Jeff McInnis was born and raised in Charlotte before playing his college basketball at the University of North Carolina, so this will be a true homecoming for the journeyman guard.

The health of McInnis is in serious questions, as he is 33 years-old and has not played an NBA game in nearly a year.  New Jersey did not care for his rehabilitation efforts and asked him to stay away from the club this season until they can trade him.

For Charlotte, who have been significantly under the salary cap, acquiring a veteran point guard has become a necessity.  

Brevin Knight has only played 19 games this season and will be out an additional 4-6 weeks after undergoing abdominal surgery on December 28th.

With Knight unavailable, the strain on second-year point guard Raymond Felton had become excessive. Felton has averaged 38 minutes per game this season and had played nearly 140 minutes over the past three games.

McInnis was a serviceable player as recently as the 2004-2005 season, when he was the starting point guard for the Cavaliers.  He averaged 12.8 points and 5.1 assists per game that season before falling out of favor with the organization.

The Nets needed to stop holding McInnis hostage and were able to acquire an underrated player in return.

Bernard Robinson?s minutes have decreased this season with arrival of Adam Morrison.  He was a solid backend of the rotation player for a bad team in 2005-2006 (6.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg in 19 mpg), but he has struggled in his limited time this season.  He is shooting a dreadful 29.6% from the floor and has been lost on Bernie Bickerstaff?s bench.

Grade for Charlotte: B+

If McInnis is presently healthy (and continues to be healthy), the Bobcats will withstand the loss of Knight without further wearing down Felton.  He can be expected to give Charlotte about 20 minutes per game, possibly 8 points and 3.5-4 assists.

His behavior has obviously been an issue in the past, but it is highly unlikely that it will be an issue in Charlotte. The Bobcats locker room is one of the classiest that I?ve been a witness to and that comes down from Bickerstaff and the respect he has earned.

The Bobcats probably could have found a free agent point guard who would provide similar production, but the only cost here was a spare part.

Grade for New Jersey: A-

McInnis? value was very limited, but Robinson can give the Nets effective minutes at both wing positions.  Their depth behind the often-injured Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter is slim, so in Lawrence Frank?s system, Robinson can develop into a nice complementary player.  

Bickerstaff once compared Robinson to Vincent Askew, an often overlooked component of some very good Warriors and Sonics teams of the early to mid-nineties. The Nets could use Vincent Askew.