From now until the Feb. 21 trade deadline, you'll hear plenty of talk about rumored deals involving the Knicks.
The latest Tuesday would send Eddy Curry (three years, more than $30 million left on his contract) and Jerome James (two years, $12.8 million left) for Ron Artest (a free agent after this season) and Kenny Thomas (two years and $16.5 million left).
Gee, sounds like a no-brainer for the Knicks if they're looking to dump big men and bucks. Except Sacramento already has Brad Miller, just spent a lottery pick on Spencer Hawes and is looking to create salary-cap room, not fill it.
Far be it for us to believe that there are actually things that Isiah Thomas just won't do, if given the freedom, but here's a handy guide to Knicks (and other) trade rumors that will arise over the next nine days:
1. Every Knick can be had in the right deal.
2. Every Knick.
3. The right deal almost certainly means getting rid of more salary than they get back in return.
4. If for some reason, the Knicks take back more salary than they sent away, then Isiah's job security is a lot stronger than it has any right to be.
5. And Jim Dolan is bonkers.
Here, we're thinking Isiah does something just because it's his nature and just because he can score some points with J.D. by dumping the money the likes of Quentin Richardson, Malik Rose, Jared Jeffries and so many other Knicks are owed.
Then again, if he dumps money, J.D. might use it toward buying out the rest of Thomas' contract after the season. Which wouldn't exactly disappoint the Knicks' president and coach _ thus giving him motivation to dump salary.
Agreed, that's going a little Oliver Stone with all this, but whatever I.T. ends up doing (or not), measure it against the handy-dandy guide above.
And measure it, too, against his insistence that the goal after the All-Star break is to still pursue the playoffs. At 15-36 with 31 games left, as this is written. And with SIX teams to leapfrog just to reach eighth place.
In that regard, we give you the complete Jim Mora playoff rant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwq7BYOnDrM
Timeless.
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