Randolph's agent asks for trade
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By MARC BERMAN

Last Updated: 5:35 AM, January 15, 2011

With the Knicks' chances to acquire Carmelo Anthony dying on the vine, team president Donnie Walsh received a trade request last night from the agent for Anthony Randolph, who has been out of the rotation since mid-November.

Walsh met with Randolph's representative, Bill Duffy, one hour before tip-off of the Knicks' 93-83 loss to the Kings. Duffy asked Walsh about the possibility of dealing Randolph, who was taken out of the rotation in mid-November, resulting in the Knicks going on a 13-1 spree.

The Post reported Thursday that Walsh was waffling on whether to trade Randolph to Minnesota for a first-round pick that could be used in an Anthony deal, but the Nets are the ones closest to landing him.

Walsh still could use an extra first-rounder in another deal before the Feb. 24 trade deadline.

"I won't comment on a private conversation," Walsh said.

"The truth is we had a very constructive meeting with Donnie regarding Anthony," Duffy wrote in a text message. "Donnie said he would have an open mind and would only do what would be mutually beneficial. I agreed that was fair, but emphasized the sooner the better. He would not get specific but said we should circle back very soon."

"I know nothing about that," Randolph said.

A league source said Walsh has not acted in the past 24 hours as if he has any shot at Anthony, even though he met with Anthony's agent, Leon Rose, at halftime last night. In an interview with ESPN, Anthony said his "ultimate dream" was to play in New York, but did not specify the Knicks and for the first time mentioned the possibility of opening the new Brooklyn arena for the Nets.

Rose also is the agent of disgruntled Knicks center Eddy Curry, who hasn't dressed this season. Rose and Curry met after the game.

An ESPN.com report last night said Randolph would be dealt in the next two weeks for a first-round pick, with the Wolves, Pacers and Blazers mentioned as possibilities. The 21-year-old Randolph, obtained in the David Lee sign-and-trade from the Warriors, played in 14 game, but only has appeared in garbage time since mid-November.

Rose, who lives in Camden, N.J., said he popped in to see some of his clients, including the Kings' Jason Thompson and Omri Casspi, as well as Curry, who told The Post last week he wanted to speak with his agent to find out more about his status.

Rose said, "I'm here to watch the game. With all due respect, if there's something to say, I'll say it."

Anthony finally acknowledged the Nets as a potential destination, which does not bode well for the Knicks' longshot bid. The Knicks' best chance at Anthony would be if he spurns an extension with the Nets.

"I see what the future holds, they'll move to Brooklyn," Anthony said of the Nets. "Me going back home to Brooklyn, opening that arena, I think about all that stuff."

IMO the only way we trade AR for a 1st round pick is if we're doing it as part of a Melo trade... otherwise i can see DW trading AR to the Kings for someone like Omri Casspi or Jason Thompson.

CrushAlot wrote:Walsh is a good guy. I think he will help Randolph out and get him to a better situation if he can.

i think the Kings might consider AR as a nice option to match up with Cousins & Whiteside in their frontcourt that they can build with

if we miss out on Melo, i'm wondering if he might be trying to work on a deal to land us Dalembert & Casspi?

ItalianStallion wrote:What a debacle this AR saga was.

This kid obviously has a lot of talent and is a very productive rebounder and shot blocker "right now". It's a shame because the thing we need most is a long athletic player that can rebound, block shots, run the floor, and even be part of the break. He's obviously very raw and needs some time to develop, but he was not used properly playing outside like one of our wings and shooting jumpers over here.

I think what he needed most was some playing to time to recover his game after last year's tough injury and the ankle turn at the start of the season that set him back. But without a jumper he never really fit into a system that requires it and he got very frustrated and apparently gave up. Can't totally blame him though. He's not a rookie. He was a starter for GS, played a lot of minutes, and was one of the hottest prospects in the league. D'Antoni turned him into a garbage time player. I hope he gets traded for his sake. Then I can at least watch him develop and turn into an all star for someone else over the next few years and say "God I wish we had a kid like that".

If you were to look at my posts shortly after we got Randolph, I was pretty excited to pick him up, and thought he would be getting good minutes on this team. We heard about him working on his shot in the off-season and practicing with Amare. He had an up and down career with GS, but I thought he had the potential to be a productive player with the Knicks. My best hope was that he could become a Rodman-like player with a better offensive game (How great would it be to have a Rodman in the line-up, by the way?)

From day one, I did not see the explosiveness that he had shown with GS. I recall him getting his shots blocked in situations where I thought he would have scored. His outside shot is very sporadic, at best, and he seems to have little touch close to the basket, to the point where it looked like he was just throwing the ball up in the general direction of the basket, hoping it would go in.

His decision making is poor- whether shooting or passing the ball, and to be honest, I would not trust him with the ball at this point. He also gets pushed around in the paint, on D and when rebounding, even though he supposedly gained some added muscle in the off-season. I think that MDA would have played AR even if his jumper remained limited, however, if he played smart ball and did the little things well.

I have to believe that MDA has given AR many chances to prove himself in practice- why wouldn't he, since the Knicks could use another big man in the rotation. He gave Jeffries playing time last year, and as much as some guys around here hated Jeffries, I think he gave us some good minutes, despite his limitations as a player. In fact I would not mind having the Jeffries of last year on this team, playing 10-15 MPG.

My gut feeling is that, from what I've seen, AR will never be a 30-35 MPG player on a good team, and I'll be surprised if this is the case. His only value to us at this time is as a trade piece, and lets face it, any value he does have is based on what he did with GS prior to his injury, because he has shown nothing with us which would make him worth a #1 pick from another team.

TMS wrote:

VDesai wrote:All I know about AR is that the two coaches he's had in the league were never thrilled about playing him. I think it says a lot about him.

Jermaine O'Neal got hardly any burn for his first 4 years in the NBA & went on to become an Allstar on another team... i don't think it's out of the question for AR to do the same, he's got the talent to be one without question... he just needs to mature a little, a problem that a lot of 21 year olds seem to have coming into the NBA with only 1 year of college experience.

With Jermaine O'Neal was he ever publically called out by his coaches like Don Nelson did with AR? Or was O'Neal just buried behind veteran depth? AR has had an opportunity to get playing time in each of the years he's been in the league, but has alienated 2 coaches. This is not a comparable situation to Jermaine O'Neal at all.

I don't see him maturing this year- for all we know it will be on his next contract...It might not be a bad idea to move him. I'm certainly not firing this coaching staff over him- and if the coaching staff doesn't think we can win with him, and we can still get a first round pick for the guy, we should do so and move on.

TMS wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:Walsh is a good guy. I think he will help Randolph out and get him to a better situation if he can.

i think the Kings might consider AR as a nice option to match up with Cousins & Whiteside in their frontcourt that they can build with

if we miss out on Melo, i'm wondering if he might be trying to work on a deal to land us Dalembert & Casspi?

After last night Damlembert looks pretty darn attractive to me. Curry would have to be included in this kink of trade, I would think.

Would the Kings really want to do it, though? Cousins/Whiteside/AR would give them an interesting and talented group of bigs, but a big three of dubious character and BB IQ, if you ask me. Dalembert knows his role (and has an expiring contract, just like Curry), and Casspi has a rep as a smart player- not sure that the Kings would necessarily to better because of a deal like this.

Is Whiteside ready to play significant minutes in the NBA, by the way?

Paladin55 wrote:

TMS wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:Walsh is a good guy. I think he will help Randolph out and get him to a better situation if he can.

i think the Kings might consider AR as a nice option to match up with Cousins & Whiteside in their frontcourt that they can build with

if we miss out on Melo, i'm wondering if he might be trying to work on a deal to land us Dalembert & Casspi?

After last night Damlembert looks pretty darn attractive to me. Curry would have to be included in this kink of trade, I would think.

Would the Kings really want to do it, though? Cousins/Whiteside/AR would give them an interesting and talented group of bigs, but a big three of dubious character and BB IQ, if you ask me. Dalembert knows his role (and has an expiring contract, just like Curry), and Casspi has a rep as a smart player- not sure that the Kings would necessarily to better because of a deal like this.

Is Whiteside ready to play significant minutes in the NBA, by the way?

i have no idea about Whiteside, haven't seen him play at all this year... i did read some good things about him during the draft but he's obviously still a project... but i don't think Dalembert factors into the Kings' longterm plans either... his contract is expiring after this year so it wouldn't hurt us cap wise to trade for him... again, i doubt anything happens until the whole Melo situation is settled but i think Dalembert makes sense for us if we're looking at C options.

i think AR has bigger upside than Casspi does... i think Casspi projects as a role player at best... maybe the Kings view these players the same way? just throwing some thoughts out there... would seem to corroborate the stories we've read relating the Knicks' interest in Casspi in the past couple weeks.

something like AR, Walker & Curry's expiring for Casspi & Dalembert? is MDA showcasing Walker right now for possible trades? who knows.

VDesai wrote:

TMS wrote:

VDesai wrote:All I know about AR is that the two coaches he's had in the league were never thrilled about playing him. I think it says a lot about him.

Jermaine O'Neal got hardly any burn for his first 4 years in the NBA & went on to become an Allstar on another team... i don't think it's out of the question for AR to do the same, he's got the talent to be one without question... he just needs to mature a little, a problem that a lot of 21 year olds seem to have coming into the NBA with only 1 year of college experience.

With Jermaine O'Neal was he ever publically called out by his coaches like Don Nelson did with AR? Or was O'Neal just buried behind veteran depth? AR has had an opportunity to get playing time in each of the years he's been in the league, but has alienated 2 coaches. This is not a comparable situation to Jermaine O'Neal at all.

I don't see him maturing this year- for all we know it will be on his next contract...It might not be a bad idea to move him. I'm certainly not firing this coaching staff over him- and if the coaching staff doesn't think we can win with him, and we can still get a first round pick for the guy, we should do so and move on.

AR has 0 basketball IQ. He may turn into a player bit if Nelson and MDA both don't see it in this kid he may very well not have it. A 1st round pick for this kid is a steal IMHO.

ItalianStallion wrote:What a debacle this AR saga was.

This kid obviously has a lot of talent and is a very productive rebounder and shot blocker "right now". It's a shame because the thing we need most is a long athletic player that can rebound, block shots, run the floor, and even be part of the break. He's obviously very raw and needs some time to develop, but he was not used properly playing outside like one of our wings and shooting jumpers over here.

I think what he needed most was some playing to time to recover his game after last year's tough injury and the ankle turn at the start of the season that set him back. But without a jumper he never really fit into a system that requires it and he got very frustrated and apparently gave up. Can't totally blame him though. He's not a rookie. He was a starter for GS, played a lot of minutes, and was one of the hottest prospects in the league. D'Antoni turned him into a garbage time player. I hope he gets traded for his sake. Then I can at least watch him develop and turn into an all star for someone else over the next few years and say "God I wish we had a kid like that".

Does Turiaf have a jumper? Landry Fields? Did Jared Jeffries have a jumper? You just want to make things up so you can blame MDA. Real original, dude.

babyKnicks wrote:The kid HAD a lot of talent...I've not seen anything in over a year.

over a year? the guy was putting up numbers just last season... how does talent disappear in a 21 year old in the span of a few months?

babyKnicks wrote:

TMS wrote:

babyKnicks wrote:The kid HAD a lot of talent...I've not seen anything in over a year.

over a year? the guy was putting up numbers just last season... how does talent disappear in a 21 year old in the span of a few months?

His team was 5 and 12 in his last 17 games before he stopped playing January 8, 2010.

Between January 8, 2010 and January 8, 2011 I say again...I've not seen anything from Randolph that indicates he's got talent.

Channing Frye is putting up similar numbers and I'd say all this hoopla, to date, has been unfounded.

You think dantoni can inflate stats with his system, Donnie Nelson invented stat inflation and golden state was horrible last year.

I'm just not convinced he's worth all this ink and angst anymore.

Channing Frye is averaging 10.9 / 6.1 / 1.2 in 31 mpg... AR averaged 11.6 / 6.5 / 1.5 in 23 mpg last year... that's better production in 8 minutes less per contest, which is pretty significant... add to that fact AR is only 21 years old compared to Frye who's 27... i have no idea how u can think AR has already topped out at such an early age & limited opportunity.