Bob Leverone/TSN/Icon SMI

By Steve Schaefer

Thanks Queen James. As a Knicks fan I spent the past two years fervently hoping that my inept NBA team would be rewarded for a pair of putrid seasons by signing the best player in the league.

Over the past week, as those hopes were fading and eventually snuffed out, I began to dream a new dream, one that could unite my alma mater and the hoops team I’ve been rooting for from the womb this time next year.

That dream of course, is seeing Carmelo Anthony suit up in Orange and Blue once again. Melo, a free agent after the 2010-11 NBA season, has made no secret of his affinity for Madison Square Garden. His first NCAA game was a loss to Memphis at the Mecca of Basketball in which he dropped 27 points and grabbed 11 boards.

When the Knicks were still in play for LeBron there was speculation that Melo would be willing to join him in New York next offseason, but realistically speaking I don’t see how their two games fit. Now that the King has “taken his talents to South Beach,” the stage is set for the curtain to rise on the Melo Era at the Garden.

(Quick aside: I’m not the first to point this out, but after Friday night’s Miami introduction of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the similarities to Hulk Hogan’s WCW heel turn are too striking to ignore.)

Now there are surely some hurdles that need to be cleared. Melo seems to like playing for the Nuggets in Denver, but that’s a team in flux and with coach George Karl’s health a major question mark this season may be the time for Melo’s swan song in the Rockies.

If it happens, Carmelo rekindles the Cuse-Knick connection that has lain mostly dormant since John Wallace (though it did get a flicker a few weeks ago).

I can picture it now. One more Orange back in the Big Apple.