http://nymag.com/daily/sports/2010/02/your_potential_knicks-mcgrady.html What does the trade look like right now? The most recent report looks like this: To the Knicks: Tracy McGrady, Joey Dorsey, Brian Cook (the former Illinois forward, not the Michigan blogger), Houston's 2011 first-round draft pick. To the Rockets: Jared Jeffries, Jordan Hill, Al Harrington, or Larry Hughes, New York's 2011 and 2012 first-round draft pick. How many of these players are under contract for the 2010–11 season? One, Jordan Hill. Which team comes out better for the rest of the 2010 season? Realistically, the Rockets, because they have a far better chance of making the playoffs than the Knicks do. (30.6 percent, to the Knicks' 0.6 percent, according to John Hollinger.) McGrady instantly becomes the Knicks' third-best player, behind David Lee and Danilo Gallinari, and would certainly make the team more entertaining down the stretch. But it probably doesn't help them make the playoffs. Is the McGrady aspect of the deal just for this season? Officially, yes: McGrady's contract expires after this year. But Knicks president Donnie Walsh is hoping to keep McGrady around after this season, depending on what happens in off-season free agency, and McGrady is on record as saying he'd love to play in New York. What's this trade really about? LeBron, of course. Or at least, the LeBron/Wade/Bosh free-agency jamboroo. The Knicks still have two remnants of the Isiah era hanging around: Jared Jeffries and Eddy Curry. Walsh has made it his goal to trade them, and with this, he finally rids himself of Jeffries and his $6,883,400 next season. The goal is as it has always been: payroll. How much farther under the cap does it get the Knicks? According to HoopsHype, with those expiring Rockets contracts, and the trade of Hill and Jeffries, the Knicks drop $9,552,920, leaving them with a 2010 payroll of exactly $17,782,904. (If they could figure out a way to get rid of Curry, they'd be down to $6,506,041. Of course, then they'd only have three players on the roster: Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, and Toney Douglas.) Is that enough to offer LeBron and another free agent a max contract? That's the goal, isn't it? Well: It'll be close. We won't know until the summer what the salary cap is, but some estimate it could go as low as $48–50 million. The max contract figure is $16.6 million per player. So two max contracts, plus the players they currently have on the roster, brings the number to $50,982,904. The Knicks need to hope the salary cap doesn't drop as low as some fear it might. Of course, with those two max contracts combined, Gallinari/Chandler/Douglas/Curry make for a total of six players on the roster. Six. So you're saying that trading Jeffries, while admirable and important, probably isn't enough, and they probably need to trade Curry, too? Yes. How much longer do we have to deal with the Isiah era stink? It won't be long now. You can groan when the Jazz take the Knicks' first-round pick this June, and you can enjoy the quest to trade Curry's expiring contract next season. Then it will all be over. Finally. What are they losing in this trade? Jeffries, while a nice defender, is no loss: The Knicks certainly don't need him in the present or the future. Jordan Hill is debatable: He hasn't impressed much this year, but he has come on of late and is considered by some as a potential complementary player on a championship team. (He shoots better than people realize, but his defense, so far, has been a disaster.) Perhaps more to the point: Boy, the Knicks sure are giving up a lot of draft picks, aren't they? They'd be swapping picks with the Rockets next year, which won't be painful if they get LeBron/Wade/Bosh but will be tragic if they don't. And then they're giving up another first-round pick the year after that. There is a school of thought that draft picks of complementary players are nice, but what you really need are superstars, and the payroll to grab them. This trade would definitely subscribe to this notion. So what happens if they don't get LeBron and Wade/Bosh/whomever this off-season? If this trade goes through, they are doomed. With no big free agent coming in, you'll have a team of Gallinari, Douglas, Curry, Chandler and ... well, whatever detritus is lying around. And there will be a low draft pick next year and none in 2012 to fill the coffers. The Knicks are going all-in for this summer's free-agent bounty with this move. It's an extremely risky maneuver, with a potentially massive reward. But if it doesn't work, this team is going to be even worse than it is now, for a long time into the future. Don't expect Mike D'Antoni to stick around much after that. Is all this worth it to see McGrady run around in a Knicks uniform? No, but you know, that will be pretty cool. Read more: Your Potential Knicks-McGrady Trade FAQ -- The Sports Section http://nymag.com/daily/sports/2010/02/your_potential_knicks-mcgrady.html#ixzz0fiYrpQew
I like the trade ! There is not a big market for free agents to come here . Who wants to play with the Chinese Glass Wall ? We still need to find an offencive minded SG. :grin:
I'm kind of hoping McGrady can comeback strong with the knicks to push the knicks into the playoffs, so they can avoid giving the JAZZ HOLES a lottery Pick... --RB
the article still is pretty interesting, given the ny point of view. apparently they are pretty in line with the houston point of view.
It's an interesting read because it lays out New York's strategy for building their team, which is essentially clear out as much space as possible this summer and hope to sign 2 max free agents. McGrady's contract helps, but they have to unload one more salary to have a realistic shot. On the other hand, the Rockets strategy is more hazy. It centers more on acquiring young talent and "assets" without taking on long-term commitments salary-wise. Also, we are looking to build a team around Yao. I think the ball is in Morey's court. He has to decide how much he likes Jordan Hill, who is the only young player coming in, and what he thinks of NY's draft picks (damn it would be nice if their 1st round pick didn't belong to the Jazz). I think the fact that NY needs not only McGrady's expiring contract but also for someone to take Jeffries contract, which we can do, will cause them to blink first and back down on the demand for our 1st round pick. That would be enough for me to say yes.
I thought you couldn't trade back-to-back first round picks? Flat rule. The Jazz have NY's 2010 first-rounder then NY gives us 2011 and 2012 plus gets back Houston's 2011 first-rounder... I guess acquiring this pick satisfies the league's concern?
ny isnt trading the 2011 pick but giving the option for houston to exchange draft position. so if in 2011 the rockets have the 1st pick and the knicks the 6th the rockets wont swap positions but if in 2011 the rockets have the 26th pick and ny has the 7th they will switch spots thats all. this is what happen in 2007 with the knick chicago choose to swap picks with the knicks (who had the #9 pick and chicago had the #23) as part of the eddy curry deal
We can't trade Brickshot!?! Who else will take bad three point shots........we are already losing Cook (our main piece) in this deal.
Good read actually.. they've made the correction on the mag. People make mistakes all the time, ask your parent :grin:
Amazed that this article is actually from 2010 and not 1994 . Thanks tinman. Now all you need to do is to get rid of that laser disc player and you'll be caught up with the times. :grin:
