The Truth Behind Randolph-to-L.A.

Ian Thomsen of SI.com followed up on his potentially blasphemous rumor last week that, prior to acquiring Marcus Camby in exchange for a mint Charizard and two handfuls of Peanut M&Ms, the Clippers had offered to take Zach Randolph off New York's hands for absolutely nothing ... and the Knicks declined. As it turns out, the offer wasn't so sweet for the 'Bockers. Steve Adamek of the Bergen Record reports:

[T]he Clippers wanted a future first-round draft pick (remember, the Knicks owe Utah a No. 1 in one of the next two years via a long-winding road involving the Stephon Marbury deal), plus $3 million and wanted the Knicks to take Brevin Knight off their hands.

For the Knicks, trading first-round picks should be automatically off the table, unless someone's taking Jared Jeffries and Jerome James. You can't rebuild without young help, and it's hard to get young help without draft picks. With these new details, the deal becomes slightly less insane for each side. Los Angeles obviously got away for grand theft in its deal for Camby; even the Z-Bo trade which included a pick and a bit of cap relief would have been questioned, however.

Every time I say to myself, "Self, Zach is untradeable. No one will trade for him," I remember the time Shaquille O'Neal got traded for Shawn Marion, and the time Kwame Brown got traded for Pau Gasol. Miracles happen. You just have to believe, Knicks fans.