[espn]Source: Knicks suggest dealing Randolph to Memphis

Knicks to Suns:
NY to Phoenix
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<B> PRO BASKETBALL; Knicks Bring Marbury Home in Big Trade</B>


By LIZ ROBBINS
Published: January 6, 2004

Until yesterday, no point guard has made more of an impact on the Knicks in the past two weeks than Isiah Thomas has from his cellphone. Thomas, the Knicks' new president, made a bold call to change that.

He delivered a flashy All-Star point guard to the Knicks in Stephon Marbury, whose dream from his Coney Island beginnings has always been to play in Madison Square Garden.

In a blockbuster trade with the rebuilding Phoenix Suns, Thomas got the game-changing point guard his two predecessors coveted. But he paid a high price for such speed and scoring, taking on the long-term contracts of Marbury, playing for his fourth team in eight seasons, and the former four-time All-Star guard Penny Hardaway.

In exchange, the Knicks gave up power forward Antonio McDyess, who will be a free agent this summer; point guards Howard Eisley and Charlie Ward; Maciej Lampe, last year's second-round pick; and the 2002 second-round pick, point guard Milos Vujanic, who is considered the top point guard playing in Europe.

The Knicks gave up two first-round draft choices, one in 2004 and a future one, as well as cash, believed to be close to $3 million. The Suns also included Cezary Trybanski, a little-used 7-foot-2 center. They plan to buy out Ward's contract and waive him.

The Knicks committed to Marbury's $104.9 million contract that runs through 2009 and Hardaway's remaining two-year deal worth $30 million. But for Thomas, spending an exorbitant amount of money, provided by the Garden chairman, James L. Dolan, is secondary to being able to find the right pieces to fit his vision.

''Our goal is to win the N.B.A. championship,'' Thomas said. ''Our goal is to put together a team that can do that.''

It became immediately clear to Thomas that the Knicks could not go far without upgrading at the playmaking position.

Thomas cringed when he saw Minnesota's Sam Cassell, Chicago's Jamal Crawford and the Nets' Jason Kidd go into the Garden and dance through the defenseless Knicks.

''It just made me realize how important that position was to us and how much we needed to go out and acquire a guy like that,'' Thomas said. ''You just don't get a chance to get these superstar players and have them be on your team in this day and age.''

But Thomas has made this a new age, obliterating nearly all traces of the former general manager, Scott Layden, and landing what Layden could not: the Knicks' first All-Star point guard since Mark Jackson in 1989. The 26-year-old Marbury, who attended Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, led the Suns in scoring with 20.8 points a game and was second in the league behind Kidd in assists, at 8.3.

The Suns made Marbury available when it became clear that they would be mired in last place in the Western Conference.

''It wasn't giving up on Stephon, but the realization as an organization where we are with a $66 million payroll,'' the Suns' general manager, Bryan Colangelo, said. ''In order to advance this team, we found we had to make a deal. It was done for cap relief, cap space and makes us a player in the free-agent market.''

The Knicks' payroll, already the highest in the league, could soar to more than $90 million next season if they re-sign Kurt Thomas. Phoenix will be close to $10 million under the salary cap and could use the money for a premier free agent, and several executives speculate that the Suns could seek the Lakers' Kobe Bryant.

Within two hours of taking the job two weeks ago, Thomas had called Colangelo. Their conversations intensified after the new year, and the deal was consummated at 3 a.m. Monday morning.

Marbury and Hardaway flew to New York last night for their physicals and were expected to fly to Cleveland for tonight's game.

''I'm very pleased with the deal; it's very close to having a home run hit,'' Knicks Coach Don Chaney said. ''Over the years we've been complaining about how tough it was to get a superstar point guard and we couldn't see how we could get it done. We have a bona fide star point guard and not only that.''

With Marbury and the two-time All-Star Allan Houston in the backcourt, the Knicks' starting lineup is formidable, also boasting the former All-Star center Dikembe Mutombo, power forward Kurt Thomas and Keith Van Horn.

Hardaway will come off the bench, as he did in Phoenix this season, his 10th. The second-year guard Frank Williams, who had moved into the starting position three games before straining his groin on Dec. 31, will back up Marbury.

''It's not that he wasn't a starting guard of the future,'' Thomas said of Williams. ''But if you're talking about winning the championship and going to the playoffs, you need talent and you need players and you just can't have one of them.''

Moochie Norris, acquired last week, will also back up Marbury and Houston.

Thomas indicated that he was not finished upgrading, as he wanted to make the team more athletic.

How Marbury will mesh with the Knicks -- and specifically Van Horn -- is unclear. Marbury and Van Horn played together for three tumultuous years in New Jersey. Marbury grew frustrated with Van Horn's lack of aggressiveness; according to several people with intimate knowledge of the Nets at the time, he lashed out at Van Horn and other players in the locker room.

''Personally we didn't have any problems,'' Van Horn said of Marbury at the Knicks' practice facility yesterday. ''On the court, we didn't win, and that was the biggest problem that Stephon and I had. We were losing, and both of us were frustrated with losing.''

But as recently as September, Marbury publicly questioned Van Horn's toughness and his ability to play in the Garden. Van Horn has averaged 22 points in his last seven games.

Isiah Thomas does not see a problem between Marbury and Van Horn. ''They're older, more mature,'' Thomas said.

Allan Houston said: ''We'll work it out. We don't have any choice.''

''Obviously, he's someone who's very explosive, who can open up the game for everyone and change a team,'' Houston added. ''He'll make the game easier for everybody else. We lost a lot with Charlie. We lost a lot of toughness, we lost a lot of big-game performance. And I believe Stephon can step in and fill that role.''

At practice yesterday, the remaining players were shocked with the trade.

''It's definitely going to be a different look for us but it definitely should be an improvement,'' Kurt Thomas said.

Marbury has had a controversial career of personal success and team disappointment, never staying with a team for more than two-and-a-half years and never never advancing out of the first round of the playoffs.

The Milwaukee Bucks picked him No. 4 overall in the 1996 draft and traded him to Minnesota. After two and a half seasons, Marbury forced a trade to the New York area, and he joined the Nets. </I>
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Phoenix to Utah:

Jazz -- Suns trade

 

I'd rather have Darko than Randolph. What's in it for Memphis?

 

They get a much better player...

I can see why this is baffling because they're taking on more money but i never understood the need to drop someone like Pau for less money anyway. Seriously, what big name free agent wants to go there?

 

Pau went public with a trade request and the fans turned on him.

 

i was confused about the logic of this trade when i first heard about it, but it makes sense to me now - for the grizzlies. looking at this trade from a purely financial perspective, the knicks only save $10 million in the lebron james free agency offseason. looking at the knicks salary situation, they will need to shed a lot more salary to be able to offer the max to lebron. the knicks should have jumped on the randolph trade to the clippers for the second round draft pick - because what they are considering in this trade is worse. silly silly move (or rather inaction), unless the trade rumor was fabricated (which is very possible).

however, this trade only adds about $10 gross to the memphis salary cap for the next three years, and if the knicks are willing to pay a share of it, then i would jump on the trade if i were the grizzlies. they clearly receive the talent upgrade in this trade, and considering that the grizzlies do not have any dominant post men, randolph may be able to work on the grizzlies. his teammates will not be clogging the post.

for me, the grand reason this trade makes sense to me is that you want to improve the team, after being in the basement for the past few years. i don't know how much of a fan base will remain if the team can't provide a hope for improvement (i'm not saying playoffs, they are a lottery team for sure). but rudy gay's been in a losing environment relatively his whole career - i don't know if players become tired of that environment (as long as they get paid). but i think you'd want to show your franchise young star, who you will have to attract to keep in a few years, that the franchise is making small steps to improve. and considering that small cost of the improvement, i'd take it - the opportunities probably don't come any better.

 

randolph expects to be in memphis..

http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/blog/2008/09/zach_expects_to_be_in_memphis.html