Knicks Trades

Quick thoughts on these new faces...

Two Knick trades yesterday. Neither of them involved Jared Jeffries or Eddie Curry. Neither of them also involved Nate Robinson or David Lee. Amazingly, though, I like both. Hughes and Wilcox fit in pretty well to the Knicks system. The Knicks need a true 2-guard and though Hughes can't shoot very well, I think he'll fit in nicely there. And it makes the Knicks more competitive this year which means a worse draft pick which means that he'll cost less which means that they'll get less of a cap hit in 2 years. For years I've rooted for the Knicks to tank after the trade deadline to get a good pick, this year I hope they do the opposite.

Chad Ford liked the trades; John Hollinger not so much. The key for the Knicks is what they do this offseason with trading Curry and Jeffries and retaining restricted free agents Robinson and Lee. If they are able to sign them to cap-friendly numbers or get some future first round picks for them, this could turn out to be an amazingly masterful job by Donnie Walsh who so far has been able to shed Zack Randolph, Jamal Crawford, and Jerome James and banished Stephon Marbury. This team will not be a good team for a while, but these are certainly steps in the right direction.