"It was a Jeremy Lin moment" - Walt Frazier recalls Bill Bradley’s New York Knicks arrival

The New York Knicks have two championship banners on the rafters, thanks to their 1970s team led by Willis Reed and Walt Frazier . Of course, the role players also deserve credit for providing the stars with the needed support.

Bill Bradley was one of the most important pieces for the Knicks, serving as their starting small forward during their title runs. Frazier recently talked about how his former teammate's arrival also brought a different kind of energy to Madison Square Garden, comparing it to Linsanity.

"The first game, the locker room, we couldn't even get in the locker room, there was so much media and press around," Frazier said on "Garden Party." "So Bradley came out in warm-ups, he touched the ball; they cheered. He made a layup; they cheered. He laced his shoe; they cheered.

"So he was having a pretty good game, and then near the end, he made a few blunders, 'Boo!' So everybody in the locker room said, 'Welcome to New York, Bradley!' ... It was a Jeremy Lin moment when Bradley came to the team. It was like that."

A delayed pro debut

Interestingly, Bradley and Frazier suited up for the Knicks in the same season despite the former being drafted two years earlier.

The Hall of Fame swingman was the franchise's territorial pick in 1965 but did not sign a contract immediately, as he enrolled in postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom as a Rhodes Scholar. While basketball held a special place in his heart, the former senator already had political aspirations early on.

Bradley was still able to play professional hoops, commuting to Italy to play for Olimpia Milano, with whom he won a European Champions Cup, the tournament that would eventually become the EuroLeague.

After two years, he returned to the U.S. to enter the Air Force Reserves before finally suiting up in the NBA several weeks into the 1967-68 campaign. According to "Clyde," the Madison Square Garden crowd highly anticipated the 1964 Olympic gold medalist's debut, which unfortunately ended in jeers and a loss to the Detroit Pistons.

It's unclear why Frazier compared it to Lin 's brief but famed breakout performance in the 2011-12 campaign. Unlike Bradley, the former NBA journeyman flew under everyone's radar before taking advantage of the Knicks' point guard shortage.

Perhaps the seven-time All-Star was comparing the media hoopla that accompanied Linsanity to the hype surrounding Bill’s debut.

Related: "You can rip me to shreds…But please take care of Sam" - Jerry West had a message for the media after trading Sam Perkins

Bringing the championship trophy to New York

Playing for the star-studded Knicks, Bradley came off the bench in his first two seasons before finally earning a starting role. Incidentally, the year he was promoted coincided with the team's championship run.

Bill didn't have to produce as much stats-wise because New York had Frazier, Reed, Dave DeBusschere, and Dick Barnett to put up the stats. Instead, he was more of a glue guy and used his trademark aggressive defense to intimidate opponents.

During the 1972-73 campaign, Bradley was tasked with providing the Knicks with additional scoring punch, which wasn't a problem because he had always had a knack for scoring. As a result, he averaged a career-high 16.1 points per contest, clinched his lone All-Star berth that season, and secured a second ring.

Related: Walt Frazier names the toughest player he had to matchup up against in his basketball career: “I'd start off hot and he'd cool me right down”