FanPost

One Shining Moment...

I'm not pretending to know every aspect of salary cap mathematics. I'm just putting into words what I feel the potential in Phil's vision can produce. I worked to include valid prospects, included some salary cap considerations in my team building, and a little bit of wishful thinking. Sorry if it's long.

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Carmelo Anthony slid out of the rear of the Range Rover, bristling as the brisk wind lapped at the stretch of unprotected neck peeking over the woolen collar of his Alexander McQueen pea-coat. Not seeing Alan Hahn's car, he decided to take a moment to stretch his legs and savor the last wisps of cigar smoke as they left his lips before entering the cafe. Soon, a sleek BMW pulled up beside Carmelo crunching the gravel beneath its tires as it slowed to a stop.

"Nice choice Alan. I've never stopped here when I've been in town. I always go with Amare to that Mediterranean joint." Alan grunted as he jerked his laptop from the backseat. Didn't know why he was bringing it; he never got around to using it. Glancing backwards at Carmelo, he smiled as he tossed it back onto the seat. "Well, I figured we could both use something different. I've never been here either. How's the boss and Kiy doing?" Carmelo finally shut the door of the Rover. "Aha, funny man. Lala is doing great. Shooting another movie over in England right now. Kiy is doing great; a few turnovers last night but Atlanta's defense has been on point this year. I keep telling him to stop dribbling so high." Alan laughs and reaches out for a handshake. "You telling Kiy about turnovers? No wonder he doesn't listen."

Once inside, Carmelo recognizes the bouquet of some of his favorite cigars and fondly rolls the tube holding the King of Denmark cigar in his pocket. Tonight is a good night to burn this one. Some good memories to share. He follows Alan to their table on the rear patio and it's surprisingly quiet. Just a few crickets milling around in the dry creek bed nearby. "So Melo, I'm glad we could get a chance to sit down and get this all on paper. You're the first person who's schedule has matched up with mine." "Yeah, no problem man; it made it easier with Kiy on the road and the boss overseas. I'll make time to talk ball with one of my favorite people." Alan smirked and glanced down at the small notepad he pulled out of his pocket. "I'm thinking we just record the whole convo; I'll ask these questions I got written down, some others-we'll wander a bit I'm sure-and just relive the memory. It was a long time coming."

"It sure was. Man, I was honestly thinking I would never get one. Amare, me, Iman-we were all starting to wonder if we could get it done with that group." Alan looked down at his notes again. "Yeah, a lot of people were wondering. Bigger question for me, though, is how did you guys come together so fast? I mean, after the first year and a half under Phil and Fisher, it was a blur. Trades, buying picks, more trades. Can you shed any light on what the Knicks organization was thinking?I know we are ten years out but some of it has got to be fresh in your mind." Carmelo took off his derby bowler hat and sat it on the chair to his left.

"It was all Phil to be completely honest. Him passing last year gave all of us a lot of time to think about the impact he had on the team and on us as people. I remember when he came in and told us he was trading Tim. I can't say I was happy about losing that depth but that pick we got turned into Jerian Grant. Kid was a big part of those playoff series. Plus we got Gee; filled that pain in the ass role perfectly. Helped fill the hole when JR walked." "Shit, I never turned on the recorder. Okay. Alright, so you guys turned those 2 picks in, 2014 was it?" Carmelo nods slowly. "Yeah, the 2014 draft."

"Got it. So 2 picks in the draft turn into Montrezl Harrell and Jerian Grant. I mean, that's some real big talent coming to the Knicks. Which pick were you happier with?" A lithe waitress comes, takes drink orders and strolls back to the bar. "It's like asking me to pick between the rum and the Coke in the drink I just ordered Alan. We needed both of those guys. We thought that Jeri could be our point guard of the future. And we knew Full Monty was exactly what we wanted inside. I watched him play a few games at Louisville. High motor, inside-outside game-those two together were perfect. It's like things were starting to finally break our way." Alan smiled. He remembered hearing that the Knicks had acquired a couple of second rounders. Felt good to be getting picks, not hemorrhaging them.

"Yeah it felt that way. So Phil makes crazy move after crazy move and, you know, we get to the 2017 season. Melo, I gotta tell you: I never saw it coming. I mean-" Carmelo interrupts Alan with a chuckle as the drinks arrive at the table. "No, nobody saw it coming man. I mean, I was gonna opt out the next season. To be completely honest. I was ready to take that backseat. I saw MCW growing. Iman was already a beast. Hey, I always joked we had the longest, skinniest backcourt in NBA history once we got Livingston onboard. But I didn't think we could make a serious run until a few weeks before the All-Star break." Alan clapped and smiled. "Cousins." Melo nodded his approval.

"Yup. Phil and I had been talking for weeks. We knew our biggest weakness had been our revolving door at center. We had some guys who were okay defensively but just couldn't fill their role in the triangle. I just threw it out there, Maybe we could go after Cousins. Phil just looked at me and said-not kidding man-he said: 'Then go get him.' I didn't even know what he meant." Melo pauses here. Phil had brought a whole new level out of him. It was still weird to talk about him while he was gone. "I had to elevate my game again. That's what he made me see. DMC wasn't happy out there. Sacramento wasn't treating him right. After everything they had been through. So if he was looking to move, I had to make New York an attractive target. I just play my ass off. If they need 40, I drop 40. I dove for more loose balls at the beginning of that season than I had in my whole career. So you know, Phil is working hard behind the scenes and we are busting ass on the court and pretty soon we are 30-8. And all of a sudden, we got DeMarcus fucking Cousins. I mean, it was like lightning." Alan stares at the bottom of his glass. He knows the next part. Carmelo does to.

"So, you guys go into the All-Star break hot. 9 straight wins, right? And then boom. You sprain your left knee. I think you miss 18 games?" Melo shakes his head. "No. I missed 6 games, then tried to come back because I wasn't feeling that 3-3 record. But it was too early. Missed 10 more after that. So 16 games. We went 9-7. Cleanthony stepped up big time. Plus, it didn't hurt that we had DeMarcus now." Alan laughs. "You lucky bastards. So you guys finish out the season strong: 61-21. Your starting lineup is MCW, Iman, yourself, Harrell and Cousins. Be honest. Did you think you had a real shot to win it all?"

Carmelo rubbed his hands together. "I'll tell you when I knew we had a real shot. When I was out and Early and Ryan Kelly had like 4 games apiece shooting over 50% from deep, I knew we had what it took. I saw what Phil was building. All the wide open looks. I mean, I led the team in assists in '15 and '16. But MCW took it to another tier. His vision and the offball movement that Fish drilled into our heads made us go. And who knew that our defense would feed off of our offense. So much energy man. So much energy. And Phil, God rest his soul..." Carmelo paused again. "Phil showed all of us the value of selflessness. There were days at practice where he would post the stat sheet from a previous game and we knew we were doing good if there were a few points, rebounds, assists lines that we couldn't tell apart. Phil was like that. The greater good. I think he wrote about that in his last book."

Alan stroked his chin briefly. "Yeah he did. It was a good one too. So, you literally storm through the playoffs. Dropping three games total, two to Washington and one to Cleveland, on your way to the NBA Finals." Carmelo shrugged and sipped his watered down drink. "Yeah, I mean we did what we had to do. It sucked when Lebron snapped his collarbone but we couldn't slow down to feel sorry for them. I made sure to check up on him. We had to be ready for Klay Thompson and Anthony Davis. The Warriors breezed through everybody. I mean, they didn't have to face Kawhi and the Spurs so I guess they got lucky too."

Alan skipped ahead a couple of pages in his notepad. "So this series was fun. Game 3, Iman scores 50 for the first time in his career while you're battling a fever. Game 4, Klay returns the favor with a nearly identical stat line. Games 5 and 6 you guys win easily, knotting up the series. Walk me through Game 7." Carmelo pulls out the King of Denmark. "Time to enjoy you." He preps the cigar as he begins to talk.

"Well, Coach Fisher let us know before the game that the only person who hadn't gone off on their team was Davis and that he was due. Well, DMC got fired up and you know what happened there. We didn't expect him to foul out. Iman was still angry about getting lit up for 50 by Klay. So we have this whole angry mentality. But it's a unified angry. And we come out swinging. I think we led by 15 after 1, 22 at halftime. It looked like it was over. But third quarter comes and Davis is heating up. So Cousins starts to overplay him and ends up fouling out with like 6 mins let in the quarter. Amare comes back in and man, does he give us a lift. Everyone knows that Amare wasn't himself at that point. But that was our Willis Reed Moment. Amare came out. He'd missed like 35 games with that knee contusion. Comes in when our lead was down to 7 and by the time the quarter is over and he's done for the night, we are back up by 15 and all is right with the world. We thought. Fourth quarter, Cole is getting eaten by Davis who has like 35 and 18 already. I swear he blocked me at least 4 times. I think he got that blocks in a playoff game record by at least a couple. Anyway, so what does Fisher do? He puts Harrell in at center, me at the 4 and our backcourt is MCW, Iman, and Jerian Grant. A couple of mins left in the game we are up by 10 I think and Klay hits those 2 threes. I'm thinking, time to go to work. You know Harrell sets good screens so I get pretty good postups and find Iman coming off a screen. Hit him for a quick three. Fisher likes to have Harrell slip those screens and become the deep corner guy on the weakside. So we run the same thing except when then close out on Iman, he whips it to Harrell who hits another three."

Alan sighs. "I tell you what. Watching that last minute was beautiful. Three steals by MCW leading to three dunks by Harrell? A work of art. How did it feel to hear the final buzzer and look up to see 107-92 as your final score?" Carmelo lets a few wisps of cigar smoke curl from his lips.

"It felt glorious. We finally got to watch our One Shining Moment. My heart hurt from being so full of happiness. I think I cried for two hours that night. And I remembered Denver, and Syracuse, and Woodson, and everything else. And you know what I told myself?" Alan leans forward. He feels the emotion. "What did you tell yourself?"

Carmelo smiles as he stands and puts his hat back on his head.

"Fuck, I'm tired."