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Neal to Knicks on ten day contract

Week nine saw the Knicks 18-game winning streak at home shattered. They also lost two in a row for the first time all season. Hopefully they can bounce back with a win over the Hawks to finish the week even.

But we also saw New York conduct it's second in-season trade. After showcasing him in limited minutes for a couple of weeks, the Knicks put sharp-shooter Joe Harris on the market. The intention was two-fold.

The front-office is deadset on to avoing a luxury tax at the end of week 15 this time, after paying a hefty fine last season. They want to be more flexible going forward and not be hampered even further by the repeater tax. As they see it, there's no point going into that territory for a couple of million. Either go big as last time, or get the hell under.

Meanwhile the coaching staff is having a hard time figuring out a rotation in the back-court. Lately Harden and Irving were subbed out at the same time quite often, leaving ball-handling duties in the hands of Thornton and even Harris. You want these guys to shoot the ball, not handle it.

Hence the Knicks were looking for a point guard without much success. So they settled on creating a roster-spot by sending Harris to Dallas for a couple of second round picks. In recent years dunadan had been handing out picks like candy to get deals done. So it is a good change of pace to see some picks coming in for a change.

The team then used the open slot to join the bidding for the services of Gary Neal. The veteran most recently played for Boston last season before getting cut because of a season-ending leg injury. The Knicks ended up signing him to a ten-day contract.

While not a natural point guard either, Neal is a safer option to handle the ball than anyone else on the roster not named Harden or Irving. He will have a chance to prove himself next week as the team's third guard.

In addition Jeff Hornacek will put more focus on better staggering the court-time of his two stars.

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