Riley Is Still Finding a Way to Tweak Knicks

If you’re a New York Knicks fan and you heard about that crazy trade rumor -- Mitch Richmond and others in exchange for Allan Houston and others -- you should be happy.

Not because the alleged deal is true.

It isn’t.

The source of the rumor, however, is interesting. It came from Miami.

And that tells you that Pat Riley -- even if through Tim Hardaway’s lips -- is already up to his old tricks. The former Knicks’ savior, now Satan to many in these parts, looks up north and sees a solid team when he looks at the Knicks, the Heat’s competition in the Atlantic Division.

Not only are the Knicks two deep at each position, but also experienced enough to go all the way to the NBA Finals this season. On the court, Riley knows his team will have a tough time against the Knicks. Had it not been for those stupid league suspensions last May, the Knicks, not the Heat, would have played the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference finals.

Enter the mind games.

“It wasn’t anything manufactured by our front office,” Heat media relations director Tim Donovan said Tuesday.

But that’s what this crazy trade rumor four days before the season sounds like.

The idea that any part, or parts, of that team is not wanted could disrupt the whole thing. And interestingly, the three guys who will be key for the Knicks this season were all mentioned in the trade. Along with Houston, Chris Childs and Chris Mills were going to the Sacramento Kings. In exchange, the Knicks were to get Richmond, Billy Owens, Bobby Hurley and Corliss Williamson.

You can see why the Kings would want to make such a deal. But the Knicks? It doesn’t make any sense.

Everybody knows Richmond wants out of Sacramento, so he’s being shopped around like a cheap watch on 34th Street. Then you have to look around and try to match the veteran guard with a veteran team. And with the Knicks making some recent changes in guards -- Charlie Ward’s the starter and Childs is now the backup -- it was almost a natural to link Richmond and the Knicks. But not realistic.