The move makes room for Jared Jeffries, who is expected to sign with the Knicks on Tuesday, according to Frank Isola of the NY Daily News.

Additionally, Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld is reporting Earl Barron has signed a 10-day contract with the Milwaukee Bucks.

UPDATE:

The Knicks have waived Kelenna Azuibuike.

Jeffries gives the Knicks much needed interior size. He also gives a ton of effort on the defensive end and is familiar with Mike D’Antoni’s system. I always liked Jeffries and so did D’Antoni. It was the five-year, $30 million deal he signed with the Knicks in 2006 that wasn’t so great.

Jeffries was part of a three-team trade made before last year’s trade deadline that sent Tracy McGrady to the Knicks and, more importantly, opened up cap space for the Knicks.

To make room for Jeffries, the Knicks will have to buyout a player such as Anthony Carter or Renaldo Balkman.

Still, the Knicks are going to do their due diligence, just in case the Suns are actually interested in moving the face of their franchise.

The Knicks “will make an inquiry,” one team source said regarding Nash’s possible availability.

…

“If you can do something to make the team better, you do it,” team president Donnie Walsh said, speaking in general terms about trades after the team’s practice Saturday in Greenburgh. “That’s pretty obvious. But in the meantime, you’ve got to play games, you’ve got to play the right way, you’ve got to get better and that’s where we are.”

I don’t foresee the Suns trading Nash and I really don’t see the Knicks being able to land Nash if he were to become available.

From Frank Isola of the NY Daily News:

Jared Jeffries nearly negotiated a buyout with the Houston Rockets that could have resulted in the veteran forward returning to the Knicks.

Jeffries would only acknowledge that his goal is to play either for the Rockets or another team but would not confirm the talks of a buyout. However, a source says that Jeffries rejected the buyout because the Rockets’ offer was in effect too low.

…

“I did love playing here,” Jeffries said before Sunday night’s game. “Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be back.”

Adding Jeffries’ defense would help the Knicks contain some of the better scorers in the league, but the team has bigger area of concerns to worry about.

From Marc Berman of the NY Post:

In a perfect world, Knicks brass long have envisioned flamboyant Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio winding up in the city he wants to be in: New York.

But multiple sources within the Timberwolves organization guaranteed Rubio will start his career with the club, not as a Knick.

Minnesota brass is convinced that Rubio will play for the club next season, when his Barcelona buyout falls to $1 million. NBA teams are able to pay $500,000 for European buyouts, so Rubio would have to foot only $500,000 of the bill.

Landing Rubio has been a pipe dream for the Knicks. Since day one, Minnesota has said they would not trade Rubio to the Knicks for reasons including the Knicks’ lack of assets. Minnesota killed the Knicks’ chances of drafting a coveted point guard in the 2009 draft when they drafted two point guard back-to-back with the 5th and 6th picks. Stephen Curry was selected by the Warriors with the 7th pick and the Knicks drafted power forward Jordan Hill with the 8th pick. It must be noted that Brandon Jennings was selected by Milwaukee with the 10th pick.

From Marc Berman and Mark Hale of the NY Post:

Carmelo Anthony confirmed a Post report that Chris Paul made a champagne toast at Anthony’s Manhattan wedding in July in which he called for himself, ‘Melo and Amar’e Stoudemire to team up on the Knicks.

“Everybody was having fun. The Miami Heat was the hot topic at that point. There were a lot of players. They were just laughing and joking about it. It is what it is,” Anthony told AOL in advance of his Tuesday showdown against the Knicks in Denver. “It wasn’t set up. It wasn’t staged. It was just everybody having a good time laughing and joking.”

Anthony denied a Post report he told Spike Lee, who attended the wedding, the Knicks are his first choice. Anthony added of Denver’s extension,”It’s still there. My options are open.”

The Knicks aren’t making a great case early on this season that they have the pieces in place to compliment Carmelo Anthony, but I stand affirm that he will choose the Knicks if he hits free agency over the summer.

Permitting a team has the cap space, a player can sign a max contract in any city. In baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers can’t contend with the New York Yankees when it comes to spending in free agency. In basketball, the Milwaukee Bucks can contend New York Knicks due to salary caps and max contracts. The financial monster known as New York doesn’t have a leg up over the competition in basketball like it does in baseball. 

This is where selling points factor in. Being that numerous teams will have the available cap space to make max contract offers in free agency this summer, it’s going to take more than just money to sign a superstar. 

If the Knicks are able to pull off a trade for Tracy McGrady that includes Jared Jeffries, they will have enough cap space to sign two players to max contracts this summer as concluded by Hoopdata, who took an in-depth look at the Knicks cap situation.

The ability to sign two max contracts becomes the Knicks focal selling point.

Forget trying to use the endorsements as a persuasion point. If this were 20 to 30 years ago, New York would be a better destination for free agents due to the fact that they could make more money in endorsements by playing in New York. In today’s world, an athlete can make just as much money in endorsements in one city compared to another thanks to globalization and technology.

The Knicks need to drill the fact that they can sign two players to max deals. That means they can call LeBron and say ‘Hey we want to bring you to New York and oh yea, we can afford Chris Bosh too’. The Knicks can call Dwayne Wade and say ‘Come sign with us and then let’s go out and get Amare Stoudemire’. 

With enough cap room for two max contracts, the Knicks can sign two superstars who are longing to play with each other. This is a solid selling point that most of the other teams looking to make a splash in free agency cannot say. 

Hoopdata makes a very interesting remark;

An interesting angle to watch in all this is what happens if Amare goes to Cleveland, Amare and Lebron both re-sign there after winning a championship, the Heat miss the playoffs, and the Raptors get knocked out in the first round. I don’t think you’d find anyone around who would think that Bosh or Wade alone could build a team strong enough to knock off those Cavs (or even the Lakers or other teams), so it may become a necessity for Bosh and Wade to team up if they want to have a legitimate shot at winning a title in the near future. 

If Donnie Walsh pulls the trigger on a trade for McGrady, the Knicks will have a leg up over a number of teams in free agency because they can sign two of the top free agents. Pairing two of the NBA’s top players together would be a formula for success in the Eastern Conference and as Hoopdata put it, it may be the only way to dethrone a team that has two superstars of their own, which in-turn becomes a huge selling point for the Knicks. As risky as the trade for McGrady is, it may be the key to the promise land for the New York Knicks.

The trade is a gamble. Plain and simple. The valuable assets the Knicks would give up are Jordan Hill, the 8th overall pick in the 2009 draft, and a 2012 first round pick. They also exchange 2011 first round picks with the Rockets, but I’ll call this a wash since they’ll still own a first round pick in the draft that year. Therefore, the Knicks lose the valuble assets of Jordan Hill and a 2012 first round pick.

What do the Knicks gain in return? Question marks surround Tracy McGrady. What is it that the Knicks are getting out of this deal? The answer is cap space. Flexibility. The ability to sign two max contracts in the 2010 free agency period.

The inclusion of Jared Jeffries along with Jordan Hill’s contract frees up about $10 million more to spend this summer.

This trade doesn’t gaurantee the Knicks sign a top free agent this summer. It guarantees the Knicks have enough cap room to sign possibly two free agents to max contracts. 

This trade isn’t about getting McGrady and asking him to lead the Knicks into the playoffs this season. With just over 30 games remaining, it doesn’t seem likely the Knicks will be playing post-season basketball this year. The only other thing this trade does is give the Knicks a first hand view of McGrady; An audition for him. If all else fails in free agency, they can sign McGrady if he does well during the rest of this year for the Knicks.

The most important aspect of this trade, though, is freeing up cap space. The Knicks are bascially saying it’s ’2010 or bust’. That’s where the gamble lies. To be a cliche, they are putting all of their eggs in one basket. They don’t have a first round pick in 2010, they will be trading away Jordan Hill, their 2009 first round pick, and also will be trading their 2012 first round pick. That means in the four year span from 2009-2012, they’ll have one first round pick and it will be the Rockets pick in 2011.

If the Knicks sign one or two of the top free agents, then the draft picks mean nothing. They won’t be lottery picks. But if the Knicks can’t get their hands on at least one of the top five or seven free agents, they may be in trouble for years to come because of the lack of first round draft picks.

It’s a risk and the Knicks look as though they are willing to take it. The free agent pool is so deep with talent that even if the Knicks don’t get LeBron James, Dwayne Wade or Chris Bosh, they’ll still be able to sign very good players. They could even sign three second-tier free agents if the players don’t covet max contracts. But if the Knicks can only land one second-tier guy like Joe Johnson or Carlos Boozer, it may not be enough to turn the Knicks into contenders. With one very good player, not a superstar but a very good player, and a lack of draft picks, the Knicks may not be able to build a strong team. In that case, the 2011 free agency period becomes critical for the Knicks, but it doesn’t have the depth of the 2010 class. Carmelo Anthony leads the 2011 free agent class.

With the reported trade with the Rockets, Donnie Walsh will have given the Knicks the possibility to make a huge splash this summer. That’s half the battle. The next step is luring the big names to the Garden.

If summer of 2010 wasn’t critical enough for the Knicks, critical takes on a whole new meaning now.

According to Wojnarowski and Spears;

The Knicks and Rockets have designed the framework of a deal that would unload New York’s Jared Jeffries, Jordan Hill and either Al Harrington or Larry Hughes for McGrady, Joey Dorsey and Brian Cook.

As talks stood on Monday, the price of dumping the burdensome contract of Jeffries – who is owed $6.9 million next season – comes with the Knicks and Rockets exchanging 2011 first-round picks and the Knicks’ 2012 first-round choice going to Houston. New York also might include a 2010 second-round pick.

The breakdown of the trade is as follows:

Knicks Receive:
G Tracy McGrady (Due $23 million in 2010 & contract expires)
F Joe Dorsey (Due $880,000 in 2010 & 2 years left on contract after this year)  
F Brian Cook (Due $3.5 million in 2010 & contract expires) 
Houston’s 2011 First Round Pick

Rockets Receive:
F Jordan Hill (Due $2.5 million in 2010 & 1 year left on contract after this year)
F Jared Jeffries (Due $6.5 million in 2010 & 1 year left on contract after this year)
F Al Harrington (Due $1o million in 2010 & contract expires) or G Larry Hughes (Due $13 million in 2010 & contract expires)
Knicks 2011 First Round Pick
Knicks 2012 First Round Pick