Knicks president Donnie Walsh would not guarantee he will make a trade by the Feb. 18 trading deadline. But Walsh admitted scenarios will be explored at this week's scouting meetings, as he expressed bitter disappointment with Sunday's disgraceful 50-point loss to the Mavericks -- the worst home defeat in Knicks history.
"[Sunday] was disappointing to the players, the coaches, the front office, the fans, the press," Walsh said in rare show of anger. "It was a terrible game. Obviously we have to pick it up if we hope to make the playoffs.
"This is the time to start to really pushing and playing well to have a good year. We can't play like that."
With the trade deadline looming, the Knicks have dropped six of eight games to fall nine games under .500 at 17-26 -- they are four games behind the Bulls in the loss column for the eighth and final playoff spot.
The Knicks, who host the Timberwolves tonight, are looking like a terrible team again, the one that started off 1-9.
If Walsh needed further indication a boost is needed, Sunday's horrific 128-78 loss was it. Walsh will meet all week with his scouting department to discuss available players and the prearranged pow-wow has taken on a new sense of urgency. Walsh's limitations is he is looking for players in the final year of their deal to protect his 2010 cap space.
"I will pick their brains, [as] they are out there looking at pro teams," Walsh said. "Who do you think can play that we don't know about or don't see a lot? That kind of thing. We have guys who know the teams. But it takes two to tango."
Things may not get better very soon. When the Knicks return to the scene of the Dallas crime tonight, they may be without staring shooting guard Wilson Chandler, who sat out yesterday's practice with a pulled groin, and backup point guard Nate Robinson, who likely will miss his second straight game. Al Harrington is also suffering from a sore knee, but will play.
"I came in and kept a smile on my face, but it hasn't been easy," David Lee said.
Walsh does not want to panic and knows a deadline trade can backfire. Walsh privately admits his trades last February, in which he obtained Larry Hughes and Chris Wilcox and shipped Tim Thomas, Malik Rose and Anthony Roberson, backfired.
"You're assuming any move would help us make the playoffs," Walsh said. " I don't assume. You have to make the right move in order to have something like that happen. If that's there, we do it. I wouldn't think I have to make a move. It isn't like I woke up and [said], 'Oh my god, I have to do something now.' "
Houston's Tracy McGrady should be traded at the deadline and perhaps Chicago's Tyrus Thomas, too. Both are squarely on Walsh's radar. Rockets general manager Daryl Morey only has interest in a Knicks' package if either rookie Jordan Hill or Chandler are part of it.
But point guard is the deepest void, with Chris Duhon mired in another awful stretch. That's the position he hopes his scouts will reveal a diamond in the rough. For now the Knicks' sparkle is gone.
"Nobody said it would be easy just because we had a great run," Harrington said of their vibrant December and 3-0 start to 2010. "Nobody said it would last forever. Going into the All-Star break is always time when injuries catch up with everybody."
The problem with Sunday is they didn't seem to care.
"What I saw [Sunday], we just didn't have it and nobody had it on the whole team," Walsh said. "Usually somebody comes out there and gives a lift."
The Knicks may be just running out of gas.
"These are the dog days where we got to get through them," D'Antoni said. "The only thing we're looking for is fight. We don't have to play well at times, but we do have to have fight."
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