Gary Payton is the sexier catch but Bulls center Brad Miller may be the more attainable one.
The Knicks need size, but team brass isn’t convinced their point guard situation has been settled with the Mark Jackson trade.
That is why the Knicks have again inquired about Seattle’s star point guard Payton, just like they did before the Feb. 22 trading deadline, a league official told The Post.
The Heat, too, are after Payton, having offered Brian Grant. Miami also has its eye on Miller, the young 7-footer whom the Knicks lusted after last summer when he was a free agent. GM Scott Layden also tried to pry Miller from the Bulls before the trading deadline. Miami’s interest in Payton and Miller have pricked the Knicks’ ears.
Sonics owner Howard Schultz said recently Payton would be traded in the right deal and the Knicks plan to make an offer. League sources expect Seattle to heat up its talks with other teams regarding Payton and power forward Vin Baker at Tuesday’s pre-draft camp in Chicago, where team GMs, scouts and coaches gather for four days.
The Knicks are willing to give up free-agent-to-be Allan Houston for Payton straight-up, but Houston would have to sign off on the deal. The Sonics would likely want more than just Houston.
Payton said this week he has no desire to be traded and wants a contract extension. A source close to Payton said if the point guard were traded, he would prefer not to be traded to the Knicks. Payton no longer deems the Knicks as championship contenders because of a lack of an inside scoring presence. And that sentiment would be even more accurate if the Knicks parted with center Marcus Camby in a Payton blockbuster. Reports at the trading deadline had the Sonics demanding Houston and Camby, though Seattle officials say talks never got that far.
The Sonics would prefer to add Baker to a Payton package, but the combinations of their salaries ($20 million) makes it difficult. Another team would have to give back $20 million worth of salary. That is why a Payton-Baker package would have to include three to four teams. Though he’d give them more size, the Knicks aren’t as high on Baker as last August when they nearly obtained him and Glen Rice for Patrick Ewing. Baker also brings in another monstrous contract.
One thing in the Knicks’ favor is GM Scott Layden and Sonics GM Wally Walker have worked closely together before, having spent weeks on the phone last summer building the historic four-team, 12-player Ewing blockbuster.
A more likely trading partner for the Knicks, though, is the Bulls. The Knicks like a lot of their players, especially Miller, whom the Bulls are shopping. Though Miller, 25, signed a three-year deal last summer, only the first year was guaranteed. The Bulls have an upcoming deadline to enforce the option or else the former Hornet becomes a free agent. The Bulls would rather trade Miller, who did not get along with coach Tim Floyd. Miller had a disastrous start but came on with a strong final two months. A player whom they can develop, Miller is young and has nice post-up moves, which is why Layden likes him so much.
On a grander scale, Bulls GM Jerry Krause is ready to wheel and deal this summer and will even make standout power forward Elton Brand of Westchester available, a player whom the Knicks have a lot of interest. Krause has cap room and is also reportedly very interested in Houston.
But Krause would rather spend the cap room elsewhere and land Houston in a sign-and-trade, leaving all sorts of blockbuster possibilities that could also include New Yorker Ron Artest. However, Houston would have to approve the deal and has stated emphatically he wants to stay in New York.
