how well do you know him?
A: I know him well. I think he’s done a phenomenal job. Imagine the pressure of taking over a team that went to the Eastern Conference final. Anything not going further than that is like a fail, right? But he stepped up to the challenge. It was rocky at times during the season, it was like “What are we doing? We had Thibs,” and Thibs (Tom Thibodeau) did an unbelievable job, no shade to him whatsoever, he set the foundation. But Mike Brown’s kinda taken it up a notch and taken it to another level, and I think that’s what you’re seeing right now from the New York Knicks.
Q: Mitchell Robinson?
A: I think he brings something different to the game. I think his offensive rebounding, his numbers are like off the charts. His energy he plays with. Obviously, he can do better at the free-throw line, but everybody can do better at something. But what he does do, it brings a different type energy to the team. He’s tough too.
Q: How good is the Knicks bench?
A: I think they have specialists. Look at Deuce, you look at Shammy [Landry Shamet], look at Mitchell coming off as a specialist as well, just different guys who provide different things and right now, they seem to believe they can’t lose, and maybe one of the best things for everybody on the Knicks side if you’re a Knicks fan is the slugfest that the Spurs and the Thunder were in. Because now it provides you more rest, more recovery, and you’re getting like a full scout of both teams.
Q: Thoughts on Shamet?
A: Whenever he shoots with no hesitation, it usually goes in. When he’s like hunting his shot, he’s like, “Hey, I’m shooting it regardless,” he usually shoots it with more confidence. I think when he hesitates, that throws him off just a little bit.
Q: Tell me about Leon Rose.
A: Always been the same way, very laid-back, very professional. Very thoughtful. Very real and authentic. I was always very fond of Leon Rose, when he was an agent back when I was with Rick Brunson in 2003 with the Bulls. Rick was a client of Leon’s so I met Leon in passing then.
Q: What do you recall about Rick Brunson?
A: He had hair and he thought he was like The Man at the time, he was coming from the Knicks, and came with this swagger. And I actually shot with Jalen in the Berto Center. He was like 8 years old when he’d come up to visit.
Q: What are some of your favorite Knicks memories (2004-08)?
A: Absolutely scoring 52 in the Garden. Absolutely seeing superstars and actors coming to watch me play. And probably the most important thing is I never got booed in 4 ¹/₂ years and that was a big thing for me. At times we weren’t very good, and I never got booed, so I took that as a badge of honor.
Q: You mentioned celebrities — anybody in particular?
A: Jay-Z, who I knew a little bit before, but our relationship really grew. I remember going after I had a big game at the Garden early in the season in my first year, I saw Adam Sandler at Tao, and I knew he knew me ’cause he was just at the game when I had 25, so that was cool. I didn’t actually meet Heath Ledger, but he was at the game I had 52, and I got a letter from a friend that came with him to the game probably a few years ago now and he told me how it kinda helped Heath Ledger’s love for basketball watching me play.
Q: What was the key to you being such a great Sixth Man?
A: Getting over myself. It wasn’t about me. I had no problem letting others shine. I had no ego when I was coming off the bench. I just wanted to provide what I could provide in the game. And I’m like, this is really cool, I can just watch the game, make some adjustments before I actually go in and provide some extra punch to my team so we’re better.
Q: Who gave you the J Crossover nickname?
A: My childhood friend David Hudson actually came up with it, and it just really stuck with my style of play and my initials, it worked out.
Q: You were the oldest player to score 50 points in a game.
A: Yeah, and the goal was only 25 that night. I just wanted to get 25 so it could be me, Kareem and Kobe to be that far in our career to score 25 three straight games. I had 25 going into the fourth quarter so I said, “Hey, I might as well let it rip.”
Q: How would you sum up your NBA career?
A: Unique. I think it was very unique. I wasn’t the main actor in the movie, but I was the actor who had smaller roles that you wanted to see more of, and he left an impression.
Q: Any regrets over not winning a ring?
A: No, you know what? I think my ring for me personally was actually playing in the NBA. As a kid, when I was 8 years old, it wasn’t to win a ring, it was just to make it. And I made it, and I played 20 years, and in some regards I left my mark on the game. So for me, I think that was my ring.
