I gotta throw a shoutout to my boy Matt T for planting the idea in my head. I’ll admit until now the suggestion was not even a thought in my mind, because until recently I had the Knicks getting knocked out in the second round at best. It’s easy to overlook the fact Amare put the Knicks on his back and has carried them all season. The Knicks have been an after thought in spite of their improved record this year, mostly because all eyes have been focused on the Heat. Then the Knicks got Melo and overnight have become Title contenders.
Let’s review last season: the Knicks gutted their team by shedding all salary commitments and trading away all their draft picks in the hopes of acquiring Lebron. Amare signed, but it was clear that this signing was intended to make the team more appealing to Lebron than it was to establish Amare as the new franchise. When Lebron took his “talents to South Beach,” the Knicks were declared dead in the water and only marginally better than last year’s team that missed the playoffs. And while everyone got excited to hear Chris Paul say that he and ‘Melo should join forces and put together another big 3 in New York, at that point nothing had happened.
Amare could have easily sat back and waited for Melo’s free agency before kicking his game into high gear and started trying to win. Instead he helped the Knicks win enough games immediately that he forced the organization to pursue Melo this season and potentially orchestrate a championship run. I can tell you without a doubt, if the past season did not unfold the way it did Melo would likely still be in a Nugget uniform.
Amare is the perfect franchise leader; it’s already well known that he was the one that convinced Nash to come to Phoenix for a run at a Championship. You know he was the one (not CP3 and not Lala Vazquez) that pushed Melo to state “New York or nowhere.” And now you have a dynamic duo in New York the likes of which Knicks fans haven’t seen since the 90’s. The Knicks are back and the NBA is better for it. New York is definitely the most improved team in the East this season and while I still believe they’ll get knocked out before the Finals, Amare alone deserves credit for this teams turnaround. Their potential is as great if not greater than the Heat because the Heat have their big 3 and still can’t beat the NBA’s elite teams.
Personally, I still favor Derrick Rose for MVP but honorable mention definitely goes out to Amare for bringing it every night and renewing the hopes of Knicks fans everywhere. Amare also gets points for not getting dragged into any of the distractions surrounding his team all season and being a class act all the way.
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