I still believeing that another move (hopefully that Wallace deal) will be made by Tuesday at the latest. IMO these next 2 games (2nite & Monday) will weigh alot on that.

Posted by Knixkik:

Judging on the Knicks first half it doesn't look like another major move is necessary. I do feel that Williams and Harrington need to be traded because they aren't needed on this team and they can bring us back a nice, young, developing player. Marbury is nasty right now the way he is playing. Houston, Van Horn, and Thomas are benifiting major by his creativity, and it looks like the Knicks are a new team out there.

Another move may not be necessary just to make the playoffs, but Isiah has his sights set higher. That's why he was a great hire.

Posted by TLover:

The trade should be Wallace and Quintel Woods for
Van Horn, Williams and Doleac.
If we have to give up Williams then I would want another young player in return. Woods is an athletic 3 who can be the Knicks starting small forward of the future.

It's a good thought but right now it doesn't look like Van Horn would go to Portland and it doesn't look like a trade will happen for Wallace right now. After tonight's performace i think the Knicks starting line-up is good enough. Marbury, Houston, and Van Horn are a good 1-2-3 punch offensively to build around, plus the occational offensive bursts from Thomas. The Knicks could afford to add more firepower off the bench like an athletic big man (Gooden or Swift) and they would be in great shape. It doesn't have to happen now though because they look like a playoff team regardless.

BTW, Marbury was so fun to watch tonight, but he was too unselfish. I like his approach though, he's looking to get everyone involved and get a feel for his team before he takes a lot of shots. Still, i can't wait til he decides to shoot everytime he gets an open look and plays to be the leading scorer every night.

i hate to be the pesimist but i really don't think the wallace trade will happen. at least not w/the knicks. hope so though. if he can't keep his head, at the end of the season, bye bye wallace, hello 17mil the knicks can use more than anyone in the league.

I would trade harrington and Sweetney for Stromile Swift. He is young, athletic and plays the 4-5. He also blocks shots and can score within the game. He would be a perfect compliment for KT and DEKE and can take over as C when Deke retires.

Swift does not see major minutes in Memphis. I think he is available.

It keeps the core in tact and shortens the bench.

bench: Fwill, Penny, Swift, Anderson, Doleac, moochie, trybanski


With the first 3 getting the major minutes off the bench and ANderson, Moochie and Doleac being used when their skills areneeded

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/1074171564196160.xml

Cheeks supports 'change'

While the Blazers are mum on trade talks, their coach suggests a player move might be beneficial

01/15/04

JASON QUICK

TUALATIN -- The Trail Blazers' top brass on Wednesday continued to insist that a trade is not imminent, even as speculation mounts that a deal with Dallas involving Rasheed Wallace is in the works.

"There is nothing to report," general manager John Nash said Wednesday. "The day we make a trade, we will call a press conference to announce it."

Coach Maurice Cheeks, who says he is included in trade talks, said there have been more trade conversations lately than at any other time in his two-plus seasons in Portland, but he added that he didn't foresee anything on the horizon.

Cheeks did, however, imply that a trade could help his struggling team.

"Sometimes, I think you can be in a situation like we are in now where I think you get a little stagnant and maybe something changes it up," Cheeks said. "Maybe it's a trade. Maybe that would change it up."

Sources in the Blazers, including Cheeks, said that trade conversations have escalated in the past week. No specifics were revealed, but there have been rumblings that a possible deal is in the works that would send Wallace and his $17 million salary to the Mavericks for forward Antawn Jamison ($11 million), guard Tony Delk (about $3 million) and forward Eduardo Najera (slightly less than $3 million).

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said this week that he would not make a trade with the Blazers unless it was a "sweetheart" of a deal, and it appears the most pressing issue in Dallas is the future of coach Don Nelson, who reportedly has a frigid relationship with Cuban.

At any rate, the Blazers continue to be at the center of national trade speculation, almost all of it centered on Wallace, who has missed the past three games with an ankle sprain.

The New York Knicks, who fired coach Don Chaney and hired Lenny Wilkens on Wednesday, could be the Blazers' partners in a deal for Wallace.

"If they put him back out there, we'd be interested," Knicks president Isiah Thomas told The Associated Press.

Wallace did not practice Wednesday and is not expected to play tonight against Phoenix at the Rose Garden. Blazers officials have insisted that Wallace is indeed injured, and that he is not being held out of games because a trade is pending, a point that guard Jeff McInnis reiterated Wednesday.

"People say he isn't playing because he is involved in a trade, but I know he is hurt," McInnis said. "I have seen it. I'm his friend, and I have seen the ankle. He is hurt."

The Blazers (16-20) have lost six of their past seven games, dropping them to 12th in the Western Conference, ahead of Golden State and Phoenix, and the trade speculation has seemed to accelerate an uneasiness among the players.

"When you are losing, people pay more attention to the trade talk, because you start to think that there could be a mix-up, or there should be a mix-up," McInnis said. "It's hard to play when so much is going on. Every day someone asks about a trade."

The NBA trading deadline is Feb. 19, and Nash said that it is only natural that trade talks are heightening. In the meantime, Cheeks said his players will have to get used to playing amid the speculation.

"Trade talk is a part of sports, it's part of NBA basketball," Cheeks said. "It's just something that we have to deal with. It's always up to the team to make that decision whether you are traded or not traded, but players have to hear it and they have to endure it. It's part of their job."

Wallace on Wednesday declined to comment, and his teammates said it has been hard to tell if the trade talks are affecting him. However, Wallace is hearing the talk, because Ruben Patterson said he and Wallace joked about the speculation involving Wallace.

"If they are going to make a trade, they are going to make a trade, and that's the way everyone feels," Patterson said. "But Rasheed is a big piece of our team. I know the people and the fans of Portland love Rasheed because he is a great player. And we love him, too. Hopefully, he will stay."

Note:

The Blazers on Wednesday did not renew the 10-day contract of 7-foot-5 center Slavko Vranes. "We liked him, we liked him a lot," Nash said. "We think he could be a prospect, but we don't feel he is ready to make an immediate impact." Nash said the team has not ruled out signing Vranes later. Vranes appeared in one game, playing three minutes against Minnesota.