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NBA: Knicks mix team goals with expiring contracts

New York Knicks guard Chris Duhon puts up a shot past Toronto Raptors guard Jose Calderon in Toronto on April 5. Duhon is one of several Knicks players who are likely to be let go when their contracts expire in July to free up money from the team’s payroll for the recently signed Lebron James. PHOTO: REUTERS

Larry Hughes is a veteran guard who can shoot, dunk and defend, but the Knicks really need him to do just one thing: expire.

Al Harrington scores, David Lee rebounds and Chris Duhon makes plays. But they may make their greatest impact next summer, on a spreadsheet, as deleted cells.

Come July 1, the contracts of Hughes, Harrington, Lee and Duhon will expire, along with the contracts of Nate Robinson and Darko Milicic, paring millions of dollars from the Knicks’ payroll, most of it designated for LeBron James.

This is standard practice in the modern NBA, where short contracts are currency and salary-cap room equals hope. The Knicks can create more than US$20 million worth of optimism simply by letting six of their best players disappear.

“It’s odd; it’s different,” said Hughes, an 11-year veteran. “You play this game long enough and you probably see everything. Right now, I’m seeing something that I’ve never seen before.”

The Knicks are not alone. About a dozen teams are clearing cap space for the greatest free-agent class in recent history, potentially headlined by James, Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Chris Bosh, Amar’e Stoudemire and Joe Johnson.

“You play this game long enough and you probably see everything. Right now, I’m seeing something that I’ve never seen before.” — Larry Hughes, New York Knicks guard

No franchise needs a roster purge as badly as the Knicks. They have been horrid since 2001 and capped-out since 1996, locked out of free agency by a haphazard cycle of exchanging bad contracts for worse ones.

Donnie Walsh, the team president, set a new agenda on the day he was hired last year. He traded burdensome contracts (Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph) to acquire shorter ones (Harrington, Hughes). He offered free agents only short-term deals. He persuaded Lee and Robinson, two of the Knicks’ best young players, to accept one-year contracts this summer.

It makes for smart bookkeeping, though not necessarily great esprit de corps. The Knicks have become a collection of place holders — temp workers hired to keep the locker room warm for James. They are acutely aware of their transitory status.

“It’s a business, man,” Robinson said. “If I’m here next year, I’m here. If I’m not, I’m not. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

With no guaranteed stake in the Knicks’ future, the short-timers may have little incentive to pass the ball, set a good screen or take a charge — the out-of-the-box-score plays that make a team successful. It is generally understood that players on a contract drive will pad their own statistics first.

Coach Mike D’Antoni said he thought of addressing the subject at the Knicks’ first team meeting but decided it was best left unspoken.

The issue came up in individual meetings, however, and his message was always the same: “We’re all in this together — one year, four years, it doesn’t really matter. It’s all about this year.”

The Knicks’ operating mantra is win now, get paid later. Lee’s and Robinson’s contracts include a US$1 million bonus for making the playoffs. D’Antoni is telling everyone that a winning record will help their market value more than a 20-point scoring average.

Harrington believes it. He has been down this road before. He averaged 18.6 points, then a career high, for the Atlanta Hawks in 2005-2006, just before entering free agency. But the offensively challenged Ben Wallace received the biggest contract that summer, a four-year, US$60 million deal from the Chicago Bulls.

Harrington had to wait until late August before getting a relatively modest four-year, US$35.3 million deal with the Indiana Pacers. The reason became clear: Wallace, a defensive anchor, had helped lead the Detroit Pistons to two straight finals. Harrington’s Hawks won 26 games.

The Los Angeles Clippers have eight players with expiring contracts. The Miami Heat have seven. The extreme makeover award could go to the Nets, who have only two players with fully guaranteed contracts in 2010-2011.

All of them are following the blueprint laid down by the Orlando Magic, who signed Tracy McGrady and Grant Hill in 2000 after purging their payroll. In the 1999-2000 season, Orlando had 10 players on one-year deals and were expected to finish last in the Eastern Conference. But the Magic won 41 games and stayed in playoff contention until the last week of the season.

The current Knicks have more proven talent than that Magic team did, but they have no illusions.

The team knows that in nine months, James could take Hughes’ salary, Harrington’s starting job and Toney Douglas’ jersey (23). The trick now is to convince themselves that they are more than cap fodder, and that there is still a team to be found among the expiring contracts.

“If we all start going our own ways, it’s going to be a disaster,” Harrington said.
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