“Why Not Us???” - Knicks Fan Rich Ponders the Possibility of a New York NBA Dynasty

Three days in, Rich still can't believe he wakes up to the words "my Knicks are NBA champions." With the parade set for Thursday and the team running the media car wash across Jimmy Fallon's couch, he's enjoying every second. But he wants to ask a bigger question. Why can't this be the start of a dynasty?

First, the joy of the moment. Rich finds Mike Brown endearing, right down to the "Who Let the Dogs Out" bit, a holdover from the flag football team Brown coached as a Spurs assistant under Gregg Popovich, the squad nicknamed the Dogs. Brown mentioned it from the podium before game one, and Rich figured it would either be used to paint him as not ready for prime time or as a coach keeping everyone loose. It turned out to be the latter. Now Brunson keeps telling him to stop, apparently unaware of the Baha Men backstory.

The real surprise was James Dolan. Rich watched a video, shared on Brunson and Josh Hart's podcast, of Dolan addressing the team before the playoff run, and called the speech inspiring. Dolan told the players that if they sacrificed for 10 weeks and won it all, they'd get a ring, and so would the most important person in their life, a spouse, a partner, a parent. He turned into Oprah handing out rings. Rich, long a Dolan skeptic who admits he usually read the owner as toxic, conceded that winning helps and that Dolan got it done.

Which led to his thesis. Everyone is treating this as a glorious one-off, Rich said, but what if it's the beginning of a run for the ages? What if Brunson's performance has turned him into a Jordan-esque closer nobody can stop in April? Even if the Knicks aren't a 60-win regular-season juggernaut, even as a two or three seed, they'll grab home-court in the first round, and then good luck beating a team that knows how to close and already has the rings.

The pushback came fast: there hasn't been a repeat champion in about nine years. Denver thought it, Milwaukee thought it, Boston thought it, Oklahoma City thought it. The league is drowning in parity. Rich's reply was simply, why not us?

The roster math gives him cover. Brunson, who took roughly $113 million less on his last deal, is locked in cheap at around $40 million over the next three years, and OG Anunoby is signed for three as well. The complications are out there, with Mitchell Robinson a free agent, Jose Alvarado up after next season, and Karl-Anthony Towns owed around $118 million over two years. But nothing in the immediate horizon screams that this gets blown up.

Rich even pulled in Detroit, noting that Dan Campbell is talking about this kind of thing with the Lions, a one-team city that could feel what New York is feeling. He's planting the flag before the parade. Back-to-back Knicks championships? Why the hell not.