Knicks stay quiet at the trade deadline
After weeks of speculation the Knicks stayed quiet and did not make a move by Thursday's 3 pm Trade Deadline. It was expected that the Knicks would make some type of move given their season is going nowhere, but it wasn't surprising to see them do nothing. The chances of a Carmelo Anthony trade were always slim, but a Derrick Rose trade seemed to gain traction as the deadline approached. The Knicks were in talks with the Timberwolves on a deal centered around Rose for Ricky Rubio. According to reports the Knicks wanted more than just Rubio in a trade and asked for picks or young talent in addition to Rose.
The T'Wolves balked at that proposal and balked at a Rubio for Rose deal straight up in the last minutes before the deadline passed. There were rumblings of a Courtney Lee deal to the Clippers, but outside of that there was nothing really close to getting done other than the Rose for Rubio deal. It appeared like a deal was going to get done, but the Knicks asking price was too high and it cost them when they tried to lower their demands in the final minutes. If that's true the Knicks have nobody to blame but themselves for failing to get something for Rose and his expiring deal.
There is no chance Rose is going to return to the team next year so it made zero sense for the Phil Jackson to hold on to him for the final 25 games. This team's playoff chances are highly unlikely whether Rose is on the team or not. They took a chance on Rose to help this team return to the playoffs and it has failed miserably. Rose still has more than enough talent to play in this league, but his fit with the Knicks has been a bad one ever since he got to New York. Rose needed to go whether they got a quality return for him or not, but Phil Jackson once again did what he's done all year as team president. Nothing.
The Knicks followed up their quiet deadline with a blowout loss to the Cavs to open their final 25 games of the season. Following the game Carmelo Anthony was asked if he understood managements vision for the future after the team stayed quiet at the deadline.
"No, not now. No, to be honest with you," said Carmelo in his postgame comments to ESPN's Ian Begley. The same can be said for the entire Knick fan base.
