Apparently, the front office of the NYK's are committed to making real runs at winning a championship over the next few years... in addition to being committed to the undeniable scoring talents of Carmelo Anthony.

With the prospect/likelihood of NOT bringing Jeremy Lin back, I'm starting to think GG has a plan and he's sticking to it... and that plan, finances aside, is to supplement the rather significant deficiencies of Carmelo Anthony, and to a lesser extent, Amare Stoudemire... and GG is doing this by complimenting their rather significant strengths.

And as sad as it is to not be a "young up and coming team with athleticism and homegrown talent"... It's also pretty great to now see our team as a seasoned, old-school, deep, smart, defensively-oriented team with leadership and versatility.

And it starts with our new, OLD big 4... Kurt Thomas, Marcus Camby, Jason Kidd and Tyson Chandler.

And it'll end with a basketball product that I think we'll all be satisfied with.

Carmelo Anthony, for all his scoring genius, has disappointed us and the league since he was drafted. He's lacked leadership, defensive focus... and let's be honest, winning the games that matter. Which is why surrounding him with old-heads who know how to play together and how to play their roles and how to play defense and how to prioritize winning over showmanship is intelligent.

And it'll benefit Amare as well. Especially bringing in Crazy Eyed Kurt... a true 4 who is slow, and knows how to play smart, strong man to man and team defense, while also being an effective pick and pop player... something Amare needs to get better at.

Look, we all loved the Lin run, and maybe he does come back... but I can't really bring myself to complain about our lineup if we are in fact trying to take the throne.

If we're looking to ride Melo and Stat to the promised land, they need the right knights to sit at the roundtable with them to do what they do not do on the basketball court... and we now have enough of them to over-power the ineffective "new-school" approach to basketball that has limited the successes of our stars.

C'mon how can you not dig this lineup? How can you not like imagining, at the very least, taking it to the Heat with force and will and smarts and physicality and team defense? We've got guys that feel like Knicks (because they were Knicks decades ago)... we've got guys with scowls and crazy eyes... we've got guys who can go scoring toe to toe with Lebron and Durant... and we've got guys with chips on their shoulder (and arthritis in their joints).

Look, it's not perfect, but it is undeniably a unique approach to beating the best... and I like taking our own path to winning than by following a path which we just weren't built to follow (ie. Heat and Thunder).

And if it doesn't work over the next 3 years... we're positioned to start over with a completely clean slate... which is always fun.

Felton/Kidd/Prigioni

Shump/JR

Melo/White/Novak

Amare/Kurt

Tyson/Camby