Because nothing could liven up a dull place like Manhattan quite like Zach Randolph and Ron Artest in the same starting five, the New York Post’s Marc Berman explores what it might take for the Knicks to land the controversial St. John’s product.
The one young Knick who could seal the deal is David Lee (above), as Isiah Thomas ponders whether to make him available for the former Defensive Player of the Year who carries lots of baggage. Lee could be packaged with either Jared Jeffries or Malik Rose to make the deal work under collective bargaining agreement mathematics.
Artest is out of the country and unavailable for comment, his agent, Mark Stevens, said. A source said Artest is headed to Kenya Wednesday with the Players Association as part of a Feed the Children program.
Stevens spoke to Artest yesterday. Asked about Artest’s reaction to reports the Knicks have interest in bringing him home, Stevens said: “He’s a New Yorker. I’m pretty sure you can fill in the rest.”
Kevin Durant made his professional debut earlier today in Seattle’s 77-66 loss to Dallas in the Vegas Summer League. Durant tallied 19 points on 5 of 17 shooting from the floor (7 for 9 from the line) while collecting just one rebound in a little less than 30 minutes of action.
You can forget all yackity yack surrounding the Grizzlies landing Andres Nocioni. The Argentine forward signed a 5 year, $38 million extension with Da Bulls earlier today.