The quick answer: the Knicks added two players who might help them, sent away players that weren't helping, and didn't do any damage to their salary cap situation. Those are all good things.

A bit more detail: Larry Hughes is a pretty good perimeter defender. Put him in the backcourt with Chris Duhon and the Knicks might have the best backcourt defense we've seen at MSG in years. (Of course, that's not saying much.) Hughes was also a very productive player in a wide-open offense with Washington a couple of years ago... he may be a much better fit for D'Antoni's system than he was in Cleveland or Chicago.

Wilcox is freakishly athletic for his size. He'll give the Knicks a big body to put on the Tim Duncans of the world without slowing down the team.

The negatives: Hughes has a reputation for taking bad shots -- and the team already has Al Harrington. And Wilcox has no shooting range at all.

That said, the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Ewing Jr., is a very safe bet to be added to the roster now that there are openings. And Marbury will not play for the Knicks this year. They'll try to hold the March 1 deadline over his head to force some concessions on a buyout... or simply release him after March 1. (Players must sign with new teams before March 1 in order to be eligible for the playoffs.)

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