Milwaukee Mixes

The common wisdom is that Portland is this year's poster child team for succeeding at rebuilding itself. The evidence is that Chad Ford's advice for rebuilding the Knicks is to do what Portland did.

I happen to disagree. Cynics point to the trading of Zach Randolph as a key. But they fail to mention that Portland got incredibly lucky in landing a franchise rookie in Aldridge who is playing way above anything anyone expected.

So the magic recipe that simple minds on the East Coast seize upon is that trading Randolph and creating cap space are desirable. They fail to mention the trading part of the equation and being the lucky side of a rookie for rookie swap.

The minute Portland fades back into the pack all the magic will disappear.

There are no magic formulas to fix the Knicks. The eternal hope to sign the dissatisfied small-market superstar is a pipe dream. The idea that a number 1 lottery pick is a panacea ignores the track record of #1 lottery picks.

In truth, Isiah is doing a damned good job. The answer to rebuilding is continuous improvement.

Today, ESPN is promoting a Milwaukee/NY trade that would send Randolph AND Balkman to Milwaukee for Gadzuric, Villanueva, and Simmons. The authors fail to recognize that NY sends great talent and reasonable contracts to Milwaukee for bench talent and bad contracts. NO DEAL.

Now. Gadzuric and Simmons for Q and Jerome James makes sense talent-wise and is a fiscal bargain for Milwaukee today and in the long run. Such a trade simply reorganizes the pine for both teams - hopefully for the better.

But the idea that NY should just give away Randolph is insane. Randolph is an ideal piece of the puzzle for many teams and Milwaukee makes sense. Milwaukee sipmly doesn't have the talent to send back. So let's speculate about three team scenarios.

Let's include Sacramento in the mix. Something that works nicely for all teams might be Randolph to Milwaukee, Simmons and Gadzuric to Sacto, Bibby and Kenny Thomas to NY. Malik Rose to Sacto.

Milwaukee gets Randolph, Sacto gets a Brad Miller and Artest replacement and loses a year of Kenny Thomas' contract. New York gets their point.

Let's try Philly instead of Sacramento.

Say, Milwaukee sends Redd and Gadzurik to Philly. Philly sends Dalembert and Andre Miller to NY. Ny sends Randolph Jerome James and Randolph Morris to Milwaukee and NY sends Mardy Collins to Philly.

Again, talent and fiscal relief for Milwaukee and Philly as they acquire needed pieces and some youth for need pieces in New York.