If you're old enough, you probably think of a New York Knicks center in the form of Willis Reed hobbling onto the Madison Square Garden court for Game Seven of the 1970 NBA Finals. 

If you're a generation younger, maybe your idea of a Knicks center is Patrick Ewing standing atop the Garden scorers' table after beating the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the 1994 Eastern Conference finals. And if you're somewhere in between, you may best remember Bill Cartwright, who became one of the NBA's top centers with quiet consistency.

It's likely that even some of the young-uns out there recall Marcus Camby, who had a power forward's body but could play center effectively enough to help the Knicks reach the 1999 Finals. 

But anyone too young to remember those four doesn't have a sentimental memory of a Knicks' big man. That's because since Camby's trade to the Denver Nuggets in 2002, the Knicks have been searching for - and not finding - the guy, the one who a new generation of fans would think of as their guy. 

The Knicks have gone through Dikembe Mutombo and Nazr Mohammed and Eddy Curry and Jerome James. But none have come anywhere near franchise-player material.

And for the Knicks, who are desperately trying to reverse an eight-year downhill slide, finding an impact post player should be a priority. Think of all those great teams that won multiple NBA titles. 

The Celtics of the 1960s had Bill Russell. In the 1980s, the Celtics had Robert Parish and the Lakers had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Houston Rockets of the mid-1990s had Hakeem Olajuwon. The San Antonio Spurs won their first two championships with David Robinson. And the early 21st-century Lakers had Shaquille O'Neal. 

Even some of the one-year wonders had memorable big men - Jack Sikma of the 1979 Sonics, Moses Malone of the 1983 76ers, Shaq and the 2006 Heat.

True, the Knicks must focus on crawling into the playoffs before they can strut to an NBA title. But without a dominant big man, it could be a long walk to mediocrity. 

That is why with all the LeBron James chatter around New York and the rest of the NBA, the Knicks should be focusing on a big man - one who can dominate the paint but also flourish in coach Mike D'Antoni's up-tempo offense. 

The perfect candidate? Chris Bosh.

Bosh plays forward and center for the Raptors but would be an ideal fit at center for D'Antoni's Knicks. At 6-10, he is an inch taller than current pivot David Lee. 

Lee is really a power forward; his build and style of play recall Dave DeBusschere, Lonnie Shelton and Charles Oakley rather than Reed, Cartwright and Ewing. 

Bosh could handle the center role well and would give the Knicks their best scoring threat in the paint since Ewing's heyday. He is averaging 29.0 points and 11.6 rebounds per game.

And perhaps the best part of slotting Bosh in the pivot is it would allow Lee and Harrington to play more at their natural positions. 

Lee has been doing a credible job but faces a daunting challenge just about every time out, giving away inches and pounds to the league's true centers. 

"It's a battle," he said. "I just try to use my strengths against guys like Shaq ... or Dwight Howard."

Lee says those strengths are his speed and explosiveness. 

"I'm definitely not going to outweigh those guys or beat them in a shoving match, that's for sure," he said. "So I try to just use my strengths, and although I have to guard them on one end, they have to guard a lot of the pick-and-roll on the other end. So it's kind of like my response to them being able to push me around inside."

Whether at center or forward, Lee was effective last season, leading the league with 65 double-doubles, finishing third in rebounding with 11.7 per game, and posting a career-high 16.0 points. 

This season, Lee is averaging 18.4 points and 9.9 rebounds, including a 20-19 effort against Indiana and Roy Hibbert. But the 7-2, 275-pound Hibbert is still learning the game, and it is difficult to imagine Lee posting those numbers consistently.

The Knicks also have filled the pivot with 6-9 Al Harrington, who showed he can be consistently productive against bigger players by playing on the perimeter. He averaged a career-best 20.1 points last season despite playing plenty of time in the middle.

This season, Harrington has been used at both forward spots, coming off the bench as D'Antoni's sixth man. He may play some minutes at center, although he will be physically overmatched most of the time. 

"Obviously, it's an advantage on offense, but a disadvantage on defense, so it's 50-50,," Harrington said. "It just depends on what center I'm playing against. When I was at Golden State, I played against Yao (Ming) four times a year. I played (him) eight times in two years, and that was tough. He kicked my ass as far as physically. A lot of times, I had good success defending him, believe it or not." 

Last season's trade allowed Harrington to avoid Yao but encounter a new set of problems. 

"Now I got Shaq in the East, Dwight Howard," he said. "We've got some really good centers in the Eastern Conference now, so I don't want to play that much center." 

The Knicks have plenty of other frontcourt players. Unfortunately, none of them man the middle very well. Darko Milicic is nearly 7 feet but is in his seventh season and may have reached his NBA ceiling as a backup big. 

Jordan Hill was taken eighth in the draft, but the 6-10 rookie needs to bulk up and is having trouble simply getting into the rotation, let alone matching up with true centers. 

"I'm definitely physical, definitely a tough athlete myself," Hill said. "But I don't think I'm big enough to play against players like Dwight Howard and Shaq, big strong guys like that. I don't think I'm strong enough and fit for it right now." 

Unfortunately, the player with the best physical credentials to play center also is the one who gives the Knicks their worst chance to succeed - Curry. Since arriving in 2004, Curry has been an overweight, unmotivated bust. His plodding style doesn't fit in D'Antoni's run-and-gun system. 

But Bosh does. 

Peter Stein has written for Pro Basketball News since 2006, and has written for several newspapers, including Newsday. You can disagree with him at pcs.40@hotmail.com.