On September 25, 2000, the New York Knicks sent franchise center (and expiring contract) Patrick Ewing to the Seattle Sonics as part of an eight-player train wreck of a deal that officially started the team’s decline into salary cap hell. A hell that the Knicks have been stuck in now for eight years and two month. But in the span of seven crazy hours, Donnie Walsh did the unthinkable.

In one day, the Knicks traded away Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph and got an additional $27 million in cap room for 2010, a whopping $46 million overall for that year and a fancy red carpet to lay out for Lebron James or any other of the many top notch free agents available in that year.

Incredible! Wonderful! People, go grab your yellow polyester shirt with the butterfly collar and sing “I Can See Clearly Now” next to a fountain . The New York Knicks will finally be under the salary cap, just in time for free-agent-palooza 2010! We will remember November 21, 2008 as the official turning point for the Knicks, much like we remember September 25, 2000. Only in a good way. A great way.

I try not to be prone to hyperbole with things like this, but seriously. Usually when someone told me the Knicks made a move I needed to drink a bottle of vodka before I heard what it was. Now I can just drink a bottle of vodka for the heck of it.

The Knicks seemed to be so run into the ground that it was going to take an excavation crew to come in and dig them up before they could even begin to be fixed. The new season was basically Phase 0.5 of the rebuilding process, because Phase One couldn’t even happen yet. Forget that now. Eleven games into the season and we’re now at Phase 5: Start building the solid gold locker space with a throne and a nameplate reading “TBA – wink, wink”.

What makes these deals even more delicious is that you can’t call them straight salary dumps, as Walsh and D’Antoni have been making very clear. The trades do not make the Knicks any worse since they weren’t that good to begin with.

Well, you can call the Randolph trade a salary dump, one from the Los Angeles Clippers that Walsh was thankfully able to fall back on after efforts to shop Randolph to Memphis and Milwaukee failed. Walsh might have been too patient in not taking the Clips deal when it was initially offered last summer, but it was still there. Thank God the Clippers were losing and desperate. On other words, thank God they were the Clippers.

True, Tim Thomas had his best year under Mike D’Antoni, but after watching the future 2008-09 Coach of the Year in action on a daily basis you start to wonder who couldn’t flourish under him. Besides I never liked him, he’s a dog. I don’t see Thomas or Cuttino Mobley (definitely an upgrade over Mardy Collins) as a part of the long-term future. This was mainly a salary dump. A sweet, glorious, splendid salary dump. Oh, I never thought I’d see the day.

But Al Harrington could be a long-term piece. After since Harrington’s falling out with Golden State, Donnie has tried various player combinations to pry him away (Lee/Robinson/Curry/Marbury). Walsh finally got the piece he needed when it became obvious that Jamal Crawford was the answer to my previous query on who couldn’t flourish in D’Antoni’s system.

Harrington is only 28, but the Elizabeth, New Jersey native is now in his tenth season and hasn’t quite fulfilled the promise that Walsh saw when he drafted Harrington in the first round for the Indiana Pacers. Add to that some knee and back problems, and it’s probable that we’re not going to see him fulfill the promise. Even fully healthy last year, he only averaged 13.6 points and 5.8 rebounds a game. But that will do right now. And it’s definitely worth a shot, especially with the coach we have, to see if Harrington can fill the 3-spot Amare Stoudamire role in D’Antoni’s system. And if he shows he can during the remainder of the year, expect the Knicks to extend his contract into 2010 and beyond. I really think they see him as part of the future.

The Knicks have gotten off to a pleasant start, but it should have never distracted everyone from the big picture. Getting this rebuilding project under way and getting under the salary cap. Luckily, it never distracted Donnie Walsh and eleven games into it this Knick season can officially be qualified as a success. Eight years and two months were erased in the span of seven hours. Kudos all around.

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It should be noted that while we count the days until Eddy Curry and Jerome James stop hogging the buffet table and the Stephon Marbury soap opera to leave the building, like you wait for that cab to come take a one-night stand back home, Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph leave here with no bitter feelings from Knick fans. Randolph was as close to a model citizen as could have been expected from him during a season that Donnie Walsh termed “a death spiral”. And Crawford, when he was shooting the lights out, was one exciting player. Good luck on the West Coast guys.

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Knicks fans can see clearly now…