Merry Christmas

The Real Reason Nash Won't Leave the Suns

Knicks Sign Bender

Luc Longley's Shrimp

Former Knick Luc Longley successfully bid on the right to name a newly discovered species of shrimp in Australia.

It all started when Anna McCallum, now a doctoral student at the University of Melbourne, discovered a previously unknown shrimp while working as an assistant on a research boat. Instead of naming it herself, she decided to auction the right to name the shrimp on eBay and donate the proceeds to the Australian Marine Conservation Society.

The bidding got hot and heavy with sea-life lovers like Bob Rosenberry, publisher of Shrimp News International, bidding up to $2,000. Still, the winning bid of $2,900 came as a shock.

“It was a total surprise that a basketballer would be interested in this little deep-sea shrimp,” McCallum told The Scientist.

Longley, who had participated in marine conservation efforts before, named the shrimp Lebbeus clarehanna after his 15-year-old daughter, Clare Hanna Longley.

The auction took place in March, and the description and name of the shrimp appeared in a recent issue of Zootaxa.

New Knicks Trade Proposal Forum

The KnicksMecca blog now has a new trade proposal forum that allows you to suggest a trade and/or vote on the suggested trades of others.

Try it at;

http://knicks.uservoice.com/



Just type in your trade proposal where it asks "I suggest you..."

Dec. 15 trade Speculation

For almost two years I have advocated the trading of Nate Robinson. Today, he's stuck on the bench and the innuendo is that the Knicks are winning by not playing him. I doubt that the winning streak is more than co-incidental.

Here at the Mecca, Nate Robinson is not a building block for a winning Knicks team. That doesn't mean he can't be very effective for an existing contender, merely that he isn't a building block that one can rise upon.

I expect Nate to be an early departure once the trading season starts. Orlando is a likely destination. Any other contender who experiences an unexpected PG injury will also be a suitor.

Darko is a goner sooner than later as well. He's an expiring contract that's movable.

Al Harrington is also becoming an extremely valuable trading chip. Over the sumer he can resign with the Knicks while playing for a contender this year.

If there is a God not named D'Antoni, Duhon will get moved as well.

If Hill can be exchanged for a first rounder in this upcoming draft then he should be moved with concierge service.

Jeffries has become become a Knicks version of Bruce Bowen light. I suspect he stays.

Three Out of Four

The Knicks are on a roll and one of the league's hottest team's over the past week. Although beating the Nets is not necessarily the highest achievement, beating Atlnata and Phoenix is no cakewalk.

Earlier this year, we asked our experts what the Knicks record would be if everything went right. The response was a collective 45 wins.

Well, since then virtually nothing has gone right.

Chris Duhon has become a remedial PG, Darko is in exile, Curry - injury-prone, N8 in the doghouse, Chandler playing like a lost rookie, Hill a project at best.

Yet the stellar play of Larry Hughes is raising the team into respectability. Hughes is rapidly moving into one of the top five or ten players to wear the Knicks uniform this decade. For the most die-hard of fans, Hughes is a dinosaur - a two-way player who is gritty and fearless.

Couple that with an All-Star year from David Lee, a rock solid year from Al Harrington, a limited but effective year from Jared Jeffries, and the emergence of Toney Douglas as a wildcard role player and we have the makings of a Knicks team threatening a playoff spot despite a dreadful early season.