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The New York Knicks were considered the favorites in the Eastern Conference entering the season, but their inspired run to the 2026 NBA Finals has still proven a lot of people wrong along the way. Those who believed the Knicks made a mistake by firing head coach Tom Thibodeau and replacing him Mike Brown before the season are eating crow now. Long-time critics of Karl-Anthony Towns’ toughness and defensive ability currently look like fools. Trading five first-round picks for Mikal Bridges won’t seem like the worst deal in NBA history if the Knicks raise a championship banner for the first time since 1973.
There are a long list of skeptics who need to sign an apology form after the Knicks’ dominating run through the East, but maybe it’s no surprise that the top target of “I told you so” blowback from Knicks fans is a woman.
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Back in 2023, WNBA head coach Becky Hammon went on ESPN and said the Knicks didn’t have a “1A dude” to lead them to a championship. When co-panelist Kendrick Perkins brought up Jalen Brunson, she said “He’s too small. If your best player is small, you’re not winning,” while noting Steph Curry is an exception. Watch the old clip here:
Knicks fans are raking Hammon through the coals for this take after the 6’2 Brunson won Eastern Conference Finals MVP. There’s nothing wrong with a victory lap for a fanbase that has been starved for success for decades, but if anything Hammon’s criticism of Brunson shows how much of an outlier he truly is.
Go back through every NBA champion of the last 40 years. How many of them have had their best player be under 6’6? I’m only seeing a couple:
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Isiah Thomas for the Detroit Pistons in 1989 and 1990. Thomas was listed at 6’1.
The only other player you can argue for is Chauncey Billups with the 2004 Pistons, but that team was much more a collection of five very good players without any obvious lead dog. Billups wasn’t an All-Star or an All-NBA selection in 2004, though he was named Finals MVP. The only Piston on the All-Star or All-NBA teams was their big man Ben Wallace.
Becky Hammon was right…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/becky-hammon-jalen-brunson-criticism-120000148.html
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Publish date : 2026-05-27 12:00:00
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