This whole Raptor-Knick, Rose-Hardaway-draft pick thing got a whole lot murkier this week.

As anyone with Internet access knows, the talk of trading Toronto's Jalen Rose for New York's Penny Hardaway is still hot, with the stumbling block apparently being the Raptors' aversion to tossing in a first-round pick in the deal.

The big benefit for the Raptors would be about $17 million (U.S.) salary cap relief next summer; Hardaway is hardly going to turn into a regular rotation guy with the Raptors.

If the pick would be Denver's, which Toronto got in the Vince Carter trade a year ago, news that Marcus Camby of the Nuggets is out indefinitely after surgery on his finger clouds the issue greatly.

With Kenyon Martin bothered by a bad knee, Nene out for the season probably after a knee operation and now Camby on the shelf for a while, the Nuggets will be hard-pressed to hang on and make the playoffs in the Western Conference, which would give the Raptors two lottery picks next June.

If Jalen Rose rumours aren't enough on their own, he's also now linked to Ron Artest and his imminent departure from Indiana.

Yesterday, it was Rose to the Lakers, either Devean George or Slava Medvedenko to Toronto along with Austin Croshere from the Pacers.

It's not likely to happen, according to Raptor sources; just the next in a long list of Rose rumours.