Walsh's plans for Knicks starting to take shape

Donnie Walsh grinned when he was presented this welcoming piece of reality: His next big move will involve adding big contracts, not shedding them.

"I've been waiting to do that," he said with a chuckle.

The final purge came at Thursday's trade deadline when Walsh dumped Jared Jeffries' $6.8-million payout for 2010-11 to ensure more than $30 million in salary-cap room for this summer's shopping spree.

It was the culmination of a plan Walsh laid out in April 2008 when he was hired to lead the rebuilding of one of the NBA's most troubled franchises.

"I knew it would be difficult. I knew there would be criticism," Walsh said. "What I didn't know is the people of New York keep coming in the building, because they wouldn't have done that anywhere else."

There was an uncanny buzz in the building before last night's game, which was the debut of Tracy McGrady and, perhaps more importantly, the reality that the Knicks - who are owned by Cablevision, which also owns Newsday - are on the verge of something here.

Walsh took congratulatory greetings from well-wishers as he sat in his usual spot, a few rows behind the Knicks' bench, during pregame warm-ups. McGrady's presence alone might be good for attendance for the remainder of the season. The Knicks entered the game fifth in the NBA, averaging 19,494 per game.

That's good for the 2010-11 bottom line as well. How? Because the overall league attendance is one of many factors that determine the league's basketball-related income (BRI), which determines the salary cap each year. The higher the BRI, the higher the cap. The higher the cap, the more money the Knicks have to spend.

And there also is value in ending the season - which, barring a miracle finish, will conclude with a sixth straight year without a playoff berth - on a positive vibe. Had Walsh not accomplished the McGrady trade, the Knicks would have been a team playing out the string and buried under baseball headlines. With McGrady, along with flashy guard Sergio Rodriguez, they suddenly are interesting.

And that's good for recruiting, too.

Walsh, 67, didn't appear at all worn out by the exhausting week in working the big trade. At one point, he said, the deal involved just the Knicks and Rockets and more players. Then by Tuesday night, Walsh told friends he felt the trade was just about dead.

That's when Walsh's quarter-century of experience kicked in and his relationships with agents Arn Tellem (who represents McGrady) and Dan Fegan (who represents Kevin Martin, the key component in the trade for the Rockets) paid off in getting Rockets general manager Daryl Morey back on the phone.

Now that the trade deadline has passed and the mission has been accomplished, it appears Walsh now can prepare to make the most extensive recruiting effort since Chris Webber was a high school senior.

But actually, his next focus is on the June draft, in which the Knicks have to swallow one last indignity of past regimes: Their first-round pick goes to the Utah Jazz as a result of the Stephon Marbury trade from January 2004.

But Walsh, perhaps energized by the success of the trade deadline, isn't blowing off the draft by any means. The Knicks have two second-round picks and Walsh is quick to remind people that the last time he had only two second-rounders in the draft, he came away with Antonio Davis and Kenny Williams.

That year, he told his scouts he wanted them to know every single player available for that draft, and they did. Davis, a rugged power forward, turned into a key component of the Pacers' teams that battled the Knicks throughout the 1990s.

Walsh has delivered that same message to his scouts this year and even will go to Europe to see if there are any hidden gems to unearth. There's even more pressure on the scouts now, especially after Walsh gave up last year's lottery pick, Jordan Hill, in the McGrady deal.

It was a move Walsh almost didn't make and one he says he probably won't ever do again.

"I'm going to limit it to this year," he said of giving up future assets. "It puts the franchise in position where it can build a contending team. That's what the goal was."