Underdogs No More: How the Knicks Went from Question Marks to Paper Champions

A week before Christmas, Knicks maestro Mike D'Antoni proclaimed on New York City radio that his team was talented enough to win a title in 2012. Scoffed at by the NBA intelligentsia, the quote has gained a level of infamy and was often used as ammunition by critics during the Knicks' dismal 8-15 start.

So strong was the consensus that New York not only lacked the talent to win a title, but also lacked the talent to make the playoffs that when D'Antoni's head finally seemed destined for the chopping block, even his most ardent detractors admitted his firing wasn't any sort of solution. 

Why should they have believed otherwise? Popular opinion held that the trade bringing Carmelo Anthony "home" (seeing his "WB" for West Baltimore tattoo makes his hometown-hero shtick spurious) had had a terminal effect on the team's depth. And our meager acquisitions in the truncated offseason had fallen short of the required miracle cure.

Throw in (out?) the amnestied Chauncey Billups, and the Knicks were without a point guard, a prerequisite for any offense trying to ration touches to both Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony.

With no bench or floor general, Anthony out of position at point-forward, and Amar'e Stoudemire charging into triple teams with no pick-and-roll partner, the New York Knicks' last hope seemed to rest on the flabby, injured 32-year-old Baron Davis. The problem there, of course, was that Baron's flabby, injured person rested on the bench. And still does, for that matter. 

Then, Jeremy happened. 

You will forgive me if I choose not to recap Lin's first two weeks as an NBA starter. What is worth mentioning, however, is what happened to the team during Linsanity.

With Anthony and Stoudemire joining Davis on the sidelines, the Knicks' role-players have stepped in and stepped up: Landy Fields, once considered a second-round steal but now thought of as a flash in the pan, returned to form, shooting 50 percent from the field while making the smart and hustle plays that so quickly endeared him to Garden fans in 2011.

Jared Jeffries, the long-maligned Swiss Army Knife of defenders developed something like a perimeter jumper, and started (gasp!) finishing at the rim.

Steve Novak, brought in as a last-minute scrap-heap replacement for a departed (to New Jersey, that is...though, really, what's the difference?) Shawne Williams, turned out to be an even deadlier and cold-hearted deep threat, as well as a better defender and rebounder, than "Extra E" could ever hope to be. 

And I haven't even mentioned rookies Iman Shumpert and Josh Harrellson.

Shumpert's fourth-quarter lockdown of a red-hot Jose Calderon this past week was perhaps more directly responsible for their comeback victory in Toronto than Lin's dramatic game-winning three.

The rebounding and versatile scoring of Harrellson, the second-round surprise out of Kentucky,  reminds some Knicks fans of David Lee...if David Lee was a better defender and long-range shooter, that is. 

The team previously thought to have all the depth of a puddle does, in fact, have a formidable bench.

A bench that keeps getting better.

It was reported early Friday morning (at 3 a.m., no less, when, as it is said, nothing good happens) that the Knicks had won the JR Smith sweepstakes. Reaction to this has been mixed. Both fans and the reactionary media worry that he is just one more ball hog (the other being Anthony) to take the shine away from Gotham's newest sensation.

But Smith's consistent three-point shooting and ability to create his own shot is exactly what Knicks need out of the sixth-man spot. So, barring any home-wrecking knuckleheadedness, this can only be good tidings for New York.

The signing of Smith does raise some questions, however: What will happen to Landy Fields' minutes? How will this affect Iman Shumpert's development? Is Billy Walker the next Ronaldo Balkman? But these are good problems to have. These are championship problems. 

Yes, that's right. The "C" Word. 

Why not? They have defensive bigs, a pair of All-NBA scorers in the frontcourt, a driving point guard and a versatile sixth man. The offense has been humming, and their defense ranks in the top 10 of the league. What more does a team need? On paper, they should contend for a title. 

That the games are not played on paper should go without saying, but, there, I've said it anyway. It is important to remember, because there have been plenty of paper champs who faltered and failed to meet expectations.

The pre-Kidd-and-Chandler Mavericks, for example, had a bit of a reputation for folding in the playoffs despite tremendous regular-season successes. And is there a better example than last year's Miami Heat, who fielded the most dangerous one-two punch in the NBA since Jordan and Pippen? 

In other words, the Knicks aren't there yet. There's much work to be done, and the banner-raising ceremony can wait until, well, the actual banner-raising ceremony. But the Knicks have proven that they are not short on talent or depth, and that they are strong at perhaps the two most important positions on the floor—center and point.

This display of strength was a necessary one to get over the first hurdle, which was proving that they have a championship-caliber team. 

They've done that now. All that remains is the winning.