I applaud Carmelo Anthony for his brutal honesty. While a lot of athletes usually try to be politically correct during interviews and tell fans what they want to hear, ‘Melo came right out and said what everyone pretty much knows after the New York Knicks lost to the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday night: The Knicks aren’t going to win the NBA championship this year.

He didn’t use those exact words, but he did make it clear that Knicks fans might have to be patient with the team as it exists right now. “For everyone to get 100 percent on the same page, it might take [until] next season,” he told the New York Daily News. “But right now, in this short period of time, we’ve just got to come together as a unit. As far as everybody jelling and the chemistry and clicking to where we want to be at, it’s going to take some time.”

That’s all well and good, but it brings up an interesting question: Should ‘Melo be so blatant in admitting to Knicks fans and the rest of the league that the team might not be ready to win a ‘chip until next season? I’m going to go with a resounding “No!” here and my reason for doing so is simple.

The Eastern Conference is not going to get any weaker over the course of the next years. The Boston Celtics may eventually fall off due to the age of some of the guys on their team. The Chicago Bulls look like they could be a real contender for the next decade if Derrick Rose decides to stick around and play out his career in the Windy City. The Orlando Magic are a legitimate title threat every year that Dwight Howard stays there. And, of course, the Miami Heat—complete with Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh—are going to contend for a ‘chip every year for the next six years thanks to the talented threesome they’ve assembled.

So it’s certainly not going to be easy for the Knicks to win a title moving forward. But oddly enough, this year might actually be the year they’ve got a decent shot, if for no other reason that that a lot of other teams in the East are also trying to find the right chemistry and put together a title run. The Bulls are still young. The Magic made a huge trade of their own earlier this year. And the “Big Three” experiment in Miami is still a work in progress. So, why can’t the Knicks steal a series in the NBA Playoffs and then try and make a run towards something bigger?

Like I said, I applaud ‘Melo for being honest when asked about the immediate future for the Knicks. There are great expectations for the team—but the fans need to realize that it may take awhile for the guys on the Knicks to be the best they can be as a unit. But I also hope that ‘Melo, Amare Stoudemire, and the rest of the Knicks don’t go into the playoffs with the idea that they can’t win it all this year stuck in their heads.

They might not be 100-percent comfortable with one another yet, but let’s hope the Knicks don’t pass up a golden opportunity to make a run in the East. After all, that’s what ‘Melo was brought in to do, right? The Big Apple is expecting big things, dude. Don’t let them down.

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