I agree with GregB, ultimately.
[long bad paragraph of trade ideas to follow]
But if we were to dangle our remaining tradeable picks ('11 1st + however many 2nds we can trade) Scalabrine, Pollard, and Pruitt...we could conceivably take back as much as 6.17 million in salary. Which...probably still couldn't get us squat. It's a sellers' market out there, with so many teams loaded with enough talent to make a run in the playoffs. But wait, we could also sign-and-trade McLeod and Kandi and add them to the mix. If we were to dangle (breath) Scalabrine + Pollard + Pruitt + however many picks we can trade + Kandi + McLeod, we could take back about 10.1 million. Getting interesting (albeit less realistic now) but still not much doable, unless you want mediocrity, which I don't, I'd rather get a somewhat star-quality player on a bad team looking to free up money. We'd barely miss out on Brad Miller (if he's even available, lol). I think Philly's hanging onto Daly, lol. We could maybe get Andre Miller? Probably not. (But I trust Rondo anyway). Oh god, it's the Knicks' Hoopshype page, look away, look away...whew, moving on...Holy ****, I got it: Antoine Walker.

(No, but really, we probably wouldn't even to include any picks, or Pruitt, just the small $$$ savings created by a 125% combo would delight McHale, I think.) Errrm, what else...Gadzuric + Charlie Bell??? Man, there's slim pickings. Banks + Blount? ...

(Doesn't even work $$$-wise, thank god) Hmmm...Troy Murphy??? I wonder. Joe Smith + Chris Duhon? Wait, wait, wait, Pollard's cap figure is half of what I thought...actually, I don't think that changes anything. The max salary we could take back with the above "mega" package is actually about 9.54 million. Oh, but hey, we could absorb an absolutely horrendous contract worth, say, 9.54 million and THEN we could use Delonte's exception to trade for a real talent who's within that exception's cap range. Continuing, though...(BTW, now I know why the caged GM sings, i.e., why the Spurs would have found Kurt Thomas enticing...oh, but speaking of...)...what about, oh god, Artest? We
could actually bring back Artest. God I hope Presti both talked the Spurs into taking his scrub KT
and mentioned to Sacto they should look at Boston. First remotely available player per reports that could work cap wise in this unrealistic package-of-scrubs-and-some-picks-and-oh-yeah-Pruitt! scenario who'd be a true impact player (if he doesn't unravel psychologically and sink the team's morale...well, that would be an impact, too). (If only we had a whole offseason for Doo to mold Fatass Curry into shape and send him to a motivational speaker like Matt Foley). Is NJ going to do anything with Diop? White Chocolate for backup PG, anyone? Kwame Brown? (shudders) Ummm....yeah, that's it. Okay, recapping:
Pruitt + 2011 1st rounder + any/all 2nd rounders + (maybe BBD?) +
Scalabrine + Pollard + Olowokandi + McLeod (both "S&T")
for
Ron Artest (doesn't fill a need but wtf why not...beyond the obvious)
Troy Murphy (could work at PF or C...not really a physical presence?)
Andre Miller (do we really need a full-time PG??? No.)
Antoine Walker (give him #88 back! and then #8 a week later!)
Sam Dalembert (not available I'm assuming, not for our half-crap)
Gadzuric + Bell (yeah, I mean, fine, but yawnnnnn...zzzzzzz)
Banks + Blount (ahhhhhahahahahahahahaha.....hahahaha!)
Joe Smith + Chris Duhon (meh, not actually half bad)
Kwame Br...nevermind
Eddy Curry + 6 straight weeks of the Scarsdale Medical Diet (lol)
Jason Williams (same question as Andre Miller)
Diop + whatever???
That's basically it, people.
That's the
max of what's possible.
The best case scenarios, LOL.
Maybe I'm overestimating the confidence of some playoff-caliber teams, maybe there are other players available. Maybe we could get a kid like Warrick for taking on a dump like Cardinal. Maybe I'm overestimating the amount of salary a "sign and trade" for Kandi/McLeod would count for against the cap. I don't know. Finally too tired, going to sleep.