Interviewer asks the Knicks about Wemby not being friendly, KAT responds by calling him a “once in a generation player” that “the league is honored to have.”
This is good sportsmanship from him.
He’s always been a good dude. People like Gilbert Arenas just like to make snide remarks about him unfortunately.
Well Arenas is a complete moron and a terrible person so that’s no slight to KAT.
Wait, the dude who pulled guns on his teammate in the locker room is a dumb dumb I’m shook
Well tbf, the guy he pulled a gun on is an even bigger dumb dumb piece of shit.
Birds of a feather, shit birds
A shit leopard can’t change its shits spots, Randy.
Tbh the Untold series on Netflix on it kinda made me feel sorry for him. I know he’s dumb, but Gilbert came across as the biggest jackass imaginable and the driver of it all. The other guy took the full brunt of the fallout and seemed aware enough about it all, that I mostly just left hating Gilbert so much more.
He didn’t pull a gun on him, he placed three guns in his locker with a note that said “pick one” which is totally something that happens at all work places.
You are correct, it was crittenton who pulled it. My 15 year old wizards drama is slipping, damn.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/13832027/caron-butler-details-gilbert-arenas-javaris-crittenton-locker-room-gunplay-incident-washington-wizards-days
All historians end up going senile, in the end
It’s a sign of a career well spent, my friend
Crittenton turned out to actually be a bad person.
Takes all 3, calls police for lost firearms and turns them over, laughs at idiot teammate
Brother watched too many westerns
There’s a reason Gilbert both did not go in the first round and did not get a ring
there’s a great video where Gilbert was complaining about how much better he was than Richard Jefferson and how RJ got drafted so much higher and RJ made a response video where he bascially said, “yes Gilbert, me and everyone else on our Arizona team knows how much more talented you are than me, but they also all know why I was drafted higher, it’s because you’re the most unprofessional person I’ve ever met and a complete moron”
RJ is one of the most professional nba players from what I’ve seen, he’s funny as hell too even if he can be corny sometimes
holy shit that’s hilarious
I got suckered punched in the face because of Gilbert arenas.
Tldr was chatting basketball at a kegger 17 years ago with a guy. I was saying arenas is the most overrated player kn the league ans the guy was an arenas fan apparently.
Went outside to cool down an hour later and he walked up to me and punched me in the face.
Had a black eye 3 days later when my parents came to take me out for my 19th birthday for dinner lol
Kind of tracks that he was a fan of Gil lmao
Gilbert Arenas is in the all time conversation for achieving the least with the most talent.
I’m sure as someone who has received a lot of undue criticism. KAT honestly understands better than anyone how toxic people can be when hating online
Fuck Gilbert arenas. Bro was relevant so long ago and did nothing with his talent. The OG jackass. I literally don’t understand why he has a platform 😭
i wanna point out a take that gilbert arenas had. he wanted to trade brunson for jalen green. iirc, in his trade idea, the knicks would attach a pick.
that’s it. all credibility gone.
Well let’s not completely dismiss the idea, maybe we should hear him out
you’re too funny lol.
Arenas sounds like the kind of people that confuses kindness with weakness.
Anyone who mentions Arenas or SAS is a bonafide clown
It’s also just the truth.
Wemby just authored possibly the best age 22 season in the history of the league. Every metric in existence is telling us this guy is one of the best ever in his 3rd season in the league
He’s getting clowned on for his finals performance but you can’t forget everything that came before it
Ive seen him get clowned for the dirty plays way more than I’ve seen him get clowned for losing
Yeah, most of the hating has been about him being a dirty player and about his whole “I studied with the monks to reach peak mental maturity” persona being fake. There’s stuff too about him getting gassed and not playing well in clutch time, but I don’t think most people came away from this series thinking he’s a bad player lol.
It is a bit of an exaggerated narrative though. The kid just went to Shaolin monks to train. It’s fans who turned him into this enlightened being, which was ridiculous to begin with because he is just a 22 year old who still has a lot of maturing to do. The branding of “dirty player” is just as premature. Ultimately, the elbow was really the one foul where he truly messed up and that was genuinely dirty. That could have really injured Naz Reid.
The rest was really not that big of a deal. The push on Brunson was rather hostile, but honestly had no intent to injure and everyone on the court just moved on. The flagrant foul on KAT was a genuine attempt to roll to the rim that ended up with unfortunate contact and then last one was just a bad close out. He was honestly also receiving just as much as he was dishing out that series.
Naz Reid is a stud man. He took that elbow like nothing and didn’t escalate where he could have easily started an all time brawl. Props to Naz for his calm.
Is that a whole persona or something he did for like a week while injured?
How is it fake? He’s fucking 22. Unless he studied with monks since the age of 3, he’s not going to achieve peak spiritual maturity by chilling with monks for how long exactly? a maximum of one summer, most realistically a couple days?
It takes a lifetime. He went and did that because he’s self aware enough to know he needs it. He’s clearly an emotional guy and emotions get big whether they’re good or bad. So that includes his mental fortitude at the end of games and his physical reactions on the court when he tries to play hard.
How mature were you at age 22? Most of this sub isn’t even 22 yet.
I’m over twice his age, and he’s more mature at 22 than I was at 32. And I think he spent two weeks with the monks? Meaningful time, to be sure, but not enough to completely reverse the idiocy that happens in a 22-year-old brain.
He is a person, like anyone else. I believe that he truly believes that stuff, he comes across as genuine to me when he speaks about it. But just because he believes it in that moment doesn’t mean he will always live up to it.
And especially if you have read eastern philosophy, or studied the Tao or so on and so forth, it’s never as easy or simple to live up to those teachings, if at all possible. But it is about knowing that you can always be better, can improve, can have a greater impact on the people around you and by extension the world.
Humans are complicated beings, and the world is a complicated place. It is not black and white, as it so often is presented, but multitude of greys. All you can do as a part of this world, is try to be a little bit better every day.
He lashed out with violence, he tried to hurt people, he was not a good sportsman in those moments. I want to believe that he knows that those actions were wrong, and I hope he can improve himself in those moments going forward.
I see myself in those moments too. I have hurt people, I have done many wrong things in my life. But I also know that I am better than that, and all I can do is take each day as an opportunity to be a little bit better. Life is an incredible gift, and we should all strive to make the most of it - both for us and the people around us. But we will not always succeed. And that’s okay. It’s what makes us human.
Well said, BigDickLargePenis.
/but seriously I do agree with what you wrote and appreciate the eloquence with which you made your point.
He’s not a dirty player and he’s not fake, enjoy your win but no need to live in your own delusion
The question was about Wemby being a French asshole on the court and after the series which he for sure is and Kat just took the high road and didn’t take the interviewers bait.
Wemby praised the Knicks and criticized himself directly after the Finals. He handled it pretty well
Lebron James age 22 season
took a starting 5 of nothing but 6th man to the final’s with nothing more than pure fucking will power.
bit different then being gifted 3 top 3 pick in 3 drafts in a row with some really insane lottery “luck”.
You didn’t live through Bron 1st title run right? He was age 22 far less help.
Title run implies they won FYI.
Finals run would be the appropriate term.
I think they were both good but the spurs had a chance in every game in this series which you can’t say about 07
Wemby was playing on the favorited team, Bron had a team with no shot that he single-handedly dragged there.
Relatedly, Bron didn’t go through a rebuild with two other top 5 draft picks. Bron made the Cavs too good too fast, and that coupled with Boozer fucking the Cavs over basically locked the team to building through FA only.
Wemby was not favored in the conference finals and this year’s thunder are comfortably better than any team lebron played that year
I said “possibly” for a reason. Frankly the impact metrics point to Wemby but it’s definitely an interesting convo to be had
LeBron also didn’t face the 64 Win defending champions on the path to getting to the finals
while true, they still eliminated a Pistons team riding the longest ECF streak since the 90s bulls, a Pistons team that had just won 64 games the year prior, and a Pistons team that still had much of their core from their recent ring
Beating a 1 seed is never anything to scoff at, especially one coming off a 6-2 playoff start. Probably the only knock against them is that they let Ben Wallace walk, with him and who knows if Lebron even makes his first finals at 22
Bron had a worse cast but was easily swept.
Wemby has a much younger cast but pushed every game down to the wire.
Both have a reasonable claim.
The east was often fucking garbage back then too. But he did drag some horrible teams to the finals.
You know that “title run” means a run where you win a title right?
It’s also a dumbass question.
Just talk about the championship man
“Hey we’re trying to build the Wemby Villain Arc, can you contribute a sound bite to that?”
He’s also very well media trained.
He’s gonna do so well in the NYC media after he retires like Michael Strahan has, if he wants to get in that business of course
minnesota nice
Not only that, but such a well constructed answer.
KAT is a class act - that is a next level professional answer on no sleep
This whole Knicks team is. The fact that they are in the biggest media market in the country that would quickly take anything out of context and make it a huge deal, yet they have all handled it perfectly is amazing
The fact that Brunson and Hart have had a podcast for over two years and none of it has gotten clipped as being out of pocket is impressive
We had once a week 30 minute segments with Aaron Rodgers on a show that caused more issues than this entire Knicks team did this season
Jaylen Brown single-handedly turned his best season in green into the season he gets shipped off
That’s because it’s boring af (as a knick fan lol)
I tried to watch it a few months ago and the product placement was crazy. It’s basically “we interrupt this advertisement to bring you 30 seconds of JB and Hart talking”. I’ve got nothing against podcasts making a buck, I know it’s the whole deal, but this was next level
They follow Brunson’s lead and Brunson is a fucking robot like most NY sports great leaders.
Eli Manning staring absent mindedly.
Derek Jeter nods vigorously.
And honestly from Kat I actually legit believe it vs just being PR speak.
You should always compliment those that you beat. It makes you look better bc of the high road but also bc you beat them. Im sure KATs a good guy, but hes also mature enough to realize this is the only proper response. Shitting on a rival you beat is the dumbest thing you could ever do
[removed]
Actually, yeah, kinda. That would’ve been really funny
I actually think Wemby would’ve prob loved that too.
He would have trained with the bakers this summer and come back fatter and stronger
The interviewer probably wanted him to stir up shit lol and KAT refused to take the bait. I’m glad he stayed classy. “Fuck that French baguette ass mfer” would have been really funny though.
Kat knows better than to mock wemby. He wouldn’t gain anything, but might lose plenty in next years. Also, what I saw from him it’s not his style.
KATs already showed and likely said as much in the games to Wembys face
theres just no tact in doing it off the court. i seriously doubt he fears Wemby, every player recognizes getting old is part of the game. it doesnt stop them from talkin when they can (and more importantly, where its best to do so)
KAT has grown a lot as a player and realized that he’s as good as he’s ever gonna be. He isn’t the type to fold on the court like Chet (right now).
This would shut the entire circlejerk sub down if this happened 😭
Top 10 most upvoted posts on this sub lol
Yes
Uhhhh yea, that’s what we wanted to hear, but KAT played it mature and smartly. Love em.
it looks like Brunson toasted to as much
Although you could argue that his lack of an answer is actually a pretty strong answer in the negative. He could have said he’s a fierce competitor, but actually a good dude. Instead he just completely avoided the question, which to me is basically him saying that what we believe based on our viewpoint is accurate.
Unlike Ant, the media training worked on KAT.
Ant skipped Media Training Day and told the teacher to just “send da video” instead.
Ant watched Training Day instead
“KING KONG AINT GOT NOTHING ON NAZ REID!”
Sure Atlanta has Gorilla Nuts, but we got Jaden McDaniels
This direct quote from the film has really aged well. I didn’t even know who Naz was back then
Felt like KAT was a good dude to start.
His parents raised him well.
Idk abt everyone else but I’d honestly rather see an honest player time to time than just have PR trained answers from everyone
KAT is the perfect guy for morning shows, Ant is the perfect guy for late night.
I’ll never forgive the garbage ass salary structures and second apron for depriving me of Ant and Kat as a perfect Ying and Yang for everything on and off the court
Fuckin’ warcrine
Still bitter at CJ McCollum and the Player’s Association. They sold out to the owners and gave them the 2nd apron rules in exchange for the ability to smoke weed freely, and it happened right when the Wolves had 2 legitimate max contract guys on the team for the first time in franchise history. I like the parity aspect but man, give teams a couple years to gear up for the change rather than forcing the team gut the roster of homegrown/drafted stars just so the owners don’t have to pay a higher tax.
Us getting hosed after KGs max was expos facto a bad idea after they rat fucked the salary cap….also the reason Glen decided it was worth the risk to do the (way less bad than a certain LA team’s) shenanigans with contracts
I know the league isn’t built around fucking the wolves. I intellectually can acknowledge that
But boy howdy does it feel that way, ngl
KAT is also just this guy tbh no one in Minnesota has a bad experience with him, just a really classy and nice dude
100%
Tbh I obviously don’t personally know him but KAT just seems like a genuine good guy rather than it being media training
Good point, on the same side Ant comes off as pretty genuine too. Completely different personality than KAT but you know the type of dude he is.
Ant seems authentic, but I wouldn’t say that’s the same thing as being a good person
Ant may be immune to media training but he is class personified when it comes to sportsmanship on the court.
Wemby is the opposite, media trained like a winter soldier but with the sportsmanship and on-court class of a toddler
None of his teammates have a bad thing to say about him either. KAT said Ant was one of the first people he called after he won.
Tf does this have to do with Ant
Ant has described KAT as his “best friend” before, which makes me think Ant is a good guy deep down despite being immature and out of pocket sometimes.
“Can we talk basketball for just a sec” proceeds to talk about Wemby not shaking hands + not being the friendliest. Is that basketball? Media loves to keep us distracted on the most stupidest shit and feed us garbage. Big respect to KAT for not getting baited to give a negative response.
This was The Today Show. These people are not sports or basketball analysts.
They’re former political candidates and Michael Strahan. They don’t know sports!
Yes. Michael Strahan definitely knows nothing about sports. Fuck that guy. He’s been a GIANT piece of shit since 2008.
Bostonians pick up on sarcasm about as well as a t-Rex arm wrestles.
Apparently so do Lakers fans. Think about why I’d say 2008.
Michael strahan doesn’t know sports?
Quit playing with your train collection for 10 minutes and check your obvious use of sarcasm detector, little buddy. Why would I have mentioned him specifically?
To be fair, this was more of a basketball question than the questions before it lol
KAT is a good dude. He earned that Chip. Hell of a job.
I am a Spurs fan but I do like the Knicks. The Knicks were on a hot streak this playoffs too. I likw Brunson winning with friends and the story with his dad, and also how heartwarming that KAT dedicates this to his mom.
+ Mikal losing to the Bucks after being up, so many good stories on the Knicks. A special/documentary is needed
Honestly if this was someone else I would say media training but considering its kat he probably means it
Well, you notice that he didn’t say anything about Wemby’s personality. He just talked about Wemby’s talent as a player and his height.
He was indeed very tactfully avoiding actually answering the question. Still, with KAT I’m inclined to interpret that as sincerely sticking up for a fellow player against the media’s desire to create drama, regardless of what he thinks of Wemby’s antics. Which probably is something reasonable and nuanced that the media would immediately twist if he said it out loud.
I still like Wemby. It’s the NBA finals, you’re supposed to be playing the most physical, tough basketball you possibly can.
The refs let him get away with a lot of shit but that’s not his “fault”, and he shouldn’t be “friendly” during the finals to the guy matched up against him the most on the other team regardless
Makes it hard to root against the Knicks with players like him and JB.
I have been a hater since the 90s. This team is different and I enjoyed pulling for them. Easier because my team is not in the east admittedly.
It’s actually super easy, barely an inconvenience.
Oh really?
Throughout all of this, I have had zero problem with the Knicks themselves. Just the fans.
A Spurs fan put a Knicks fan in a coma. There are shitty fans in every fan base. I live in New York, all the Knicks fans I know are the coolest and friendliest people you could want to be around.
Every franchise has shit fans. Every. Single. One.
Plenty of bad spurs fans too
Generalizing fan bases, especially huge ones, is just a dumb thing to do
Superb media training.
You’re right but I think also that’s just the type of person he is. Actually I think the entire team is just following JB’s lead when it comes to talking to the media a certain way. It took Bridges to get totally lit today to talk some shit.
I think that fans are just way more upset about the push on Brunson and him walking off after losing the finals than the actual Knicks players are
Yeah bro lmao. There are players themselves who said that leaving immediately after losing is not a problem at all. The players usually do not want to be seen crying because they lost (which the media and fans would skewer them for). Staying around to shake hands does not make you more or less of a sportsman. It’s just preference
I remember what happened with Embiid after losing to the Raptors in the 2019 playoffs. You got to pick your poison so might as well dip and cry alone.
All-pro answer.
some of yall could learn how to be civil like this
I will never tolerate any KAT slander.
Same. Love KAT
So happy he has a ring… And as a huge contributor. This series will go down as a masterclass
This is good sportsmanship but also just true. The finals wasn’t his best series, so people have forgotten how for three rounds he looked like the best player in the world at 22.
Haters can hate all they like. Wemby is here and he’s not leaving
KAT knows he’s lucky they caught 22 yo Wemby in the finals. This sound clip will go great in the Wemby documentary. And everyone can talk shit now but no teams future is brighter than the Spurs with their generational big man. Who again, is only 22 in his first playoff run.
Even their coach was great up untill the finals and seeing how quickly JJ Redick is improwing I think Mitch is gonna be great in a few years too. Young coaches tend to learn quickly while the old stubborn guys (Doc) use the definition of insanity as a tutorial.
Not to mention, the way Harper stepped up in the Finals, could be a generation SG too. Once he and Castle can take a little more scoring pressure off Wemby that team could be unstoppable.
This is the worst version of Wemby we’ll ever see. But it’s also the healthiest version of him we’ll ever see. There’s no way his body will hold up for as long as people are imagining. He has like a 5 year window if I had to guess.
When a ball player is more articulate and nuanced than the president
OG’s completely fried, mute ass is more articulate lol.
I mean a hot turd on the sidewalk is more articulate than the president (no disrespect meant to KAT, btw)
How KAT has haters, I will never understand. Me and my homies all love KAT.
Classy and humble
Love classy men! Something a lot aren’t anymore.
KAT is a class act
Great sportsmanship. I think everyone on social media needs to take a step back and realize that most of these players understand that they’re in a hyper competitive environment. They do not take things personally while most of us fans do lol
KAT’s interview game is off the charts right now
I’d recommend KAT run for office but he’s already King of New York!
He should’ve said, “I called Wemby after the game, no ring.”
Classy dude…Love KAT
Why the fuck is Wemby supposed to be friendly?
I think they are talking about the way Wemby left the court after the Spurs lost and didn’t shake anyone’s hand or congratulate the Knicks.
class kat
Man I was around 52nd today. I should’ve swung by Rock Center.
Come to think of it a lot of the Knicks are just excellent on the mic. Just don’t ask Hart about what milk he likes.
KAT is taking the high road, good on him it shows character.
KAT is also a freak of nature
Wemby is super passionate and was clearly frustrated. He’s still young, he’ll learn from this.
I think of Boromir after Gandalf falls with the Balrog, “Give them a moment for pity’s sake!”
That’s a man who knows how to answer a question.
Kat is quite the politician. I’m impressed.
I get Wemby is ultra-competitive, but I hope he learns from guys like KAT about the other side of competitiveness, which is sportsmanship. At the very least he acknowledged Brunson and wants to add what he saw to his game in the French interview, but this is the same BS people hated on Isaiah way back when the Pistons refused to shake the Bulls’ hands after they finally won.
I know he’s 22, but he’s been playing basketball since 2019. It’s quite impossible to not pick up expected customs like shaking your opponent’s hands in 7 years of playing pro.
My boy KAT is polished and doesn’t fall for this type of stuff…
Impossible to hate Kat
KAT is classy as fuck
Kat a good guy he is so deserving of this
Kat for President
Love KAT so much. Always a good dude…
Man Kat is just so damn likeable
Good on KAT for not taking the bait. Always been a class act.
I love this team man. I’m honored.
Whatever you think of it (msg censorship etc) there is no question the Knicks players have the best media training in the league.
Class act.
Nicely handled. I’d expect him to be eloquent from what we know of him and his demeanor. Class. They’re all solid guys, I’d bet. Kills me as a 6er fan. Kills me. Haha
Are reporters getting dumber? The world’s so goddamn desperate for a headline moment it’s embarrassing.
Not sure what you’re expecting from general entertainment and news reporters on The Today Show. It’s super rare for them to be talking to athletes outside of the Olympics
Towns is gonna be an excellent commentator or coach one day.
Kat is just a good guy
Good guy KAT
Class!
Props to him for spewing that PR approved message while being blasted out of his mind LMAO
KAT is always likeable
KAT one of the classiest players in the league. Hopefully Wemby can learn from example.
KAT just seems like a good dude.
Man, This discourse sucks. Yeah, he could have had better sportsmanship just after the game, but he had lost in the finals, at home, giving away a lead AGAIN, and it’s 22. IF he doesn’t learn from here, then maybe he’s an ashole after all. And frankly wouldn’t mind a Wemby villain arc, players are too buddy buddy today
People really trying to force the Wemby hate
Excellent sportsmanship and top-drawer media training
Wemby showed his true colors this post season once things began to not go his way.
Knicks never talked the Spurs down at any point. Never gave any locker room material to fuel them up. No imaginary rivalry for Wemby to get hyped up for must have messed with him mentally.
“Yeah, I’m not getting into that bullshit,” but politely.