Knicks want Tracy McGrady?

[¹²³]

By Chris Sheridan

Tracy McGrady is likely going to end up getting traded at some time in the next seven months -- maybe in a sign-and-trade deal after he becomes a free agent July 1, maybe at the trade deadline in mid-February, or maybe even sooner.

The New York Knicks are hoping it is sooner rather than later, and they have been one of the most persistent pursuers of McGrady over the past several weeks, ESPN.com has learned.

But what is killing the Knicks' chances of landing McGrady, who would be a panacea for them next summer when they plan to be major players on the free agent market, is their insistence that Jared Jeffries be included in any deal with the Rockets.

It has been well chronicled how Jeffries and teammate Eddy Curry are standing in the way of the Knicks' master plan of plans, with their cap-clogging contracts (Jeffries is due to make $6.9 million, and Curry is on the books for $11.3 million) hindering New York's ability to go or come close to going after two max-level free agents next summer. But if they were able to move one of them (and trading Curry is a virtual impossibility) and take back an expiring contract in return, it would allow the Knicks to either go after a second max free agent in a sign-and-trade deal (in which David Lee and Nate Robinson would be the bait), or to have enough cap space left over after signing a max free agent to retain Lee.

As things stand now, the Knicks will have to either engineer a sign-and-trade centered around Lee, Robinson and/or Al Harrington, or renounce their rights to Lee, Robinson, Harrington and Larry Hughes, in order to clear their salary cap holds (the dollar amounts at which they are held against the Knicks' cap) and free enough cap space to sign LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade or another max-level free agent.

If Jeffries and Curry aren't traded for expiring contracts by July 1, there is virtually no way the Knicks can keep Lee or Harrington and still land a max free agent. Lee is viewed as more of a keeper than Harrington, and the Knicks already know they are likely to lose at least one of them and get nothing in return. Hence the flurry of Harrington rumors that surfaced last week, with the Knicks and Bulls reportedly discussing a swap centered around Harrington and Tyrus Thomas.

Harrington, earning $10.02 million, would almost certainly be a part of any proposed trade between the Rockets and Knicks, and New York can also offer the Rockets financial relief by including the expiring contract of Cuttino Mobley (whose $9.5 million salary is being paid by an insurance company) in the deal.

So if you start with Harrington, Jeffries and Mobley, you have about $26 million worth of contracts -- more than enough to satisfy trade rules that require all salaries in any trade between over-the-cap teams be within 125 percent of each other. (McGrady is earning an NBA-high $23.2 million this season, and it was being paid by an insurance company prior to McGrady's comeback Tuesday night.)

But the trio of Harrington, Jeffries and Mobley is not nearly enough to get the Rockets to bite, and one source briefed on the discussions between the teams said the Knicks -- even if they threw $3 million cash into the deal -- do not have enough sweeteners (New York does not own its own 2010 first-round pick, and Houston has no interest in any of the Knicks' young players except Danilo Gallinari, who is the closest thing to an untouchable player as the Knicks have) to get the Rockets interested.

Also, Houston sees the inclusion of Jeffries as a non-starter because his salary would prevent the Rockets having max room to work with in the summer of 2010.

So for now, there is no deal out there that both teams are willing to do. But the Knicks have remained persistent and are expected to continue to be persistent, perhaps by finding a third team willing to take on Jeffries if the Rockets remain adamant that they don't want him.

One source said teams including Portland, Miami and Cleveland were hoping that McGrady's tenure in Houston would end with a buyout, and he would be free to sign with the team of his choice provided he cleared waivers by March 1.

But that source said the Rockets are not at all inclined to go down that road, and a second source insisted that too much should not be read into McGrady's comeback Tuesday night when he logged 7 minutes against the Pistons, saying it was the next logical step in McGrady' comeback from microfracture surgery, and will help establish how much trade value McGrady has heading into the peak of the trading season. One source also cautioned that Rockets owner Les Alexander's fondness for McGrady is a potential complicating factor in any proposed deal, and third source cautioned that there could be gray-area rules complications in trading Mobley, a quasi-retired injured player.

But the bottom line is this: The Rockets are taking calls on McGrady, and the Knicks are one of the teams making them. For now, though, the deal-killer in this equation is New York's insistence on including Jeffries, whose line Tuesday against Charlotte of 11 points, six steals, five rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a 3-pointer -- along with his effective man-to-man defense against Bobcats point guard Raymond Felton -- did nothing to alter the Rockets' opinion of him.

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[Mr. J]

I don't really care unless we can unload one of those bad contracts.

 

[Master Shake]

The Raptors want McGrady.

 

[Shapecity]

The New York Knicks would like to swing a deal with Houston for Tracy McGrady, but it probably won't happen.

ESPN.com's Chris Sheridan explains: "...what is killing the Knicks' chances of landing McGrady is their insistence that Jared Jeffries (signed through 2010-11) be included in any deal with the Rockets. ... even if they threw $3 million cash into the deal -- they do not have enough sweeteners (New York does not own its own 2010 first-round pick), and Houston has no interest in any of the Knicks' young players except Danilo Gallinari ... But the bottom line is this: The Rockets are taking calls on McGrady, and the Knicks are one of the teams making them. For now, though, the deal-killer in this equation is New York's insistence on including Jeffries."

Jeffries is the deal breaker at this point.

 

[Moo2K4]

I love how moronic Isiah moves are still coming back to haunt them. It's kinda humorous.

 

[MikeDC]

If you consider a four way trade "reasonable", how about this?

Pacers trade Murphy (to Cavs), S.Jones (to Rockets), Ford and Diener (to Knicks)
Pacers get Eddy Curry, Chris Duhon, Jordan Hill, Tony Douglas
* For 2009, the Pacers trade away $22.8M take back $20M salary. So that's a win.
* For 2010, the Pacers take on $15M in 2010 salary but trade away $20.5M. So that's a big win, and they get two guys on rookie deals (Hill and Douglas). Dropping their salary by about $5M next year should get them under the upcoming smaller luxury tax threshold.

Cavs trade Ilgauskas (to Rockets)
Cavs get Murphy
* This is financially pretty much a wash for the Cavs this year, but obviously Murphy costs them about $11M next year. The whole deal is pretty much predicated on them really being willing to make this sort of trade.

Rockets trade McGrady (to Knicks)
Rockets get Ilgauskas, Darko, S. Jones
* This shaves $2M off the Rockets cap figure for this year, just enough, I believe, to get them under the luxury tax. So it also saves them another $2M or so in tax payments to the league and lost escrow revenue. So it's kind of a big boon to them. Plus it's a useful return for their big man depleted team.

Knicks trade Curry, Duhon, Hill and Douglas (to Pacers), Darko (to Rockets)
Knicks get McGrady, Ford, Diener
* For this year, the Knicks would be taking on about $6M in extra salary, which will cost them out the nose.
* However, for next year, subtracting Curry, Hill and Douglass and adding Ford gives them something on the order of $6M extra cap space next year, which they supposedly desperately want.
* So this trade accomplishes two things for the Knicks. It gets them a flashy but expensive player this year, and additional cap relief next year.

So looking at it from every side, I can see the logic behind it. I think Cleveland is the iffiest, since I don't know at all how legit their interest in Murphy is. The other teams should be on it like white on rice.

 

[igotask8board]

Tracy for Al Harrington, Cuttino Mobley, and Knicks 2nd round pick.

 

[Mr. J]

Tracy for Al Harrington, Cuttino Mobley, and Knicks 2nd round pick.

As long as cap is coming off, I'm sure Walsh will be with it. But that is quite a lot of movement and will probably disrupt our chemistry. I just wonder why anyone would take Curry.

 

[Lost One]

Um, quick question.

How in the world did Eddy Curry get that contract???

Did everybody know it was a terrible deal to begin with, or is this a hindsight thing?

My memory is kinda fuzzy... I remember Curry's heart problems in Chicago, him getting traded for Tyrus Thomas, him hitting a game winning 3 as a Knick, and him getting more fat. Where did that contract come into play?

 

[igotask8board]

Um, quick question.

How in the world did Eddy Curry get that contract???

Did everybody know it was a terrible deal to begin with, or is this a hindsight thing?

My memory is kinda fuzzy... I remember Curry's heart problems in Chicago, him getting traded for Tyrus Thomas, him hitting a game winning 3 as a Knick, and him getting more fat. Where did that contract come into play?

I don't remember either, but the Knicks traded Ty for him. Wow, Isaiah...wow.

 

[Denny Crane]

Curry was the Bulls leading scorer, and a capable post scorer which is highly valued. He went on to put up 19.5 PPG for the Knicks his second season there.

The Bulls drafted LeMarcus Aldridge with the pick and traded him for Thomas.

 

[Mr. J]

Um, quick question.

How in the world did Eddy Curry get that contract???

Did everybody know it was a terrible deal to begin with, or is this a hindsight thing?

My memory is kinda fuzzy... I remember Curry's heart problems in Chicago, him getting traded for Tyrus Thomas, him hitting a game winning 3 as a Knick, and him getting more fat. Where did that contract come into play?

Trading for Curry in itself wasn't bad. Trading two first rounders (unprotected) when you're a lottery team and two second rounders for him was absolutely terrible. What made it worse was the fact that Curry had heart problems, so the ball was in our court. We could have offered something much lower for Curry.

Curry played well his second season with us, but after the trade for Randolph it all went down hill from there. Last season he also had a lot of personal issues (injuries, daughter killed, etc.)

I thought Isiah had some good ideas; he just did a terrible job executing them.