FROM CHAD:

Scott Layden, as always, is working the phones trying to make a deal. Of course, up to now he's come up pretty empty. Layden's goal is to add one more young stud to this roster. Combine him with Milos Vujanic and a lottery pick next season, and the Knicks will have some semblance of a team on the rise. Who are the Knicks using for bait?

# Latrell Sprewell: As much as the fans love him, Cablevision owner James Dolan has had enough. Besides, how much longer can the 6-foot-5 Sprewell continue to play small forward? The problem is finding a team willing to eat the last two years of his contract. The Sixers are offering Keith Van Horn, but that's not much of an upgrade. The T-Wolves are supposedly dangling Terrell Brandon's contract, but the Knicks care less about salary cap space than about adding a young stud. Their attempts to land Abdur-Rahim or Pau Gasol with Spree have been laughable.

# Charlie Ward: No one gives a damn about Ward, but they do like the $2 million buyout in his contract. The Warriors would send Danny Fortson to New York in a heartbeat, but the Knicks aren't biting on another 6-foot-6 small forward.

# Kurt Thomas: Several teams, including the Mavs, would love to add his interior toughness to the team. However, the Knicks aren't doing anything with Thomas unless they can get some size in the middle and a young prospect as part of the deal.

Can they make a deal? The most interesting rumor has the Knicks talking to the Sonics about a deal that would send Yugoslavian stud Vladimir Radmanovic, Calvin Booth and Vitaly Potapenko to the Knicks for Ward and Thomas. The move would give the Knicks a young, talented small forward with size and some tall post players. In return, the Sonics finally get a tough power forward and would get an extra $7 million in cap space next summer to pursue a top flight free agent like Jason Kidd. In addition, the team gets the long-term deals of Booth and Potapenko off the books.
ODDS OF MAKING A DEAL: 5 to 1

no way do you deal KT for vitaly and booth, both junk.

radmon is ok, but plays pf, so that would be a tough sell.