Big News Trade Review

So I think that I've dealt with the Iverson-Billups trade previously, the next new blockbuster to occur is a Knicks-Warriors trade. There are various sources stating what exactly is going down, but all that is consistent is that Donnie Walsh wants Al Harrington, again. Some say there's a three way sending Zach Randolph and Mardy Collins to the Clippers and Jamal Crawford to the Warriors for Tim Thomas, Cuttino Mobley, and Al Harrington. Another has Harrington being traded straight up for the expiring contract of Malik Rose. Finally, the one that I give the most credence to, would be a Jamal Crawford for Al Harrington straight up. So Donnie Walsh loves Al Harrington, yup.

How does this trade break down for the teams though? Does it make sense? Well, beyond the Knicks trying to cut payroll and Don Nelson and Al Harrington hating each other, there's still a lot of merit behind the trade. Let's look at this from a roster and talent perspective.

Jamal Crawford is by no means anything of a point guard but you can't deny that he definitely has ball handling abilities. He can take it off the dribble, and is able to find players for the assist. With Nellie's system of giving guards a larger degree of freedom, I can see him sharing the ball handling duties quite well with Stephen Jackson and his stint with D'Antoni's run-and-gun system can only help him with Don Nelson's wacky variant. Additionally, the removal of Harrington enables the Warriors to develop their promising young talent in Brandan Wrigth and Anthony Randolph. Crawford might not be the ultimate answer, but he's not a bad insurance policy until (if) Monta Ellis makes it back full speed. For now, given a healthy lineup, I see the Warriors depth chart looking like so:

PG- Jamal Crawford, CJ Watson, DeMarcus Nelson
SG- Stephen Jackson, Anthony Morrow, Marco Belinelli
SF- Corey Maggette, Kelenna Azubuike
PF- Brandan Wright, Anthony Randolph
C- Andris Biedrins, Ronny Turiaf

Of course it's Don Nelson, so you're never really sure what he's going to do, he might start Morrow and slide Maggette and Jackson over to the PF and SF slots respectively. Of course, given that Nelson might also only play 9 deep, with likely Turiaf or Randolph being the 9th player, I highly doubt that Watson, Nelson, and especially Belinelli will ever see any playing time. It's really not a bad lineup for the Warriors, at the very least, Crawford is an entertaining player, so in that respect he fits the Warriors perfectly.

For the Knicks, firstly, it's cost cutting. Should Harrington not opt out next season (player option I believe) then he expires in 2010, fine, that's $9-10 million of cap space he's relieving. Brilliant. What that does for the Knicks is also give them a little flexibilty with their roster in their 2010 free agent run. Should they not get LeBron they could always make a run for Dwayne Wade. Dwayne Wade in D'Antoni's system = crazy. Harrington is to me, a slightly above average player, we all know that he can score, at the very least, he can score. He's got a decent 3 pt shot (career average of 35.8%) and he's actually pretty good at finishing. To me, all-in-all, he's like a poor man's Rashard Lewis, some have also likened him to being a poor man's Antawn Jamison (without the rebounding maybe). He would fit into D'Antoni's system pretty well, and in essence would be something of D'Antoni's replacement for Boris Diaw, minus the defense and plus a little offense. I personally think that Harrington should and will get a lot of touches, and with Wilson Chandler developing and Zach Randolph once again putting up the 20-10s that we're accustomed to seeing, the team will be both entertaining to watch, and very potent offensively. Unfortunately, Harrington hasn't ever really shown much inclination on the defensive end, but with the Knicks, that hasn't really been much of an issue, as no one else on the roster (except maybe Chandler) have. It does leave the Knicks a little thin on the 2 guard spot though I actually could imagine either Chandler or Richardson sliding over instead of starting Nate Robinson (I love the guy, but he's definitely a 6th man/bench/energy player). That leaves the lineup looking something like:

PG- Chris Duhon, Mardy Collins, Anthony Roberson
SG- Quentin Richardson, Nate Robinson
SF- Wilson Chandler
PF- Al Harrington, David Lee, Malik Rose
C- Zach Randolph, Jerome James, Eddy Curry

It's a thin lineup. I can see Richardson platooning time at SG and SF with Robinson coming in and out, and then Chandler sliding all over with from SG to PF and Harrington sliding around from SF to C getting you only as deep as Nate Robinson and David Lee (and maybe Mardy Collins?). D'Antoni is probably hoping that eventually Danilo Gallinari and Jared Jeffries make it back, soon.

All in all, it makes a lot of sense for both teams, I can understand why it went through.