Kurt Rambis is getting a sense the Knicks will stand pat at Thursday’s trade deadline, but you never know. Shved happens.
Minutes before last year’s deadline, the Knicks shipped point guard Pablo Prigioni for combo guard Alexey Shved in a minor deal. This year, ironically, the Knicks are looking for any sort of backcourt boost such as Shved, whom they elected not to re-sign and who is playing in Russia.
Rambis held his first post-All-Star break practice as Knicks interim coach and said he heard of no changes coming from his bosses with the deadline arriving at 3 p.m.
Rambis said he expects to be notified if anything — even something minor — is on the table. According to a source, Knicks general manager Steve Mills had discussions with Minnesota about point guard Ricky Rubio, whom Rambis coached in his failed run with the Timberwolves and would meet Knicks president Phil Jackson’s preference for taller guards. However, the Knicks are convinced Rubio won’t be dealt.
The Knicks had contacted Houston about troubled but talented point guard Ty Lawson, who has no guaranteed money on next year’s pact. Neither talks are active. However, Lawson reportedly could be waived if a deal with the Jazz falls through. One of Knicks’ point-guard targets, Brandon Jennings, is off the board — dealt to Orlando on Wednesday.
“That’s for Steve and Phil,’’ Rambis said. “There hasn’t been a lot of activity from our end that I’m aware of. That’s for them to assess. Anything that comes up, I’m sure they will address it with me and ask the opinion of the coaching staff and what they think, but nothing’s come out.’’
Carmelo Anthony, too, said he believes the Knicks will wait for free agency. Before the break, Jackson said there was “a slim possibility’’ of making a move. The reasons are more a result of not having a first-round pick sooner than 2018 to offer. One potential scenario is a move that doesn’t necessarily upgrade the roster but opens up 2016 cap space — dealing Kyle O’Quinn, who signed a four-year, $16 million deal but isn’t playing, or Jose Calderon.
“If you didn’t hear anything as of now, I doubt if we’re probably even doing something,’’ Anthony said. “But you never know. This game over the years has done some weird things. We’ve still got to 3 p.m. to try to figure something out. I haven’t been hearing anything. The guys on the team, seems like they haven’t been hearing anything.’’
Anthony brought up the Jennings trade but downplayed its impact.
“You haven’t seen any blockbusters that’s happened or any type of game-changers,’’ Anthony said.
There still could be something minor. Shved didn’t happen until the deadline’s final minutes.
“Everyone has been around long enough to know this is a business and things can happen,’’ Rambis said. “But I wanted them to know I was approaching this as if I’m getting this team ready to play. This is the team that’s here. They did a great job of that today. It’s hard coming off the break to get reorganized.’’
Rambis added “some things offensively’’ during Wednesday’s early-evening practice — stuff he lobbied Derek Fisher to do, centering on making it easier for the coach to stage play calls. Fisher had made the infamous remark “We don’t run plays.’’
“It’s just concepts, little different actions, be able to call plays from the sidelines when they’re advancing the basketball so we get players in certain positions on the floor so they can have better opportunities to get the ball in the hands of players I want the ball to go to,’’ Rambis said.
Fisher was resistant to the input from Rambis, who said he also made suggestions to Jackson when he was his assistant and got rejected.
“Sometimes it’s right, sometimes it’s wrong,’’ Rambis said. “The head coach has to have a feel. These are things I’ve felt this team would benefit in doing. I got the opportunity to do it and I’ll put it in, see what happens, see if it works.’’
The Knicks (23-32) likely have to finish at .500 — an 18-9 finish — to have a shot at the East’s eighth seed. Rambis reiterated the message to the players.
“That’s what I told the team — that’s our No. 1 goal,’’ Rambis said. “We have no other goal than making the playoffs.’’
It’s why Anthony is willing to play on a sore left knee, starting Friday in Brooklyn.
“It’s going to be challenging,’’ Anthony said. “But we believe we can do it. We feel that we can do it. You look at 12 through 6, you’re not that far off. Even though we’re 12th, we’ve just got to put some games together, win some games, and we’ll be right there. But we’ve just got to do it. We can’t talk about it.’’