Tag: NBA Trades

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.“

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.

Original Sin?

“‘I think the majority of Knick fans have said that this trade was the start of the downfall of the franchise, that this was the first step toward the morass that everybody has been entrenched in since,’ Checketts said. ‘I just think that’s silliness. It was only the first in a series of very bad moves.‘” Although Dave Checketts demures, the NYT retraces the sorry state of the Knicks — 5 years and counting — to the Ewing trade. I can see their point, although that in no way absolves Scott Layden or Isiah Thomas for some seriously lousy decision-making over the past couple of seasons.

The Centers Cannot Hold.

Two centers with unproven upside switch coasts: Washington’s Kwame Brown to the Lakers (for Caron Butler), and Seattle’s Jerome James to the Knicks. And, with Cuttino Mobley heading for the Clips, it seems the NBA offseason is already in full swing. (My thoughts on the James acquistion — Well, we desperately needed a true center after losing Kurt and Nazr (and rookie Channing Frye doesn’t seem like he’ll have an immediate impact), and James had a few big playoff games last year. That being said, he’s no silver bullet.)

Pistons Misfire.

So, in a Game 7 that only Tim Duncan’s mother could love, the Spurs rallied past the Pistons 81-74. I really doubt the league won over too many new fans with last night’s ugly performance, the third lowest-scoring Finals Game 7 ever. But, hey, the draft is right around the corner, and it looks like the Knicks have picked up Quentin Richardson for Kurt Thomas. So, here’s to next season…