Note: There are several machinations currently underway, most famously a three-way deal involving McGrady ending up in New York in a move that would give Houston some collection of draft picks.  These grades reflect the simple Martin for Landry and cap space/savings portion of this deal.

Walking away from their game of chicken with the Knicks, the Rockets turned Tracy McGrady's expiring contract and the very good Carl Landry into Kevin Martin.

Martin is confounding to those who balk at his percentage from the floor (44.9% career and 39.7% this season) and don't realize how rare a high usage shooting guard with a career 60.0% True Shooting Percentage truly is.  Martin is eighth all-time in career TS% amongst NBA players with at least 300 games of service and 6'7" or shorter.  The only active player ahead of him is Steve Nash at 60.5%, while Ray Allen (57.4%), Paul Pierce (56.4%), Dwyane Wade (56.4%) and Kobe Bryant (55.7%) are in another strata below him in terms of this particular statistic.

Martin is owed a fairly reasonable $10.6M in 10-11, $11.5M in 11-12 and $12.4M in 12-13, but the caveat to that contract is his inability to stay healthy.  Martin has sat out half of the current season with a wrist injury, and also missed significant time in 07-08 (groin) and 08-09 (ankle).

So Houston replaces one injury-plagued scoring machine with a younger model in Martin?  Essentially, that is the case but the Rockets desperately needed to improve their scoring efficiency as they currently rank 19th in points scored per 100 possessions.  Aaron Brooks and Trevor Ariza were being asked to score in difficult late game situations when they are in reality complementary third or fourth options.

The Rockets would have had some cap room this summer, but not nearly enough for anyone of impact and the uncertainty of Yao Ming's physical state would turn the landing spot into a sizable risk for anyone.

Now Houston has a primary perimeter scorer both for their playoff chances this season and for the next three seasons at least.  They also have enough solid role players to compensate for his clear defensive weaknesses.

Kenny Thomas, Hilton Armstrong and Sergio Rodriguez will also come to Houston along with Martin.

Grading the Deal for Houston: B-

The future of Sacramento's backcourt was clearly going to belong to Tyreke Evans and this deal allows them to clear cap space for the summer while also acquiring Landry.

Landry is signed through the 2010-11 season for just $3M, making him probably the best non-rookie contract value in the NBA.

Like Martin, Landry is a statistician's wet dream, with an absolutely stellar career TS% of 62.8%.  He is undersized for a power forward, but he maximizes his physicality with a clever array of moves in the paint.  

As the NBA has scouted Landry more closely, his minutes have been extended and his usage has increased, he hasn't been quite as efficient with his percentage from the floor decreasing from 61.6% as a rookie to 57.4% last season and then 54.3% this season, but he has done a better job in drawing contact and getting to the line.

Landry's face-up can't compete to what he does in the paint, but nobody hitting at an 84.2% clip from the line is lacking as a shooter.  It is a part of his game that inevitably evolves and becomes more frequently relied upon, as he cannot possibly get as many attempts at the rim as he does now.

His rebound rate of 16.4 during his rookie season an dropped all the way down to 11.6 this season, which is decidedly below average for a power forward, even an undersized one.

Defensively, Landry has some matchup problems against taller bigs who can simply shoot over him, though he has upped his presence as a shotblocker this season.  He is a hard worker wherever he is on the floor, but defense clearly is a weakness and a vulnerability.

With a PER advantage of +4.7 against his counterparts at power forward, Landry is very rarely outplayed on an individual level.

Martin has been pursued by many teams leading up to the deadline, but it is difficult to envision a scenario that simultaneously offers this much cap room, possibly more assets for McGrady from the Knicks and a player of Landry's caliber.

Grading the Deal for Sacramento: A

Click here to follow Chris Reina's Twitter feed.