Things That Make You Go..HMM

by Tommy Dee on May 30th, 2008 at 6:55 pm

So Andrew Smith and I were kicking around some trade ideas and here’s one that seems to make a ton of sense.  It’s a four way deal with the Knicks, Raptors, Kings and Suns.

Knicks trade Jamal Crawford to the Raptors; Toronto trades TJ Ford to the Kings; Suns get John Salmons and the Knicks end up with Leandro Barbosa.

Obviously, the Knicks get a guy accustomed to D’Antoni who can slide right in at the two who can score (15ppg) with less volume shots. You can play him 30 minutes and rotate in Nate Robinson, and whatever rookie PG you draft. Should the Knicks draft Gallinari, I’d expect them to deal Wilson Chandler, who has some value, or keep Chandler and start him with Gallinari off the bench. And before those of you jump on the Shandon Anderson/Howard Eisley argument, understand that Barbosa is a great young talent (see last summer playing for Brazil.)

The Kings get their point guard and the Suns get a great talent no one talks about in Salmons, who’s stuck behind Artest out there in Sac town. The question becomes would the Raptors bite on Crawford?
  • vino

    I think you guys undervalue Crawford a little too much. He is clearly the best and most dynamic player in this deal. How would the Raptors be against this trade? They have two starting point guards with room for only one. Jamal Crawford is the closest thing to a star out of the players you mentioned.

    Maybe I overvalue Crawford, but I definitely do not overvalue him more than you guys undervalue him. If we trade Crawford this summer, it better not be for TJ Ford. I think that if we get Monta Ellis, Jamal Crawford would have to be one of the players sent out. Plenty of teams can use a guy like Crawford. He is our best player and one of our more valuable trade chips. If we trade him, we cannot mess that trade up!

  • http://theKnicksBlog.com Tommy Dee

    Gotta disagree vino, Crawford and Ford are the weakest players in this deal, but overall I think it’s very fair. If you haven’t watched Salmons, he’s the real deal on both ends, and Barbosa is an all-around better player than JC, who needs less minutes and shots to be equally effective. Those are the type of players this team needs.

  • vino

    It turns out that I might be undervaluing TJ Ford. I came across this article on HoopsWorld.com.

    http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=8904

    In the article, it talks about potential suitors for Ford. The Knicks of course were one of them. The names mentioned were Lee (who I would not give up for Ford), Nate Robinson (who I have been mentioning as a good guy to send up north along with a guy like Jerome James to make the salaries work, and Eddy Curry.

    The article says that the Raptors probably would not want Curry because of his contract. Personally, I do not think that the Raptors will get a better guy for Ford than Curry. Maybe we can get Bargnani and Ford for Curry and Nate.

    But anyway, some other names brought up for Ford were Mike Dunleavy, Ron Artest, among others. Those two names are pretty good and definitely guys I would not mind having on the Knicks.

  • http://theKnicksBlog.com Tommy Dee

    Vino- are you getting the idea that our players have no value accept Lee?

    TJ Ford per minute is an elite point guard, or at least was for two years and fits perfectly in D’Antoni’s system. Crawford has always failed to have a position, shoots too much and is a weak defender at best. He’s a great athlete and a great person, but not a winning basketball player.

    You mention Jerome James, c’mon. No one wants that contract just because you want to get rid of it.

    you think we could get a solid PG and a former first pick for a fat loser and an undersized role playing guard with no real position?

  • vino

    I would rather have Curry than Bargnani. Bargnani is a former number one, but could not even keep his starting spot for the Raptors last year. Forget about him being a former top pick because that was simply a weak draft.

    I only mentioned James for salary matching purposes and he only has 2 years left. I have not actually used the trade machine to check it out, but itf Malik Rose’s contract would work, then he would be the one to make it work.

    My point is that I think Crawford is a better ballplayer than Ford is. If we trade Crawford for Ford, then we are left with a sizeable void in our offense. Will Ford match the offensive production that Crawford gives us? Will he strech defenses like Crawford? Will he take the final shot like Crawford does? Will he get on fire and help us come back in games by scoring in bunches like Crawford can? Are we planning on centering our offense around Randolph and Curry on the block, because if we trade Crawford for Ford, they are the only two legit offensive weapons that we have left.

    I think Crawford is worth more than just Ford. The Raptors have to trade Ford. If we can get their 17th pick (I think it is 17), then this deal might make more sense. This would allow us to draft a guy like Chase Budinger and slide him into the 2 spot.

    What about trading our 6th pick to the Blazers for the 13th pick and two of their 3 second round picks? They have the 33rd and 36th picks, which would be nice. But they also have the 55th pick.

    I don’t think that we will trade our pick until we see who might fall to us. I think if Mayo or Bayless drops, then we will have to take a serious look at drafting them.