Knicks get McGrady

The NBA trading deadline has now come and gone, and some of the rumors have been substantiated, and some of them have fizzled out as just that. One of the biggest names to have been traded is the former Houston Rocket superstar Tracy McGrady, who went to the New York Knicks in exchange for Jordan Hill and Jared Jeffries. T-Mac was supposed to team up with the Chinese giant Yao Ming to make the Rockets an imposing Western Conference powerhouse, and they did enjoy considerable regular season success before consistently fizzling out early in the playoffs. These failures were largely laid at the feet of McGrady, either fairly or unfairly. He has a huge contract that is expiring after this season, and the Knicks are making salary cap space to pursue Lebron James and perhaps Dwayne Wade and/or Chris Bosh this off-season.

It has been a tough road for the Knicks over the last several years. The once proud franchise that plays in the biggest market in the country was managed into the ground by Isiah Thomas, and they haven’t enjoyed a winning season since way back in 2000-01 when they lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Toronto Raptors. They will be aggressively shopping with money to spend heading into next season, and time will tell if they are able to take that available cash and turn it into a winning product on the court.

The Cavaliers have been doing all that they can to keep Lebron, and they too made a big trade to bring Antwan Jamison into the fold. Should the Cavaliers win the NBA Championship, or even make it to the Finals, would Lebron be wise to leave an established upper-echelon franchise and a group that he has become familiar with to take a flyer on the rebuilding Knicks? Many would counsel against it, but there is a lot of money to be made in New York.