There was a flurry of activity on the good old Twitter wires Wednesday afternoon when Alan Hahn of Newsday broke news of a trade sending Nate Robinson to Boston for Eddie House and a second round pick. The word moved quickly around the league until Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the dean of the NBA rumor mill, stepped in to say that the teams were still working and might not finalize things until tomorrow.
The problem would seem to stem from issues making House's salary match up with Robinson's because of Robinson's status as a base-year compensation player. The rules are convoluted, but the Knicks can only take in so much money in salary and House makes about $100,000 too much to work without other window dressing. Both teams seem motivated to get this done, though, so they'll find that window dressing.
Assuming no snags jump up before tomorrow afternoon, then, the Nate Robinson era in New York has come to a close not with a bang but with a claim of the flu before Tuesday night's game with the Bulls. It seemed a bit odd at the time, Robinson seemed fine during the Slam Dunk Contest, but makes more sense now. Nothing sends a potential trade down the drain faster than a turned ankle.
It's not immediately clear what the Celtics want with Robinson. We know how he can score in bunches, but the Celtics seem to have a bigger need for a defensive stopper off the bench/reliable hand to run the offense when Rajon Rondo is off the court. That's not the issue that concerns Knicks fans, though.
House has played for Mike D'Antoni in the past and should be a good fit as a three-point flinger off the bench for the rest of the season. He also makes less money than Nate, although the only money concerns that really rank on the list are the ones that extend to next season in the guise of Jared Jeffries's contract.
It's unclear how the Robinson deal might impact the rumored deal sending Jared Jeffries, Jordan Hill and other stuff to Houston for Tracy McGrady, but if the second deal doesn't happen the first one just doesn't matter. On Wednesday afternoon, word was that the Knicks were pushing back on the demands for Hill and first round picks. We already went on record Tuesday with why they should play ball, but Donnie Walsh wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't try to make the trade with less of his skin in the game.
For now, though, we'll sit back and hope the Knicks don't let all the chatter cause them to lose by the Bulls by 33 again on Wednesday night. This season may be prologue, but it doesn't have to be quite so ugly, fellas.
Sports
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
