Lone Timberwolf Kevin Garnett to end up in Boston? (Marc Stein explains the math.) An Allen-Garnett-Pierce starting trifecta for the Celtics might just make Boston the team to beat in the East…for about a season and half. But, I guess the thinking is they weren’t going anywhere anyway, so why not roll the dice on an all-or-nothing championship bid, while the Atlantic remains definitively dismal? Still, it reminds me of the ultimately failed Barkley-Olajuwon-Drexler experiment in Houston. Update: Sportsguy loves the deal, and also cites the Houston precedent. Update 2: It is accomplished — KG is now the Beast of the East. (Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph better up their D…)
Category: Trades
Oden Days | Zach to the Future?
As expected, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant went 1 and 2 respectively at last night’s 2007 NBA Draft. Bigger news on the local scene, however, was the Knicks acquiring Portland’s talented, troubled PF Zach Randolph in exchange for sophomore SF Channing Frye (a good player, but he slumped considerably last year) and veteran “superstar” PG Steve Francis (a wildly overpaid underachiever with an awful, bloated contract — I can’t believe Portland took him, frankly.) All in all, I’m pretty happy with this trade. Randolph’s clearly a bit of a loon, and a cluttered Randolph-Curry frontcourt makes about as much sense as the Marbury-Francis backcourt — it’s a fantasy team line-up with no sense for team chemistry. How are Marbury, Crawford, or Robinson going to drive into the paint with both Curry and Randolph drawing double-teams in the low post, and no real shooters to spread the floor? Still, losing Francis was addition by subtraction, and, while’s Randolph’s contract is also pretty hefty ($61 million over 4 years) at the very least, Randolph is still young. (The move was definitely better than the Celtics’ obvious panic-trade for Ray Allen. I love Jesus Shuttlesworth, but shooting guards over 30 — particularly those who just had two ankle surgeries — age in dog years, and he, like Pierce, has a tendency to disappear sometimes.)
Isiah Hearts Kobe.
Spurred by Kobe Bryant’s recent on-again, off-again trade demands (predicted by Ray Allen several years early), Knicks GM and coach Isiah Thomas starts dreaming of a major shake-up in the Knickerbocker lineup. Oof, I really hope Bryant doesn’t end up in New York (not that it’s very likely anyway.) Despite his immense talent, he is easily my least favorite player in the league, and I’d have a hard time rooting for my Knicks with him jacking up shots all the time for the orange-and-blue.
Small Brawl | Denver has the Answer.
As you probably heard, a recent Knicks-Nuggets game turned into a melee, with ten ejections, seven suspensions (including, most notably, Denver’s Carmelo Anthony for 15 games — the Knicks only lost their scrubs, with the possible exception of instigator Nate Robinson for ten), and another cloud of controversy surrounding coach Isiah Thomas. (Please, fire him already.) To be honest, I have yet to see a quality video of the fracas, but it sounds like yet another embarrassment for my lowly Knickerbockers, who’ve been in freefall for years now, ever since Ewing and Van Gundy left town. In happier news for the other team involved, the Denver Nuggets trade for Allan Iverson, giving up Andre Miller, Joe Smith, and two first-rounders in the process. Great trade for Denver — they’re an injury prone team, but with the Answer, ‘Melo, K-Mart, Camby, and Nene, they have to be considered a serious finals contender, even with notorious choker George Karl at the helm.
St. Francis of Assisti?
As expected, the Knicks have pushed the panic button, acquiring Steve Francis for Trevor Ariza and Penny Hardaway’s contract. Well, we’re not giving up much other than cap flexibility (I like Ariza — he’s a hustle player — but he also makes bad decisions, and hasn’t been gelling under Larry Brown.) Still, how is a backcourt of Marbury and Francis (backed up by Jalen Rose, Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson) going to work? They’re like five iterations of the same offensively talented, defensively deficient player (5.5 if you count Quentin Richardson), and every one of them needs the ball in their hands to be productive. At any rate, there’s a good bet that the Knicks haven’t finished yet, with Crawford for Theo Ratliff or Darius Miles a distinct possibility. “Crawford even polled the team’s beat writers after Wednesday morning’s shootaround to ask them where they believed he would be headed.“
Stop Me Before I Trade Again.
Steve Francis? Kenyon Martin? Lamar Odom? Reggie Evans and Danny Fortson? With the season a wash, the Knicks seem hell-bent on making at least one more panic trade. I get the sense this will all end very badly.
A Rose in the Garden.
The Knicks make a panic trade in procuring Jalen Rose and a draft pick (Denver’s) for the expiring contract of Antonio Davis. Hmmm. Rose is a talented player on the offensive end, but he brings little to the table that we don’t already have in Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford. And that contract…ugh. Somebody should tell Isiah the first rule in getting out of a hole: Stop digging.
King for a Day.
Peja for Artest? That’s one more nail in the coffin of the Kings team of old, and, to my mind, probably a bad move on Sacramento’s part. I always had Latrell Sprewell’s back when he came to the Knicks after the Carlesimo episode, but Ron Artest — unlike Spree — seems like both a legitimate head case and a locker room cancer. As for Peja, he should have no problem filling the Reggie Miller role in Indiana’s offense, but that still probably won’t put the Pacers in contention with Detroit. At any rate, hopefully this going through will break the gridlock on trades, and we’ll start to see some movement around the league. Update: It begins, with Wally World for Ricky Davis. Advantage: T-Wolves.
Paging Qyntel, Lamenting James.
As the Knicks front office roll the dice yet again with SF Qyntel Woods (who will replace the recently waived Matt Barnes and likely back up Quentin Richardson), ESPN’s Frank Hughes surveys the 7-foot dud that has been the Jerome James Era in New York (so far).
Eddy Hearts New York.
On the the first day of training camp, the Knicks partially rectified their guard-heavy line-up by stealing center Eddy Curry from Chicago (due to the furor over his arrhythmia), along with veteran PF Antonio Davis. And better yet, we got rid of Tim Thomas, who’s underachieved from Day 1. (The Knicks also purportedly give up Michael Sweetney, Jermaine Jackson, and a contingent first-rounder…the only loss there is Sweetney.) I must say, this is a nice catch to start the season, if Curry’s condition is as benign as hoped. Update: ESPN’s John Hollinger disagrees.