Hahn's NBA Insider: Trade deadline becomes addition by subtraction

In the midst of the madness before Thursday's NBA trade deadline, one general manager bemoaned the results of most of the deals. "Nobody makes trades to win anymore," he said.

Perhaps only the Cavaliers did that, acquiring Antawn Jamison, the "stretch four" (translated: power forward with a mid-range game that can stretch the defense) they were looking for as a final piece to what they hope is a championship team.

The Rockets got value out of Tracy McGrady by adding some needed scoring pop in Kevin Martin, but that might only improve their chances to make the playoffs. They are two games out of the final berth in the West, which is held by the slipping Trail Blazers, who brought in some much-needed size in Marcus Camby to make up for the devastating injury losses (Greg Oden, Joel Przybilla) to the front line.

Really, when you talk about the true "winners" of the trade deadline, you are actually talking more about teams that were looking to lose - as in, subtract players to create salary-cap space. The Knicks were at the very top of that list with their $9.5- million bonus for 2010-11 that will give them more than $30 million in cap space for this summer's free-agency shopping spree. The Bulls dumped John Salmons' $5.8-million salary next season and the Clippers shed Al Thornton ($2.8 million in 2010-11) plus Sebastian Telfair ($2.7-million team option) to ensure they will be a major player in free agency.

What about teams that stood pat? Among the contenders, the Lakers considered a few moves to upgrade the bench. Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich was believed to be a target, but Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak decided against piling another contract on to their hefty payroll, especially with Kobe Bryant yet to be paid this summer.

The Nuggets scoured the league for bigs and considered several options (Ronny Turiaf was hoping he'd be rescued from the Warriors) but found no such luck.

And the Celtics added Nate Robinson, but they were hoping to do a lot more than that. In fact, there was some legitimate thought about using Ray Allen's expiring contract to get younger. This could be Boston's last run at a championship, and GM Danny Ainge knows it.

The power structure in the East is about to change dramatically this summer, especially if the Knicks - who are owned by Cablevision, which also owns Newsday - come out of free agency with at least one marquee player. The Nets, Bulls, Wizards and Heat have plenty of cap space to spend this summer to reshape their franchises.

The Heat, in fact, was another team that stood pat at the deadline despite some mild flirtation with Amar'e Stoudemire that never materialized because Miami didn't have assets that interested the Suns. They did have a valuable $4.26-million trade exception, however, that could have yielded something to help Erik Spoelstra's thin roster. But the Heat - which has to not only re-sign Dwyane Wade but prove it can build a championship-caliber team around him - was not going to do anything to impact its cap space for 2010-11.

That is when teams will be making moves to win.

Karl's second cancer battle

George Karl has beaten cancer before, having had surgery for prostate cancer in 2005. He faces the challenge again after revealing last Tuesday that he has a form of throat cancer. He told his Nuggets team after keeping the news a secret through All-Star Weekend, when he coached the Western Conference team.

"Most people believe the treatment is manageable," said Karl, who will miss games Thursday at Golden State and March 10 at Minnesota because of treatments. It is possible he could miss others.

In Karl's absence, assistant coach Adrian Dantley will run the team. Karl, 58, hopes to be finished with the treatment and at 100 percent in time for the playoffs. The Nuggets might be the only team in the West with a legitimate chance to beat the Lakers.

"Basically, I believe my team is a championship team," Karl said. "My hope is I can focus 100 percent during the playoff run."

Rondo not thrilled to get Nate

Nate Robinson is popular among fans and well-liked by his former Knicks teammates, but the Celtics' players hardly were excited about the acquisition of the 5-9 scoring guard before the trade deadline. Point guard Rajon Rondo, in fact, could hardly hide his apathy.

"I hope it's for the best," Rondo told reporters. "Eddie House can drop 20, 30 too."

Rondo is an aloof player who saves most of his talking for the court, where he is known to bark - and curse profusely - at his own teammates, even Kevin Garnett. Robinson is well known around the league as an incessant trash-talker.

"We don't really see each other," Rondo said of his relationship with Robinson. "We speak, but I try to kill him every time I play him, and I'm sure that's probably his mentality."

Kings' draft decision aided Knicks

The Kings were the only NBA team that was granted a private workout with Ricky Rubio before last June's draft. But the Kings passed on Rubio and instead chose Tyreke Evans with the fourth overall pick.

That, agent Dan Fegan said, led to the Kings' trade of Kevin Martin to the Rockets in the three-player deal that sent Tracy McGrady to the Knicks.

"The seeds for the Kevin Martin trade were sowed the moment drafted Tyreke Evans," Fegan - who represents Martin and Rubio - told the Sacramento Bee.

Rubio is more of a playmaking point guard compared to Evans, who is a scorer, and obviously would have been a much better fit with the sharpshooting Martin in the Kings' backcourt. Had the Kings gone with Rubio, Martin clearly would not have been available. And it's quite possible that the Knicks' deal with the Rockets for McGrady - and the residual $9.5 million in cap relief for 2010-11 - wouldn't have happened.