Peter Vecsey of the New York post has given his thoughts about the Knicks inability to manoeuvre this trade deadline; it was for their best.

True, the Nuggets did unload a number of hefty contracts - and we all know the Knicks have their fair share of these - but Vecsey said what Denver received in return has to ask questions about whether Nuggets GM Kiki Vanderweghe is still on Mark Cuban's payroll.  The Mavericks got their man, Raef LaFrentz, while removing the bloating salary of Juwan Howard from their payroll.  Both players were rumored to go to the Knicks during the deadline, with Marcus Camby due to be sacrificed along with some of the Knicks big contracts (Shandon Anderson, Charlie Ward, etc.)

But word around the league is the Knicks should have sacrificed Camby for Howard, whose $20M plus contract would come off the books after next season giving the Knicks some cap relief.  But would it?  Vecsey indicates that if the Knicks did make the trade they'd still have a cap hit of at least $70 million after the 2003 season anyway, still exceeding the would-be cap from between $20-$25 million.

There is no shortcut around the Knicks woeful cap situation, and with a lottery pick in their future this season they may be down for some time to come.