Forget CP3: This Is The Knicks Team You Would "Grow" To Love

When a girl breaks your heart, you sometimes take an easy way out, you go for a rebound.  You go out with someone who used to be your second choice or date a next available girl that comes to you.

So, 2 years of preparation and yearning came to a crushing and bitter ending. Since, we have been hearing about Carmelo Anthony in 2011 and CP3 in 2012 making New York's own version of Big 3. And that talk at the wedding Chris Paul supposed to have given would make many frozen Knick fan's heart pumping again. 

Rebound.

Don't get me wrong, I love Anthony's game and always have been a sucker for an elite PG.  They are nobody's second choice.  I'd love it, if they come.  If ...

But let's not go there.  History may repeat itself but let's not do this all over again. Let's not try to embrace somebody without knowing that he is tough and brave enough to play in New York.  Let's not react to every small hint about which baseball cap he wears, which coach he wants to play for (turns out there was a dozen) and which PF he wouldn't mind playing with(had to get HIS permission about Amare in a second meeting, wow).

This wooing of LeBron James was a strange  experience.  We wanted him. Badly.  If he came and delivered a championship, we would have enjoyed it.  But it's like when the Rangers finally won the Stanly Cup in 1994.  I loved it.  But there was also that strange, reserved feeling inside.  New York Rangers won but almost all players were like mercenaries.  Rangers were mocked and called Edmonton south. Didn't feel as if it was our team.  Relationship between the fans and players were too short. I would always have had that reservation with LeBron James as well, especially knowing his relationship with Cleveland.

Ewing never won a title and the word 'disappointment' always accompanied him, but on the floor he never, ever quit on his team or teammates.  He may have had rabbits hands but had a heart of a lion and always left everything on the floor.  And when Charles Oakley and John Starks joined him, we had a team that may not have won the championship, but won over the city of New York for years to come.  They brought toughness and passion to the Garden.

Same thing with the team that went to the finals in 1999 with no superstars but good players with toughness inherited from Oakley, Starks and Mason's team.

We have been talking about Chris Paul and Tony Parker before Raymond Felton even played a single game for the Knicks.  But watch this guy, everybody talks about his heart.  He may be small but we may find some Pat Ewing in him, the ultimate warrior.

We have Amare, who wanted to come to NY and would enjoy playing in the garden.  We once had a player who came to the Garden wounded but won over fans with his passion and menacing play, Latrell Spreewell.

I love pure shooters (Alan Houston) so I love Gallo's pure stroke.  But I fell in love with this guy when he wouldn't back down against Kevin Garnett's elbow or would match basket-for-basket after trash talking with Carmelo Anthony last year.  He is more like John Starks, a fighter.

How about Marcus Camby, thin and lanky but with freakish athleticism and power, see some of that in Anthony Randolph?

Maybe there's some Charles Oakely in Ronny Turiaf and some Charlie Ward in Toney Douglas.  Maybe Bill Walker can develop into a big shot specialist like older Larry Johnson.

Super Big 3 of Miami is definitely sexier.  But I think we have a team of youngsters who would not be intimidated or back down.  They may not beat them this year. But I hope while Knicks backcourt of Felton, Chandler, Azubuike and Douglas who are known to be good defenders hold their fort, Knicks frontline of Amare, Turiaf, Randolph and Mozgov (yeah I heard that he plays tough and nasty) would abuse Bosh and scrubs every game, like the way Pippen would be punished every game back then by Anthony Mason.

This is a team that we can grow to love.  It may not be full of superstars that we dreamed of but perhaps much more likable.  When these guys make a tough competitive team with heart and character, then we can bring Carmelo Anthony or CP3 as a missing piece to the puzzle, not a do-or-die savior for an awful team.