We Want You To Play For The Knicks

There's one game to go until the NBA Hot Stove League kicks off in earnest but that's not stopping Isiah Thomas from setting the groundwork for a big-ticket acquisition.

"It's safe to say we're active on the phones, trying to improve our team, whatever ways we can. Our goal one day is to put together a team capable of competing and winning a championship. There are players who are still out there who publicly said they want to be traded. I'm hoping."

You know what they say, "You can shit in one hand and hope in the other, see which fills up first." He doesn't name names but Thomas is likely talking about Jermaine O'Neal and Kobe Bryant when he talks about players who have issued public trade demands. We'd have to check the latest to be sure where Kobe stands on a trade, he's been playing the Lakers like Dylan McKay played Brenda and Kelly back in the day, but if he does desire a move New York seems like the kind of town he'd be into calling home. What that would do to the Knick lineup around him is a mystery but rumors have been gaining some traction. Here's Chris Sheridan from ESPN, it's Insider so thanks to The Big Lead for doing the transcribing.

As a trade partner, what the Knicks lack in quality, they have in quantity. In terms of volume, Isiah could overwhelm almost any other offer out there, starting with combo guard Jamal Crawford, rebounding machine David Lee, Knicks starting power forward Channing Frye, a pair of unprotected No. 1 picks (let’s say 2008 and 2010) and sundry throw-ins, including Nate Robinson, Randolph Morris, Renaldo Balkman, et al.

It seems logical enough that a rebuilding team would take quantity over quality but such a trade would totally gut the Knicks. Bizarrely it would also put them a lot closer to a title. Let's say they dealt Crawford, Lee, Frye, Morris and Robinson along with the picks. That would leave them with a core group of Starbury, Curry, Balkman, Quentin Richardson, Mardy Collins, Jared Jeffries and Kobe. That's no worse than the crew the Cavs are rolling out in the NBA Finals. They'd need forwards and a bench but wouldn't you rather have one sandwich than half-full plates of cold cuts?

The issue for Thomas is he really can't go after O'Neal and Kobe at the same time. Kobe won't demand a trade again until he's sure that the Lakers won't get better and that won't happen until O'Neal is dealt. On the off chance O'Neal went to the Knicks they wouldn't have enough pieces left to deal for Kobe as well.

In other Knick news, they've scheduled a preseason game that might actually see their opponents as the people's choice. Maccabi Tel Aviv will visit the Garden this October and the former Euroleague champions will be a tough matchup, even without Anthony Parker who left the team to return to the NBA with Toronto. They still have former Georgia Tech standout Will Bynum and a Euroleague stud in Nikola Vujcic but the Knicks will likely be favored because of home court. The game will be a benefit for an Israeli charity, though,  and if the Jewish community of New York City, a group we belong to and one which has great numbers, turns out in force Maccabi may feel like the home team.