Oh yeah, yeah.

All right, we're ready.

Thank you so much for coming.

We so appreciate you.

I'm Alexander's child nine.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

So uh my first question for you um kind of on the championship, kicking things off is what's a moment from the championship that you know fans never saw, but you'll never forget.

Well, uh it's hard for me to say that because you guys all saw, you know, me hugging Jalen.

So I to me that's I mean, all the work, all the years, and then you get a chance to hug your son after winning the championship.

Uh, I mean, that's just this is uh unforgivable uh moment and probably last obviously will last forever.com, thanks for coming.

Oh, that we just did it, you know.

You know, you you uh you work your whole life um teaching y your kids how to you know to grow, to be successful and to get to the mountaintop of your profession, you know, it's it was great.

I mean it's still not sur uh surreal for me.

Just you know, watching him and and obviously sitting there and my stomach getting, I'm nervous, but uh hear that sound go off the the buzzer go off and and embrace him is the best.

And you're being honored here in Syracuse.

I wanna make it very clear.

Like I'm from Syracuse, like I I bleed orange.

Not just orange and blue, but I bleed orange.

Um die hard Syracuse fan, all the coaches up there tell you.

Uh my cousin is Felicia Legat, you know, I'm supporter of of their program.

But every summer I left here in eighty-seven to move to go to high school in Boston and but I came here every summer.

And um stayed with my grandmother and and hung out in Syracuse.

I'm here every summer.

Um my mom's waiting twelve.

Every year.

I have to take my mother to the state fair and walk around for a whole year.

So I would do it again this year too.

But I love Syracuse.

Like this is my I tell everybody I'm from Syracuse.

When people say, are you from Boston?

Oh, I'm from Syracuse, New York.

I'm proud of Syracuse.

Um you know, I I never forget as a young kid.

I cried when Keith Smart hit that shot, you guys are too young for that.

In eighty-seven.

Um big supporter of uh Mellow and his son, so I'm diehard Syracuse.

Um my last question I don't even think now about you know, how did it shape you into becoming the coach and the person you are today?

Basketball is huge here.

Just you know, it's funny, you know.

I grew up on a um on the west side.

Uh I got introduced to basketball going to Shine Street Boys Club.

Um great friend of mine, um, Greg Jones used to be a coach.

I know that uh Nottingham, he was on my team.

I have a picture, bitty basketball.

I have the picture on my phone.

We're kids, uh Bernard Blunt who lives outside of Philly where I live, still friends to this day.

I have friends, Dave Donaldson, uh the Caldwells, you know, Rashida.

I grew up playing against her sister and brother.

So I mean, just playing basketball in Syracuse, and uh I just got lucky.

I I I grew to this height, I moved to Boston.

I don't know, I I got I guess I got a little lucky, got pretty good and went to college.

So, but yeah, I'm um Syracuse has made me, and I and I appreciate that, and this is my home.

What did that mean for you and for the city of Fairfield?

It yeah, you know, for for me, you know, I you guys heard my story.

Um former athlete, um, S U and and do high school and just sports means a lot to me.

It's such a character-building um involvement for young people, and so um to just you know, sports is huge here in Syracuse, and and so many people go through our teams.

Nottingham High School did amazing this year, you know, it just energizes us to get behind our sports team, particularly our local team, and then we flood the dome to to watch the teams both football and basketball.

So to be able to just have this moment in Syracuse with coach is it means a lot.

It's gonna be a mean a lot to this community.

And uh Coach, I know that you at one point had said that you remember you felt like a forgotten man in the Syracuse people have forgotten that about you.

What do you see your legacy in Syracuse as PASO?

I don't really get into they forgot my family hasn't forgotten me.

So that's most important to me.

Like, you know, it's great to be honored here, but you know, I'm 54 years old.

You know, it's about the youth here, you know.

I'm saying if I could help out in any way, you know, I know I get calls from like I said, Greg and people around Syracuse, Rashida.

I think our uh our foundation did things for her last year.

So it's not about me, man.

You know, Syracuse hasn't forgotten about me.

You have because you're probably too young to remember me.

I'm wondering what lesson do you hope young athletes in Syracuse take from your journey, especially this year with the finals.

I mean, tying it into it was spectacular for the whole nation to watch, but young athletes in New York State, here in Syracuse.

That's a great question.

You know, Jalen has a saying, right?

Um, the magic is in the work.

I get that question all the time.

Uh the magic in it, what does that mean?

Because you know, people think like this is magic.

It's really not.

It's what it's work, it's what you put into it.

Whatever you put into the bank is what you can take out.

Um, and and then one thing I've I teach my kids, I have a daughter as well.

You know, you know, people doubt you, you know, all that matters is the people that love you.

That's all that matters.

Our opinion matters to Jalen, not the outside world, and just believe in yourself and keep working.

Oh, you know, it's a young gentleman.

Um, you know, winning the first championship for the next 53 years, but getting to, I know you touched on your son, but getting to accomplish that quick pen, that milestone.

Um, what was that like and how much does that mean to you?

I mean, I wish I had an answer for you.

Um, I'm I mean, I wake up every day like pinching myself.

I still can't, I think I don't know if it's true.

I don't, I it's it's it's just such an amazing feat, and to do it with your son.

I believe we're the first uh father-son, right?

Um, but you know, I play for the Knicks, and and we went to the NBA finals, and but to nothing beats your kids doing way better than you.

Nothing beats that, and just for me to sit there and be a part of it, you know, it's the best best feeling ever.

And remember, they swept, and they would have swept, except for one game.

We won't go there.

And I mean, so Jalen has become you know one of the league's biggest stars.

And I'm wondering, you know, what is that unique dynamic?

You have to bring a man, you have to coach him.

You're also his father.

That's a unique bond that we don't see often in the league.

And it's when we watch it coming to fruition the way it did.

That's a that that's an interesting dynamic that I think folks really see a little bit into it.

Well, the main thing, and this is for all parents, you know.

Well the main thing and this is for all parents you know I'm always I'm a father, you know, and I think that line will never get cross.

I'm not his friend, I'm not trying to be cool with him, I'm his dad.

And when I mean what I mean by that is, you know, I coach him, I discipline him, I do everything I would do as if he was a nobody.

And to his credit, he respects that line, and we both respect that line with each other.

And most importantly, I listen to him sometimes.

You know, it's times where you just gotta leave him alone.

And you know, your kids, you you see their body language, you see their face.

It's just times, you know, you listen to them.

And um, and I think it worked it worked out, but all the credit goes to Jalen, you know, because most kids can just push your way.

You know, I just gave him the blueprint, he filed it, but the credit goes to him.

And Mare Owens.

Um, I'm wondering what message do you hope young people took away, honoring somebody who grew up here.

We know so much about this, the community here, basketball community, but what this is.

What do you want, you know, your young people, your young constituents to take away from experience like this?

I mean, uh, coach just said it, you know, the quote, the the magic is in the work.

You don't get there until you you have to work, you know.

Sometimes we did see the finished product and say, oh, I I really want that, because they see the joy and the admiration and all of that, but they didn't see the sweat in the gym, they didn't see the that the ankle twists, you don't see the you know, you're so tired that you you're throwing up kind of thing, especially when you're an athlete and you're working out.

Um, so the magic, I'm still that one.

Yeah, okay.

Is in the work, and in anything that our young people do, they have to put in the work.

All right, two more questions.

Uh coach, being able to not only experience this run with your son, but also with your mother being there at the games.

How how special is it to have her at those five games?

Wow.

I want to know, does she come when we lost?

Did she come to that game?

No, uh, it's great.

You know, obviously, my mother is a trooper.

She she gets on a train, you know.

Um, I don't know if it's me.

Yeah, and go right to the garden.

Um she she's a trooper.

My family as a whole, my sisters, they all come to games um throughout the year, but it's great.

I mean, we're a tight-knit family.

I mean, you know, Jalen's around, trust me.

He sneaks in town, you know, he comes up here to see his grandmother.

And but most of the time, you know, my my uh my mom and my sister, they come down and hang out with my grandbaby.

But uh, this is a joy, I think it's a joy for everybody, not just my family, but just like you said, the whole state is it's been crazy wherever I go.

Like I'm I'm on a trap.

I went to Orange Theory this morning.

I go to Orange Street all the time, and I I mean a woman, I don't I don't think she can watch basketball, and she's like, congratulations.

I'm like, whoa, right.

So it's it's crazy.

So but it's fun.

Right.

Yeah, we always uh uh talk about so we're not in, so we're not in New York City, but that was a win for the entire state.

Entire state.

If you can speak to young work Brunson and Syracuse and growing up, man, what would you say?

Oh man, I I gave my mother a tough one.

You know, I was I was the middle child, I was I was tough.

I went to Danforth.

Oh yeah.

Um, Mr.

Hannah was the principal.

Back then you get paddled.

Back then in the 80s, and I was getting a lot of paddles.

Uh I didn't listen.

Um, then I went to all Lady of Lords.

Um, I was different because the nuns hit you with a ruler.

So, but no, just the discipline, the um understanding um what you're trying to be in life, you know, uh instead of living day by day, you know, what's the future hold for me?

I didn't know that, but as I got older, and obviously my mother, you know, I I give all the credit to my mom.

Just I think in my mind, she would get up every day, every day, and I grew up in a projects on the west side, get on the bus, go downtown and work at Blue Cross Blue Shirt right on Warren Street.

I think it's apartment building now, but right on Warren Street.

And I just think I just saw that and never made excuses.

And I think I just I took that and used that to myself as I got older.

But you know, it's just listening and believing in yourself, but it's discipline, you gotta be disciplined.

Thank you, Ariel.

Thank you guys.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I will come back in one second.

I'm just gonna take him back and then I'll direct the back.