ShareThisThe Boston Celtics put together its Big Three, earning a championship ring and appearances in two of the last three NBA Finals.
Miami played copycat and now has its "Heatles," touring the league like rock stars.
And now New York copies Miami with its own version of the Fab Three -- Amare Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony ... and the seemingly secret key to the whole deal, veteran point-guard Chauncey Billups.
No disrespect to newly minted Denver Nuggets guard Raymond Felton, who has a slight edge statistically so far this season, but Billups is better choice here.
You need a veteran point guard to run this show while dishing out assists to two bona fide superstars and shouldering the weight of expectations in a city starving both for a championship over the past 38 seasons and relevance the past six.
Is it enough to get them over the hump in an already top-heavy Eastern Conference?
Maybe. But not this year.
The only problem with the Nuggets-Knicks trade is that the Knicks gave away a bit too much of their core to complete a playoff run that will require them to go through both the Celtics and Heat just to get to the Finals.
Hanging on to Danilo Gallinari or Wilson Chandler would have been nice, but since that wasn't about to happen, the Knicks will have to copy Miami yet again.
Just like Miami, the Knicks will have to first see how this thing looks on the court, see how far this incarnation of the team can advance once the playoffs begin and then add necessary parts in the offseason.
Billups, who'll be entering his 16th NBA season next year, still has plenty of tread left on the tire for the 2011-12 season when the Knicks can make a legitimate run at ending almost four decades of futility -- provided there's no lockout, of course.
It makes you wonder where the next Big Three will land. New Jersey? Orlando? Chicago?
The only thing that's for sure is that it will happen.
After all, nothing sells like, or is attempted to be copied more, than success.
(Contact Stephen C. Smith Sr. of the Wichita Falls Times Record-news in Texas at stephencsmith1(at)yahoo.com or at www.facebook.com/stephencsmith1.)
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