Goodbye Nate the Great?

Nate Robinson used to be one of my favorite Knicks. He played his butt off every game, made some of the most unbelievable plays (like blocking Yao, who is 2 feet taller), and showed desire and hustle that the Knicks lacked. He is also jacked like a mini TO.

Nate has always been an entertainer, and now it looks like he'd be more valuable for Vince McMahon than Mike D'Antoni. Nate has always needed to mature, and grow up, and take the game more seriously, and now that he is a veteran 25 year old, his antics are far less excusable than in years past. Nate has been benched that last few games, and when he doesn't play much, the Knicks appear to be much better off as a team. Surprisingly Nate has kept it professional, and is not throwing any Twitter tantrums, so that is good, but he may be stuck to the pine for a while. He is eligible to be traded on the 15th Christmas Eve, so expect the rumors to start flying.

Some fans seem to be pining for Nate to be freed from the pine (outdated reference, they don't sit on a pine bench they sit in metal chairs), but the proof is in the pudding, and the Knicks do not have minutes for Nate.

Nate may be a good scorer but he is bad for the team. He celebrates when they lose. I think this is a main reason why he is benched. Sure he shot 10 for 11 in the 4th against the Magic, but the team did not gain any ground during that stretch, and they still lost. If you watched Nate after he hit his 6th or 7th shot, you would think the Knicks had just sealed a victory, yet they were persistently down by 10. If I were D'Antoni, I wouldn't want a guy celebrating like that while losing. He just doesn't get it, it's about the team.


Imagine if a baseball player hit his 3rd homerun of the game (and his team is losing say, 10-3 in the 9th) admired the blast from home for a little too long, pumped his fist around the bases, tossed his helmet up as he crosses home, and takes a curtain call from the dugout. This is essentially what Nate was doing down the stretch against the Magic. He seemingly cares about individual success over team success, and that is why he is benched. He cleary does not know how to Do What Toney Douglas Do, and I think Douglas is better than Nate anyway.
 
Who could the Knicks acquire for the Lilliputian leaping lighting bolt? There are some issues with trading him. First off, Nate has the right to reject any trade since he signed a 1 year deal for his old team or something. Despite this, he isn't likely to reject going to a team where he'd be guaranteed minutes. Another thing is the base year compensation stuff (details here members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q73) . I don't know a lot about it, I know it makes it hard to match salaries for cap purposes, so it will be tough to deal Nate to another team that is over the cap. The Thunder are under the cap, and maybe they'd like to bring in Nate as a backup guard to help with the playoff rally, in exchange for one of their 2 first round picks(the better of which will likely be in the 12-16 range). Maybe if Curry gets back in shape the Thunder would like Nate and Eddy Picante for a first rounder and...wait no nevermind they won't do that. Whatever happens it will be interesting to see how the Nate situation goes down.