On Greed And Greatness
A Special Sunday Edition
We did it, friends! We Won!! I cannot help but see the meaning of this weekend.
On Friday, America crowned its first trillionaire. An unimaginable concentration of wealth:
On Saturday, Greatness reigned.
Never forget that the Knicks are who they are because The Captain wasn’t oriented towards greed; he was oriented towards greatness.
113M less.
This became the culture of the Knicks - togetherness. Musk sets the tone. Brunson sets the tone.
And I think it is why so many people have felt elated by witnessing this victory, even if they don’t know the full story. The story of the Knicks is a story of commitment. Fundamentals. Long-games. Comebacks. Hard-won victories. Team. Togetherness.
What you can build together is far greater than what you can accumulate alone. But that starts with leadership. Togetherness is a choice Brunson made.
The catharsis of the Knicks’ win isn’t just about basketball. It’s about an alternative worldview. It counters the narrative of greed when that seems to be what we worship in America right now. It counters the narrative of constant optimization, extraction, and accumulation.
We don’t need to colonize Mars. You can’t even play basketball on Mars.
If Elon Musk knew anything about fundamentals, he would know that greatness doesn’t come from escaping the world; it comes from learning how to move within it with a reverence for those who are with you on that journey.
The Knicks remind us that the things worth building in life—teams, cities, companies, culture—are relational, and the relational is messy. It is unpredictable. It is emergent. And it is worth it.
Things worth building are the result of participation: day after day, practice after practice, drill after drill. They emerge from commitment to a craft and to your fellow team and citizens.
You choose where you orient yourself:
Toward accumulation or contribution.
Toward optimization or participation.
Toward greed or greatness.
This weekend laid the worldviews bare.
If you don’t know your Knicks history, start here: When the Garden Was Eden. A general incredible history of the Knicks, but also NYC. Championships change cities. They change people. A whole generation of kids will remember the moment Anunoby’s tip-in in Game 4. As I said in my January predictions: Mamdani is at the helm, the Knicks have won, and Dudamel is coming. New York will never be the same after 2026.
Then you have to watch A Kid from Coney Island. If the last 15min of this documentary doesn’t bring you to tears, I’d seriously question your humanity.
And who can forget, Linsanity.
We did it! Thanks for all the vibes!!