Apr 07, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard (12) is fouled by Philadelphia 76ers forward Elton Brand (42) during the fourth quarter at the Wells Fargo Center. The Magic defeated the Sixers 88-82. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

The interesting part is that Sheridan listed the Knicks as one of the potential teams that could make a serious push to acquire the six-time All-Star and three-time Defensive Player of the Year.

But would Howard be a good fit in the Big Apple and would the price the Knicks would have to pay be worth bringing him to town?

As for being a good fit, anytime you add 20.6 points, 14.5 rebounds and 2.1 blocks at the 5 spot, it’s a very good fit.

But that brings me to the price the Knicks would have to pay and that would be reigning Defensive Player of the Year Tyson Chandler and either Amar’e Stoudemire or Carmelo Anthony in exchange for Howard and they would have to take back one of Orlando’s bad contracts as well. Hopefully it would be Hedo Turkoglu’s and not Chris Duhon’s.

The one upside is that if it were Stoudemire and not Anthony in the deal, the Knicks would free themselves of the remaining three years of Stoudemire’s deal, which face it, is a risky one given his injury concerns.

Say that deal goes through, and assuming the Knicks re-sign point guard Jeremy Lin, the future lineup would look like this”

PG- Lin

SG- Iman Shumpert, when he’s healthy

SF- Anthony

PF- A huge hole

C- Howard

That’s assuming Turkoglu comes off the bench, but there’s also the option of starting him at the 3 and moving Melo to the 4, in that case I would like that lineup a lot.

But don’t get too excited. No one would touch Stoudemire in a trade like that and hopefully general manager Glen Grunwald wouldn’t think about pulling the trigger on a deal without Howard signing long-term in New York and that’s still unlikely to happen.

There’s also the fact of Howard’s immaturity and the prima donna he’s become throughout the course of the past season. He’s not a leader and is a liability on the floor in tight fourth quarters.

Then you have to look at if the personalities of Melo and Howard would mesh well in New York and I have my doubts. When would the first time Howard would cry about not getting the ball enough?

I’m setting the over/under at Game 4 of the regular season.

You can look at this from any angle you would like, but while it would be nice to add the best center in the NBA in order to take a run at a championship, this is a deal Grunwald has to pass on.

The production would be nice but the Knicks don’t need the baggage and the distractions that comes along with Howard.

Some guys you want to go to battle with and Chandler is one of those players.

Some guys are talented, but are nothing more than side-show comedy acts and that sums Howard up to a T.

So while there will be rumors flying around like crazy as soon as the season ends, don’t get too excited. Howard won’t be wearing a Knicks uniform anytime soon.

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Many view Kevin Durant as the Second Coming. We see him and the Thunder more likely coming Third through Sixth. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

On Wednesday we discussed what the Eastern Conference Playoff picture looks like, and today we go west, young man.  We’d already previously examined how much teams improved/regressed during the off-season, but now we’re talking about how they stack up against each other.  Meaning, we gave Orlando a zero for their summer and the Wizards a +2, but now we’re here to tell you that yes, of course Orlando is still gonna be far better.  For those who haven’t seen those posts on off-season grades, click the following links to see what we had to say about the Northwest, Atlantic, Central, Southeast, Pacific and Southwest Divisions.  Also, we’re only gonna be talking about the regular season here.  So even though we don’t think the Celts will be a top two team record-wise, it doesn’t mean we think they’re incapable of making it through the gauntlet again.  Lastly, some teams will be put in clusters ‘cuz they’ll likely end up with similar records and what does a victory or two here and there matter amongst friends?

#1 – Lakers

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You may not be able to tell from the looks on the Raptors' bench, but Toronto won the game. (source: Yardbarker.com)

Toronto annihilated the Knicks last night 131-113 (if we were playing Mastermind we’d say at least the Knicks’ score got all the same correct #s as Toronto, but just in the wrong order).  In the first half, the Raptors shot 70%.  No, not from the free-throw line, but from the field where you’re supposedly allowed to play defense.  The Canadian fans were excited, so why the depressed looks on the bench?  While Toronto needed this final win to get into the playoffs as the eighth seed, they also needed something else: the Chicago Bulls to lose their simultaneous game against the Charlotte Bobcats.  The Bulls didn’t play their part, instead winning and thus hanging onto their last-minute theft of that final playoff spot.

More depressing to the people of Toronto is that perhaps this helped further the death knell of Raptors’ all-time-scoring-and-rebounding-leader Chris Bosh’s stay north of the border.  The man is on record as having said he wants to be surrounded by enough talent to make his team a contender.  It’s pretty clear that Toronto ain’t nowhere near that.

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