PROTECT THE PAINT

Mark Stein of ESPN and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports have both mentioned breaking news via their twitter feeds that a deal has been made involving Tracy McGrady and Kevin Martin.

According to the twitter reports, the three-team deal has Kevin Martin, Jared Jeffries, Hilton Armstrong, and Jordan Hill heading to Houston. Additionally, New York agrees to swap first-round picks in 2011 and gives Houston their first-round pick in 2012. The 2011 pick is Top-1 protected and 2012 is Top-5 protected.

Tracy McGrady and Sergio Rodrigez will be sent to New York.

Carl Landry, and Joey Dorsey, and Larry Hughes end up heading to the Sacramento Kings.

McGrady will likely seek a buyout. (Credit: picapp.com)

A important question remaining unanswered is the level to which T Mac can play at. For the season McGrady was limited to 6 games with averages of 7:35 minutes and 3.2 points. The Knicks better hope T Mac has gotten remarkably improved during his time off.

Rockets GM Daryl Morey is legendary for crafting this deal. Obtaining Kevin Martin is huge for the Rockets, almost more so than the dumping of McGrady’s insanely large contract.

In addition,  Houston acquires New York’s draft picks, which project to vital lottery picks.

One door closes, a much nicer door opens. (Credit: picapp.com)

Kevin Martin has the opportunity to revamp the Rockets offense, and will no longer compete with Tyreke Evans for the ball. He must be extremely happy.

He gives a tough defensive team a scorer capable of 20 or more points a night. With the Rockets currently ranked 9th in the Western Conference, Martin is the type of player that can create separation from Memphis and New Orleans and into the 8th playoff spot.

Kevin Martin had this to say to Yahoo Sports’ Marc J. Spears:

• “I’m definitely excited for a new opportunity with my old coach. That’s the funny part.”
• “Sacramento gave me an opportunity. I was a late first round pick. I could have been playing overseas.”
• Let the young guys develop. I appreciate them letting me go to a playoff caliber team at this time of my career.”

Martin will likely go ballistic offensively in Houston with his old coach, Rich Adelman, who is fully knowledgeable on how to utilize his talents.

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