Knicks Want Bibby, Could this Trade Work?

These days, trade talks have gone up. T-Mac wants a trade, Mike James' unhappy in Houston. Cavs, and now the Knicks, want the Kings' Mike Bibby, and the Knicks want Ron Artest without giving up David Lee, but will give up Jamal Crawford. So I put 4-way trade together to solve their problems. A deal that would get an unhappy T-Mac out of Houston and Mike James back at a starting role. Ron Artest can try to fix the Knicks. The Cavs get Bibby while shipping Larry Hughes and Damon Jones, and not getting Kenny Thomas. Crawford gets out of NY, what the Knicks are trying to do. The Kings unload 2 players able to opt out this year and get 2 great players at their position. And every team can financially afford the deal.

To Houston: Jamal Crawford (NYK), Larry Hughes and Damon Jones (CLE)

To Sacramento: Tracy McGrady and Mike James (HOU), Drew Gooden (CLE)

To Cleveland: Mike Bibby (SAC), Malik Rose (NYK)

To New York: Ron Artest and Kenny Thomas (SAC)

Here's the pros and cons resulting in the trade and their probable line-ups.

Houston Rockets

Probable Line-Up: PG- Rafer Alston SG- Jamal Crawford SF- Shane Battier PF-Chuck Hayes C- Yao Ming

Averages Lost: McGrady, James 30.1 PPG 6.4 RPG 6.9 APG

Averages Gained: Crawford, Hughes, Jones 34.4 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 8.4 APG

Difference: +4.4 PPG, +0.5 RPG, +1.5 APG

Houston would get Jamal Crawford, Larry Hughes and Damon Jones to equal the scoring T-Mac gave them while getting PG Jones to come off of the bench to replace Mike James. Hughes hasn't had his best season this year, but he's doing better than Jones but could be a good defender when needed. With the absence of T-Mac, Luther Head has emerged and could be a great spark off the bench behind Crawford who is a very good scorer this year. Plus the team has been playing better as of late. Under Rick Aldelman they could once again become playoff contenders in years to come with a new team to work with.

Sacramento Kings:

Probable Line-Up: PG-Mike James SG-Kevin Martin SF- Tracy McGrady PF- Drew Gooden C- Brad Miller

Averages Lost: Bibby, Artest, Thomas (At Least) 35 PPG, 9 RPG, 10 APG

Averages Gained: McGrady, Gooden, James 42.2 PPG, 15.3 RPG, 7.9 APG

Difference: (At least)+7.2 PPG, +6.3 RPG, -2.1 APG

T-Mac replaces Artest at the SF spot where he and the efficient Martin can create a possible scoring tandem. The only con to getting him is that he's injury prone, but John Salmons could easily fill the void, averaging 21.9 PPG in January. They also get Drew Gooden's rebounding expertise and scoring, moving Mikki Moore to back-up PF. Mike James would be the starting PG while Udrih gets benched. They give Mike Bibby to Cleveland and Ron Artest and Kenny Thomas to New York. Doing that, they get rid of Bibby's $13 million contract and get someone back before he opts out. Ron Artest doesn't get the chance to opt out on the Kings, but gets to play somewhere he wants while Kenny Thomas' expensive contract gets shipped to NY as well, while saving the Knicks money. T-Mac, Gooden and James come to Sacramento, a team that is not considered a big threat in the west. However, this would be a Kings' dream come true as they are stocked with a ton of potential with rising star Kevin Martin and breakout players John Salmons, Francisco Garcia and Beno Udrih. 7 players have scored 20+ points twice or more in 36 games.

Kevin Martin (16/20 games due to injury)

John Salmons (16)

Ron Artest (10/20 due to injury, suspension)

Francisco Garcia (10)

Brad Miller (8)

Beno Udrih (5)

Mikki Moore (2)

Cleveland Caviliers:

Probable Line-Up: PG- Mike Bibby SG- Sasha Pavlovic SF LeBron James PF- Anderson Varejao C-Zydrunas Ilgauskus

Averages Lost: Gooden, Hughes, Jones 27.4 PPG, 12.8 RPG, 4.9 APG

Averages Gained: Bibby, Rose (Around) 17 PPG, 5 RPG, 5 APG

Difference: -10.4 PPG, -7.8 RPG, +0.1 APG

The Cavs finally get Mike Bibby after expressing interest since last summer without sacrificing any of their young talent. Bibby gets to work with LeBron James, taking much of the scoring load off of him. He scored 19 points off the bench in his first game back from injury. Daniel Gibson fills in while Bibby goes on the bench. They can even play at SG with how well they both shoot and wouldn't be a bad combo in the game together. They get Malik Rose from NY because of Kenny Thomas coming in. Thomas was considered a deal breaker when the Kings offered Bibby, but because of Thomas' play, Cleveland wasn't interested. Rose scores more than Thomas. They get rid of Larry Hughes on the decline and his $12 million contract along with Damon Jones' $4 million contact and send them both to Houston. Both would be brought in to compensate Mike James leaving the back-up PG spot and McGrady leaving. Drew Gooden would leave letting Anderson Varejao get the starting PF spot, leaving the back-up spot to Donyell Marshall. Malik Rose could probably end up playing Scot Pollard

New York Knicks:

Probable Line-Up: PG- Stephon Marbury SG- Quentin Richardson SF- Ron Artest PF- Zach Randolph C- Eddy Curry

Averages Lost: Crawford & Rose 20.9 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 4.9 APG

Averages Gained: Artest & Thomas 20.5 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 4.9 APG

Difference: -0.4 PPG, +3.8 RPG, 0 APG

Ron Artest gets his hometown wish to play for the Knicks, while they didn't have to trade David Lee away. The Knicks get Kenny Thomas from the Kings while shipping Malik Rose to Cleveland keeping cap issues the same. Thomas would most likely ride the bench and recieve little playing time if any. Artest has been problematic in the past, but he has recently been humbled with his summer trip to Kenya and finding out his daughter has kidney cancer. But if things ever boiled over to the point where he couldn't take it anymore in NY, things could get worse than before. But his performance this year has proved that he can be a great player in the NBA. The Knicks are shopping Crawford and would most likely be glad to give him up to get Artest. The trade with the Kings keeps their salary cap virtually the same. They actually save money ($253,750).

That Knicks line-up looks scary, except for the fact that they probably can't play together. All of the line-ups look pretty good though. There are a couple of problems with this trade actually goiing through. Cleveland loses a big part of their scoring and the Cavs probably wouldn't want Malik Rose, but if they really wanted Bibby, they'd have faith in him and faith in the team to pull together. Another problem, concern over the Kings getting too much power. With McGrady and Martin possibly scoring a combined 47 PPG along with the resurfacing of Brad Miller, and Drew Gooden a good PF and Mike James starting again the Kings could be a playoff team ranking from 4th-6th seed in the future. T-Mac has never gone past the first round before, but even Eli Manning got past his playoff slump. This trade certainly has potential to make every team better, filling almost every team's needs.

Sources

T-Mac Wants Out

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080107/SPORTS0102/801070314/ 1127/

Mike James Unhappy

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5454556.html

Turning Down Deals for David Lee, but Crawford Available

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/sports/kings/archives/009994.html

Cavs Still Want Bibby, Not Thomas

http://c13.zedo.com//ads2/f/269201/1/0/0/305000430/305000430/0/305/282/zz-V1-pop 1200333768461.html?a=;l=;p=

Knicks Interested in Artest, Bibby

http://www.insidehoops.com/nba_rumors.shtml