The New York Knicks have dealt shooting guard Jamal Crawford for Golden State's Al Harrington.
Crawford, a high volume perimeter gunner goes from one up-tempo team to another. After losing Baron Davis over the summer, and Monta Ellis to a moped injury before training camp, Golden State was in desperate need of someone to pick up some scoring responsibility behind SJax and Corey Maguette. Crawford immediately adds another scoring threat to Golden State's offense. Though in no way a point guard, Crawford can take over some primary ball handling duties as well.
Al Harrington has been in Don Nelson's dog house for the majority of the season. This trade comes as a much welcomed change of scenery for Harrington (and all fantasy basketball players that own him). D'Antoni's run-and-gun style of play is perfect for Harrington; he's an undersized power-forward with above-average scoring abilities, but a poor defender and rebounder. It will be interesting to see how playing time works out in New York with David Lee, Wilson Chandler, and Zach Randolph playing a similar position.
More importantly, this trade freed up cap space for the Knicks in 2010 to make a run at the ridiculous free agent class include Lebron and Dwayne Wade. As for Golden State, they seem to be more concerned with the current year's playoff run.
Fantasy Implications
Jamal Crawford's role in Golden State will remain pretty much unchanged from his situation in New York: He will called on to score. However, beware of some consistency issues, especially when Monta Ellis returns; Golden State has a number of proven scorers, all who require lots of touches to be effective.
Al Harrington - Like mentioned above, this trade comes as a godsend. Harrington has been piling up the DNP's because of his issues with Don Nelson. Though the Knicks still do have Lee, Chandler, and ZBo, I expect Harrington to jump in and resume regular levels of production. Expect around 14-16ppg, 5 rebs, and a three pointer in about 28 mins on most nights.
Nate Robinson - Look for his value to go up. Robinson can put up points in bunches and the back court just opened up for him to start raining shots. The Knicks just lost 19points a game; Nate will fill in for a lot of those.
Anthony Randolph/Brandon Wright - I don't know how effective either of these guys will be, but getting rid of Harrington shows a commitment from Golden State to these young guns. Keep an eye out to see who takes advantage.
For the story:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3717209
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