“The New York Knicks winning the NBA championship is the the best possible thing that could’ve happened to basketball.” This is what ESPN analyst and life-long Knicks fan Stephen A. Smith said after the New York Knicks won the NBA championship after over 50 years. Now, far be it from me to agree with the General Hospital star, but I actually think the man’s got a point here.

The NBA is a league wherein its teams, oftentimes and particularly over the past couple of decades, chase trends. When Steph Curry and his Splash Brother started breaking records from the three-point-line and helped the Golden State Warriors win multiple championships, the entire league shifted, causing a ripple effect to where everybody and their mamma started chucking it from deep. When Dirk won MVP in 2007 and would go on to topple the “Heatles” in 2011 and win the championship, every scout in the league set off to find their very own stretch 4. And let’s not forget how every team in the East were structuring their teams for the sole purpose of taking down The King throughout the 2010s.

If the Wembanyama-led Spurs had won this year’s chip, the trend for every team this summer would be to go out and find their very own “alien,” or structure their team to take down the one in San Antonio. What the New York Knicks proved is that you don’t need that—you don’t need an alien, nor do you need some other gimmick to win that ring. What you need is a team that always figures out a way.

A team comprised of understated misfits who understand their roles, with a coaching staff that trusts them and allows them to flourish in those roles. A team with grit, heart, and insane chemistry. One that bobs and weaves with the punches being thrown, instead of resting on what’s comfortable. One that’s led by a captain who, though isn’t tall or particularly athletic, is a giant amongst men with how savvily he plays the game. Not to mention his level of toughness is a rarity in today’s game; his humbleness even more so.

Jalen Brunson proved every analyst wrong. He proved every front office wrong. Heck, he even proved me wrong. And I couldn’t be happier.