With one eye on the salary cap and another on the need to stockpile draft picks, the Knicks New York Knicks yesterday traded fan-favorite Renaldo Balkman Renaldo Balkman to the Nuggets for a 2010 second-round draft choice, guard Taurean Green and swingman Bobby Jones.
Neither Green nor Jones is expected to remain with the Knicks, as the team already has reached the NBA's maximum of 15 guaranteed contracts. Green and Jones each have non-guaranteed deals, but are little more than a means for team president Donnie Walsh to look further into the future by dumping salary and adding a draft pick.
The trade will allow the Knicks to save about $2 million against the salary cap.
Balkman, a 6-foot-8 forward, averaged 3.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in 65 games for the Knicks last season, and found himself buried further on Isiah Thomas' bench as the season progressed, even as his reputation solidified as one of the team's high-energy players. (...)
