Hour 3: Wemby Sportsmanship Debate, Cape Verde Stuns Spain, plus Jay Wright Talks ‘Nova Knicks

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0:56Rich Eisen:This is The Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. Let's hear it for New York. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Vic fans, this is not a dream. The Rich Eisen Show. My entire life I've been waiting for this moment. Earlier on the show, ESPN NBA broadcaster Mike Breen.

1:40Host of ESPN's Get Up, Mike Greenberg. ESPN host Jeremy Schaap. Coming up, two-time national championship head coach Jay Wright. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

1:57Rich Eisen:Three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. 844-204-RICH. Number to dial whether you're watching on Disney Plus or the ESPN app or listening on ESPN Radio and Sirius XM Channel 80. We're excited to have a conversation with you. We've been talking all day about the Knicks winning it all as a Brooklyn native who moved to Staten Island, New York at age six months and been rooting for the Knicks forever and a day. This has been quite a day or last two days for me. Personally, we talked about it with Mike Greenberg of ESPN. Mike Breen, who called his 21st consecutive NBA finals for ABC, ESPN, and Disney, and has been a voice of the New York Knicks on radio and television forever and a day.

2:38Rich Eisen:If you missed any of it, there's our Disney Plus page. There's our podcast. There's also our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show. Before our next guest joins us, I want to play this soundbite because, my gosh, is Jalen Brunson one of my favorite people now of all time. Again, I told you, he pulled me back into Knicks fandom after I was so upset with the way James Dolan treated Charles Oakley. But the way that Jalen Brunson played and conducted himself, I'm like, I got to keep watching this team. I can't I can't quit. And he just pulled me right back in. I loved his answer when he was asked about pressure.

3:11No pressure. OK, no pressure whatsoever. I've described pressure in the past. my dad being on eight or nine unguaranteed contracts throughout his career and not knowing where you're going to get cut when a team's going to move on from you while your family's on the east coast and you're wherever you are in the country that's pressure working out three times a day in the summer time and watching him push himself just to get a training camp deal that's pressure I'm very fortunate to be in the position I am and I do think I work pretty hard and so when the opportunity presented itself like it did today I just trust my work and if we win we win, if we don't, we learn, we move forward but I'm just never afraid to fail

4:04Rich Eisen:Wanted to play that just before the Basketball Hall of Fame, head coach, two-time national champion, head coach of Villanova and he won those with Jalen Brunson Jay Wright here on the Rich Eisen Show How are you, Coach? Good to see you, man. Hey, Rich. Great to be with you guys. What did you think about that soundbite when you heard that about Allen? That's just so indicative of what makes him so unique. And what he said about no fear of failure is exactly how he approaches every day, every game, every possession. You know, if he and he's done this his entire basketball career, if he misses a shot and he knows it was a shot that might have cost the team the game, the next shot, he's he's got a clear mind and he's not affected by the previous one.

4:59He's just going to trust his work and know that if he hits it, he hits it and he's going to get back to work. And if he doesn't hit it, he's going to learn from it. He's going to get back to work. That's him.

5:10Rich Eisen:Was he that way when you first found him too? Yeah. Yep. Rick and his mother, Sandra, instilled that in him. When we did our home visit, when we were recruiting him, it's the only time a parent ever said to me, let me take you and show you his bedroom. I was like, whoa. I want to get to know him, but I don't need to go that deep. And his mom took me into his bedroom and she had on his wall all these motivational quotes. She had a picture of the last game that they lost, the headlines from the last game they lost. And she changed them every couple of days. And they were all about growing, getting better, keeping a positive attitude.

6:02It was incredible. I saw him as a high school player. I saw him as a U19 player. I saw him as a college player in the most difficult environments. And I've seen him fail. And there's no difference in how he comes back and approaches the next day. He approaches the next day, trusting his work, and with a clear mind and a positive attitude.

6:27Rich Eisen:What was the main coaching point for you with him that you felt you needed to emphasize with Jalen Brunson when he was there in Villanova, Jay? Well, he came in as a scorer and a leader of the team. And the team that he came in on, he was a freshman in 2016. We had Ryan Archidiacono was our leader and our point guard. He was a senior. And we purposely had those two room together. And that tells you about Ryan Archidiacono. He's a senior, a star, and you're bringing in this freshman and you're telling him that's who you're going to room with. and he took Jalen under his wing, and they battled every day in practice, but at that time, we had to kind of teach Jalen that you got to have a role as being a part of this team and doing whatever we need you to do in each game.

7:24It might not be the leading scorer. It might be the top assist guy. It might be guard the best guard on the other team. You've got to learn to take on these other roles and respect that. That was initially. But then after that, it was how to lead a team, but also make everyone want to follow you. And he was open to everything. He was always open to anything that would make him better. Even to the point where after his sophomore year, I thought he was ready for the NBA. I had a meeting with his mom and dad after his sophomore year, and I said, okay, I think this is time. I think he's ready to go.

8:06His mom said, he's not going anywhere. He doesn't have his degree yet. And his dad said, he's not good enough defensively. He's not going yet. I said, is that it? Is that the meeting? We're done. They said, we're done. I was like, I'm the happiest guy in the world, But I think he's ready, but I'll take him back for another year. And he won another championship and he got his degree.

8:29Rich Eisen:Yeah. And what he's become is truly unbelievable. Because when he, you know, he showed up in New York and folks are wondering, this is the free agent signing that's going to change it all? Yeah. As a matter of fact, yes. Were there any moments during this period of time that he reached out to you that you spoke with him about the way he was being perceived or anything during his maturation process professionally? Because, you know, coaching never ends. We see that all the time. Was there any moment like that? there's never there was never a specific time where he questioned himself um and contacted me about that there's always there's always constant texting back and forth about what we talked about his mindset next day next play i mean even after i won't go into too much depth but after one game he hit one of the playoff games he hit me back I can't say he hit me first and said I blank blank bad and he was really critical of himself and then he in the same text said I have to figure this out and I I remember the play in game five at the end when he drove the ball on Wembeana.

10:07He got in the lane. Wembeana was on him. He hesitated. Unreal. Wembeana started to go up to block a shot. He bumped him with his shoulder and then went to the rim and finished. And I thought to myself, he's figured it out. He knows how to get to the rim on Wembeana. and I thought even if they don't win this game, he's got it figured out for the next game. And he's constantly doing that. At every level, he's done that. How do I play and use how they're playing me to be able to dominate a game?

10:41Rich Eisen:Yeah, with his offhand. That's the one that got me off the couch, the loudest in game five, Jay. When he did that, I'm like, okay. Because, you know, he's 6 '2", Wambanyama's 7 '5". We heard, you know, the comments about, you know, his height and things of that nature. And then, you know, him being drafted and going in the second round. And then we'll talk about your other Nova Knicks. I'm just Brunson focused because he's one of my favorite players of all time. And he's now in the New York City Pantheon right now. And his journey is something else, you know. And he was asked earlier in the series about what was missed from him.

11:22And he says everything.

11:25Rich Eisen:And I'm wondering during that process when scouts, teams were reaching out to you, were you sensing that they were missing something with Jalen, Jay? Honestly, Rich, I thought that situation in Dallas for him, with him being the leader, the point guard, Luka Doncic being the number one guy scorer, I felt like he could control Luka, who was the exceptional talent. and when Luka needed to have it, he would get him the ball. I knew Jalen's basketball IQ was off the charts, and then there were games in the playoffs where Luka went down, and then Jalen knew he had to take over, and he did. But yet when Luka would come back, he'd get Luka involved and let Luka do what he does.

12:17I thought that was perfect for him. So that's what I always told the scouts. I think the scouts initially would look at him as like a career backup point guard. But I was telling him, like, this guy can lead a team to a championship. I never said he would be Michael Jordan, Kobe-esque like he was in game five or throughout those playoffs. You know what, Rich? And I know you've watched a lot of ball. you know this, but when you're going against a team like the Spurs, a top-level defensive team in the NBA, like look what they did to Oklahoma or OKC, their whole game plan, you've got great coaching, great athletes, intelligent players, is to shut you down.

13:06And you score 45, that's incredible. Like it wouldn't even be that incredible if Carl Anthony Towns scored 45 because they were trying to shut down Jalen. It's just amazing to be able to do that at the highest level of basketball.

13:23Rich Eisen:Jay Wright here on the Rich Eisen Show. Another one of my favorite Knicks is Josh Hart because he does everything. He does absolutely everything. There's not a rebound. He can't snag. There's a three-point shot if he is given the basic go-ahead, like, hey, we'll let you shoot threes. He can do that. He can run the floor. He can start the transition. He does everything. And so to hear him afterwards, I don't know if you saw this soundbite, coach, but I'll read part of it to you saying, everyone wants to be the guy that scores the most, that puts the ball in the basket, and that's not everybody's path.

13:59Rich Eisen:That wasn't my path, and sometimes that's a tough pill to swallow. But he started to talk about embracing a role and also how he sacrificed a lot. What is your opinion upon hearing that from Josh Hart, Jay? Well, I've watched this growth that he's gone through in his own mind in the NBA. In his senior year at Villanova, we were the number one overall seed going into the NCAA tournament. He was runner-up for National Player of the Year. I thought he should have been National Player of the Year, not just because he's my guy. I just thought he was the best player in the country that year. He was our leading scorer.

14:45He could score in every way. We could put him in a pick and roll. We could ISO him. We could post him up. He could shoot threes. He was a great scorer. And he went to the NBA, and each team he was on, he was trying to find his way. And I think that was the brilliance of Leon Rose in getting him with Jalen. And it wasn't Jalen's idea, because I was with Jalen when he got the call that they traded for Josh. He was shocked. But they knew he had the intelligence and the humility to fit in and figure it out, which he did on his own. And he realized, and you've heard him say a couple times, he's a very faithful guy, and he said, my role is to be a servant to my teammates.

15:31He's still good enough if you need him to get 26 in a playoff game, which he did. He's still good enough to do that, So you've always got that threat on the floor, which allows Jalen to get to the rim because other teams know if Jalen kicks it to him, he can go make a play. But he's also willing to do all the dirty work and let Jalen be the go-to guy and the decision maker. I think it's brilliance on his part. It's high basketball IQ and it's humility. Yeah.

16:01Rich Eisen:And then they add bridges. What did you think about that? Now you hear that there's now three of them together. How did that one hit you when you heard that one? What was crazy about that one was Alex Rodriguez is a friend of mine with the Timberwolves. He tried to get Dante DiVincenzo when Dante DiVincenzo was a free agent leaving Golden State. And Dante chose New York to go with Jalen because of that culture that Leon was building. Yes. and Alex Rodriguez was not going to take Randall unless they got Dante. So they couldn't get Towns without giving up Dante, which was crushing to all of us. And then they went and got McHale, which then was thrilling for all of us.

16:52And McHale was always that guy, very similar to Josh, although they're not physically the same, but McHale could guard anybody on the floor. We were in a Big East championship game in 2018 at Madison Square Garden. We couldn't score. We put McHale and an ISO at the top of the key. He drilled a three to win the Big East championship for us. He could score, but he didn't have to. And Leon Rose knew that. And he knew he was going to fit people around Jalen and Towns like Ananobi, like McHale, who could guard anybody on the floor. They can score when you need them. to score, they could shoot it, and they're humble enough to accept and really crave winning over individual accolades.

17:39And that's the key to McHale. He's been that way his whole career.

17:42Rich Eisen:And what's the secret sauce to their friendship and relationship that makes them work so well professionally and personally, do you think, Jay Wright? I think they're parents. They all have the same parents. They're all faithful parents. they all were brought up with the mentality that when you're struggling, listen to the coach, do what's best for the team, which sounds simple, but it's so rare nowadays with talented players, and especially with the people around them. They were all brought up that way, and they appreciate that in each other. And so it's like you heard, you know, Josh wins a championship.

18:27first thing he thinks about is saying those draft picks were worth it for McHale first thing he says because they they appreciate each other they know what each other sacrifices I think Towns is the same way and Anobi's the same way I think that's what Leon Rose built well I'm just going to ask

18:47Rich Eisen:you a point-blank question if you don't mind I'm sure you've been asked it before Mike Brown perfect coach. Boy, did he do a great job. Unbelievable. Did the Knicks reach out to you, though, and say, let's get the whole gang back together? I did. Talked to Leon. We're good friends, and it was real simple. We're both Philly area guys. We were going to meet at the Jersey Shore where we all go hide out, and I just said, I don't want to waste your time. I know I'm done. And I'll tell you what, honestly, Rich, I don't know if I would have been good for those three at this point. They put up with enough for me.

19:26Like, they were with me for four years. They took a lot from me, and they still listen to me. Meaning, I hit them today and said, like, I know you're tired of hearing from me. I text with them all the time. It's not about basketball stuff. It's about mentality and life things. But I think they've heard enough from me. I think Mike was perfect for this team because it's an older team, mature team. that just needed to figure out a way to gel. And I thought Mike did that. Things like playing Alvarado at the end of game four in the fourth quarter that whole time was so gutsy, so smart. And he and Jalen had barely ever played together like that.

20:08And that was brilliant. He did a lot of things like that and deserves a lot of credit.

20:13Rich Eisen:Well, listen, again, like I said, a diehard Nick fan. And I feel like Brunson has delivered in a way that few people expected and will never forget. But there's also a small contingent of us Knicks fans who went to the University of Michigan who feel he owes us one. You know, 2018. What a year for you guys. Oh, you have no idea. But my wait for that was made longer by you and the Nova Knicks. So I feel like this is the circle of life coming through and making this wait now finally end too, Jay. You know, that's the way I'm feeling. That is so true, man. That's a great year for the Wolverines. I'll tell you that.

20:52Rich Eisen:Thanks for the time. I'd love to just have you on every now and then, pick your brain on stuff and just get your perspective. I really would love it. Love to do it, Rich. Thank you. And congrats to you. I'm impressed with the loyalty of the Knicks fans over all these years. Hey, listen, man. And the Popes from Villanova, too? My goodness gracious. It's all coming up Nova right now. It's great. We're feeling good, man. We're feeling good. Take care of yourself. Thanks for the time. Thanks, buddy. That's J-Rod, everybody. Basketball Hall of Famer. Love that, huh? A-Rod's like, I want the big ragu.

21:23Rich Eisen:We're not sending you towns unless I get that guy. I didn't know that. Did you ever hear that one before? I did not. I did not know that. I got to say, I'm feeling for Dante today. Yeah, I hear you. I hear you. Randall, too. But that doesn't happen. But hey, Cat. I mean. You got to feel great for Cat. The Cat trade's truly underrated. Yeah. It's not talked about. I know Luka got traded and the world went crazy. But for Cat to get moved to number one draft pick to this Knicks team, I don't think it gets talked about enough. And they're not winning the championship without him. That is correct, sir.

21:56Because the whole explosion of Knicks victories was born out of, as we've been talking about with tons of our guests over the last month,

22:09Rich Eisen:Carl Anthony Towns placed in sort of a point center role that obviously other teams sniffed out and started to get him out of that Spurs being the most successful at that. You know, so great stuff. 844-204-RICH, number to dial here on the program. A couple more aspects of this I want to hit on. I want to hit on the 1A dude conversation, and then I also want to hit on the Wembon Yama conversation in the way that he finished the finals. That's all coming up.

22:57Rich Eisen:Rich Eisen here. Take a second and look at your city's calendar. Everywhere I go, there's always something coming up. Games, concerts, conventions, tournaments, the kind of events that bring people in from all over. And when that happens, you can feel it. More energy, more fans, and a whole lot more people looking for a place to stay. So here's something to think about. If your city has that kind of buzz, if big events are on the way, listing your space on Airbnb could be a great opportunity. If you're already planning to be out of town or you've got a trip coming up, why not make your place work for you while you're gone?

23:31Rich Eisen:You've got the space and you're not using it. it could be earning you some extra cash. I know when I travel for these big events, I'm not just looking for a place to crash. I want something comfortable and safe, a place that allows me to experience the city like a local. And that's exactly what you can do by offering to list your space. No big lifestyle change, no long-term commitment, just making smart use of the space you already have. So the next time your city draws a crowd, think about listing your space on Airbnb. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host.