Tradewinds Installment 4: Knicks, Bulls Complete the Ultimate NBA Inside Joke

Sometimes, people stop me on the street and ask me if I like my job. I reply that I don’t like it, I love it. Especially during trade season. Especially when Tim Thomas gets traded for Larry Hughes.↵
↵
↵Yes, two of the most notoriously shiftless, and more or less worthless, players in the NBA have been swapped for each other. Hughes was brought to Cleveland to complement LeBron James, since he and Gilbert Arenas played well together. Except that Arenas and James are different players, and Hughes is exactly the kind of guy who takes it easy after a big deal. So now he and his roughly $13.7 million a year contract, which already moved from Cleveland to Chicago, are on their way to the Knicks, just in time to expire for 2010. Thomas only makes about $6 million annually, so how did they pull this off? By including Jerome James, given a $6 million (roughly) deal by Isiah after one good playoff series. In the immortal words of Otis Redding, “I’ve got dreams to remember.”↵
↵
↵Thomas is up for 2010, as is James. The deal saves the Bulls a whopping $600,000, and I can only conclude that D’Antoni sees something in Hughes (even though everyone else has given up on him forever). That would be a major coup and a sneaky fantasy basketball pick-up. You heard it here first, folks, this is D’Antoni’s basketball acumen on the line! Also worth noting that the Bulls have now made several deals, which suggests Paxson’s trying to straighten out that roster. Whether he’s succeeded remains to be seen.↵
↵
↵More fun: Thunder trade Chris Wilcox to the Knicks for Malik Rose plus cash. I will say this: Wilcox is an athletic power forward who can run the floor and finish with authority, something D’Antoni always wants. Plus I don’t think he’s ever played with a competent point guard. The Knicks are about to blow everyone’s mind.↵