Reader “Cliff” characterized yesterday’s Darko for Q-Rich trade as a stiff for a stiff. I think he’s mostly right.

Q’s body is a lot older than his 29 years. His back is collapsing in front of our eyes. Last year he played 72 games, which isn’t terrible, until you remember that he hadn’t played more than 65 games in five of the previous six years. His back could go at any time. Even when he does play it limits his explosiveness. He’s purely a 3-point shooter at this point. Too one-dimensional to be effective. And although his .365 shooting on 3s last year was decent enough, his .393 FG% was not.

I think it’s safe to conclude that Q would never be a productive player for the Knicks again. He’d just take away time from Chandler and Gallinari, who should be getting all the minutes at small forward.

Darko, on the other hand, isn’t a waste of space. Don’t get me wrong, he’s very limited. But I think he could be useful in a very specific role.

He averaged 0.8 blocks last year in just 17 minutes a game. That’s better than every Knick except Chandler, who was at 0.9. His per-36-minute rate of 1.8 blocks kills every Knick. So right away he’s the best shot blocker on the team. Depending on how effective Jordan Hill is, of course. Guards had no problem driving on the Knicks last year because there was no chance of a big hand interfering with their shot. Now there is.

Darko also averaged 9.2 rebounds per 36 minutes. That’s higher than any Knick except David Lee. Even if Darko just backs up Lee at center he’ll be able to collect some boards. Lee’s backups last year couldn’t do that.

Darko just turned 24. Does that mean he’s still getting better? Eh, probably not. When he signed with Memphis in ‘07 I expected him to break out a little. Never really happened. He’s a role player. He doesn’t have offensive moves and he’s not enough of a leaper to be a weapon in the run-and-gun. But he can play help defense in the paint and he can rebound a little. Give him 15-20 minutes a game and he gives the Knicks an element they lacked last year.

For those who hate him, don’t hold his draft status against him. Yes, he was picked ahead of Carmelo. And Wade. And Bosh. And Kaman. And Hinrich. And T.J. Ford. And 10 other players who are better than him. (And if I remember correctly, Denver was furious about missing out on him by one pick and being forced to take Melo.) So we can agree that he was one of the biggest draft busts of all time, right up there with Kwame Brown and Never Nervous Pervis Ellison. That doesn’t mean he deserves to be out of the league. He has a role, and it might as well be for the Knicks.

Think of it this way. If he was the 28th pick of the 2003 draft instead of the second, how would you feel about him?

As I wrote in my story, I don’t believe that the Knicks got their man tonight. I think they wanted Stephen Curry badly. Not to say that they hate Jordan Hill. I think Donnie Walsh was being half honest when he said he couldn’t lose with either of them. But if given a choice I believe he and D’Antoni would have taken Curry in a heartbeat.

Even if they were equally talented, Curry fits a need more than Hill. The Knicks need a ballhandler. The Knicks need shooting. Curry provides those.

Hill is a good rebounder, but they already have one in David Lee. In fact Lee is one of the best in the league. Hill can run the floor and beat other big men down the court. But Lee does that too. So does Al Harrington. Hill can shoot and pull those centers and forwards away from the basket. But Harrington and Danilo Gallinari do that.

The one thing Hill does that isn’t duplicated by anyone on the roster is block shots. Wilson Chandler was basically their best shot blocker last year. Being a small forward, though, he’s not usually in position to be a help defender. So Hill definitely fills a need there. Except that during the draft the Knicks completed a deal for Darko Milicic, who has few skills but can block shots. So suddenly Hill is duplicating that too.

Of course it’s not always a bad thing to double up on assets. Having two rebounders or two shot blockers can make you really good. The problem is that the Knicks aren’t good enough to afford luxuries. There are too many things they don’t do well to start doubling up things they do do well. They still can’t shoot 3s well enough. In fact it’s worse now that they traded Q-Rich, who couldn’t do much but could shoot 3s. They still don’t have a starting-quality point guard. They still don’t play perimeter defense. They still don’t have an offensive threat in the low post.

Personally I would have looked into filling those holes before I took a guy like Hill.

In Walsh’s defense, the elite guys were gone. Flynn, Rubio, Curry—guys they really could have used—were off the board. So there was no obvious name that they passed up. I would have looked into Brandon Jennings, Gerald Henderson, or even Ty Lawson at that point.

One more note on Hill. Although he was considered a top-10 pick by most analysts, ESPN’s John Hollinger had Hill rated low. Hollinger uses a computation called the Draft Rater that analyzes college numbers to predict pro performance. According to the Rater, Hill was only the 26th best college player in the draft. And that doesn’t include foreign players. It’s not a foolproff metric but it’s something to worry about.

As for Toney Douglas at No. 29, Walsh seemed really high on him. He said he made the trade with the Lakers specifically with Douglas in mind. Douglas’s agent, David Falk, was calling him every few minutes trying to get them together. Walsh admitted that if Douglas hadn’t been there, he would have dealt away the pick for a future first-rounder. He already had a trading partner.

Admittedly I don’t know a ton about Douglas. Florida State basketball isn’t exactly on automatic TiVo in my house. But he seems like a solid choice at the end of the first round. How often do you get a 21-point scorer who’s the best defender in the best conference in basketball? He was the runner-up to Ty Lawson for conference player of the year too.

If you get anything out of a No. 29, if he’s even your eighth man, you’ve done well. If he plays good perimeter defense he’ll play. The team needs that. They need a guy who can guard 1s and 2s. Larry Hughes is the only guy who can do that and he may not be on the roster all year.

Along with the Darko trade, the selection of Hill makes David Lee more expendable. I think there’s a much better chance he won’t be here next year than there was this morning. Nate Robinson, by contrast, is still needed. As long as he doesn’t demand too much money, he has a greater chance of returning.

The Knicks made two draft choices and one trade tonight. Here is what their projected depth chart looks like as of 10:47 on Thursday night.

C: David Lee, Darko Milicic, Jared Jeffries
PF: Al Harrington, Jordan Hill
SF: Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari
SG: Larry Hughes, Nate Robinson
PG: Chris Duhon, Toney Douglas

8:36 I’ve got to check out for a while now to work on my story. Be back later.

8:34 Donnie Walsh just came in for a four-minute press conference. He said he wanted either Curry or Hill and knew he’d be getting one of them.However, I’m not sure he’s crazy about Hill. Maybe I’m projecting, but he didn’t sound like a guy who’d plucked a gem. I could see a trade happening.

8:26 What do you think of the pick?

8:22 With Hill still on the board, the Knicks couldn’t resist. The 6-10 Arizona forward is a Knick. This is very unexpected. All the talk was about them taking a guard. They needed backcourt help in the worst way. So they took a big man instead.

8:18 Is there a pharmacist in the house? Somebody get the Curry family some Prozac. The moment Curry’s name was announced his father Dell looked like a jury had just found him guilty of grand larceny. Steph needs to be hit with a cattle prod too. They wanted to be in NYC badly.

8:16 Tragedy! Knick fans were teased and then had the rug pulled out from under them. Curry is now a Warrior. Like Monta Ellis he is a tweener who can shoot and pass. What a blow to the Knicks. Now who do they get? Holiday? That’s what I picked.

8:10 Wow. I did not see that coming. The Wolves took another point guard, Jonny Flynn of Syracuse, with their other pick. They’re going to pair him with Rubio in a brand new backcourt that will be one of the best passing units in the league. Their long-range shooting will be very weak though. Rubio in particular is a bad shooter. It’s possible that Minny is planning to trade one of them. That would make a little more sense.

New York is now only one Golden State pick away from landing Steph Curry. I’ve heard a lot about G-State looking at Arizona forward Jordan Hill.

8:08 I see Curry going here.

8:04 Down goes Rubio. Minnesota takes him with the fifth pick. Quite a fake smile the Rickster was sporting. He could smell New York. Instead he’s being dropped off in the frozen tundra.

One of my coworkers said he looks like Balky from Perfect Strangers. I can see it. “With the fifth pick, from the small island of Mypos, the Timberwolves select…”

8:01 Now comes Minnesota’s two picks. This is where the draft will shape up for the Knicks.

7:57 The Kings take Tyreke Evans with the fourth pick. That’s one of the Knicks’ wants off the board. I’m not sure if Sacto views Evans as a point guard or not. If so, he would play alongside Kevin Martin. That could be a nasty backcourt combo of shooting and driving. And would boot Beno Udrih to the bench where he belongs. It won’t boot him to the NBDL bench where he really belongs, but still, good first step.

7:54 Like that reaction by Harden. Just a quick chest pound with his fist and a little snarl. Hell yeah, he was saying. Love the bowtie too. This guy sounds really mature. I’m calling it right now—future assistant coach.

7:52 Innnnnnnnteresting. OKC just took James Harden with the third pick. This was a possibility all along, but so was Rubio. By taking Harden, a polished guard who does a lot of good things, the Thunder pushed Rubio a tiny bit closer to New York. Harden, a mature player, will go well with the young Thunder. Rubio is now the favorite for Sacto at 4.

7:46 No big surprise here. The Grizz take UConn center Hasheem Thabeet. He’ll be the defensive counterpart to Marc Gasol. Of course Gasol scored about 11 a game last year, so it won’t take much by Thabeet to supplant him as a scorer either.

7:45 Mike Dunleavy just did a video conference. He looks like a potato. And he’s about as inspiring as one. Something tells me the Clips aren’t winning 60 next year.

7:42 Now things get interesting. Memphis is up with the No. 2.

7:39 Blake Griffin, your NBA career is now over. You are an LA Clipper. My thoughts and prayers are with your family. Well, there’s always Taylor Griffin to carry the family name. No matter how things end up for Blake, he’ll always have the distinction of having the straightest hairline in league history. That thing was shaved with a slide rule or something.

7:35 David Stern just started the clock on the Clippers. Then the camera cut to Mike Dunleavy on the phone in the Clips war room. Who is he talking to? You’re taking Blake Griffin. I hope for his sake he was ordering a pizza.

The last few trade deadlines in the NBA have been boring and anticlimactic. At least draft day isn’t following suit.

The major trades keep on coming as we speed toward the first pick. The latest is Vince Carter going to Eastern conference champion Orlando in exchange for Courtney Lee, Rafer Alston, and Tony Battie. This takes a lot of pressure off Orlando to resign Hedo Turkoglu, who will opt out of his contract. It give New Jersey a ton of cap room for next summer, when they will jostle with the Knicks and 10 other teams to lure marquee free agents.

Most of you know about the Shaq trade. The Daddy went to Cleveland for the expiring contracts of Sasha Pavlovic and Ben Wallace. On the surface this looks bad for the Knicks, because the addition of talent makes LeBron more likely to stick around. But I think Shaq is on the verge of falling off a cliff. He could easily play 40 games this year, be miserable defending the pick and roll, and clog up the lane so LeBron can’t drive. I can see Bron bumping into him for the 10th time, rolling his eyes, and bolting town.

Richard Jefferson was sent to the Spurs for Kurt Thomas, Fabricio Oberto, and Bruce Bowen.

Mike Miller and Randy Foye were sent to Washington for the No. 5 pick, Etan Thomas, and Darius Songaila.

And former Knick Jamal Crawford is supposedly on his way to Atlanta for Acie Law and Speedy Claxton.

So much action already. Can’t wait for tonight.

We’re about 20 minutes away from the start of the draft. With the first pick, the Clippers are expected to take…Michael Olowakandi. Hey, it is the Clippers. You just never know.

So far the Knicks have not made a move from their No. 8 slot. If they stay there here are the players they’d like to get. Next to the name is the chance that that guy will be there.

1. Ricky Rubio (5%)

2. Steph Curry (25%)

3. Tyreke Evans (50%)

4. Jrue Holiday (85%)

I think a Holiday/Jonny Flynn combo is their backup plan. They’ll hope one of those first three guys drops nad if not they go with one of those two PGs. And unfortunately I think that’s what’s going to happen. The fortunes of Curry and Evans, both of whom were originally supposed to be available at 8, have risen past the Knicks.

I don’t see how Curry drops past Minnesota at 5 and 6. Minny has very little shooting talent after dealing Mike Miller and Randy Foye to Washington. They would love to have a Curry firing up 3s off Al Jefferson double teams. If Curry is available I’d bet my bank account that Minny scoops him up with one of its two picks.

So I see the Knicks having to go with one of their backup plans and taking either Holiday or Flynn. Brandon Jennings, who might have been a possibility a week ago, has slipped out of the top 8.

This is assuming, of course, that Donnie Walsh stays at 8.

Hi all. This is Jake Thomases. I’ll be taking you through draft night tonight direct from the Knick war room in Greenburgh. Well, actually from the media room next to the war room. No warring in here. But it’s as close as we’re gonna get.

I know this blog has lost most of its audience in recent months, but if you’re reading this, I encourage you to stick around. I’ll have plenty of updates of tonight’s action, focusing of course on the orange and blue.

The first thing to note is that the Knicks now have two first-round picks. Earlier today, according to ESPN’s Andy Katz, they purchased the No. 29 pick from the Lakers for $3 million.

Donnie Walsh admitted days ago that he had been working the phones trying to acquire another pick in this year’s draft. However, he said, teams weren’t selling. In recent years teams like New Orleans and Phoenix have sold their picks for straight cash, no players. Walsh finally found a partner in Mitch Kupchak.

Keep in mind the Knicks don’t have a second-round pick. Nor do they have a first-rounder next year. It’s going to Utah as part of the Marbury trade, which happened about 20 years ago. Without fresh blood the roster was going to start getting awfully thin. David Lee or Nate Robinson might leave as free agents. And there’s been talk of trading Wilson Chandler to move up in the draft. Without another warm body from the draft Walsh would be reluctant to trade anybody away.

I’ve heard conflicting reports about whether they’d look into another guard or a big man with the 29th pick. If it’s a guard (and assuming they get a guard with the eighth pick) that’s a strong indicator that they’re going to let Nate go. We’ll see.

The Lakers, who also have two second-rounders, sold the pick because they didn’t think he could make their roster. The contracts of first-round picks are guaranteed. They didn’t want to pay someone who wasn’t playing for them.

Wow.

Maybe that’s not strong enough to illustrate this moment in Knicks history.

Wow!!!

I know what you’re thinking, but the limits of good taste prevent me from hitting the keys my fingers are reaching for right now.

Did you hear what I heard? Stephon Marbury didn’t want to play against the Bucks? Really?

“When the trade went down this afternoon, I sat down with him and I said, ‘Look Steph, one of the principles is gone, Jamal Crawford, there’s 30-35 minutes out there and they’re yours if you want them. Are you ready?’ ” Mike D’Antoni noted. “He said the direction of the team went in a different direction. He wasn’t comfortable with the situation and he did not want to play.”

Huh?

“The only thing I’m at liberty to say is that I was told they were moving forward and I’m not the person who chooses who plays and who doesn’t,” Marbury responded.

It seems that somebody isn’t being truthful.

Who are you going to believe? Go ahead, vent. Do you think Marbury should even be allowed to sit on the bench now?

This might be the move hardcore Knicks fans have been waiting for.

Are you ready to make a leap of faith?

If the rumors prove true, Knicks president Donnie Walsh could finally reposition the organization. Of course, a number of things would have to fall into place down the road to further improve the cap situation. And there’s no guarantee LeBron James is coming after 2010 even if those issues are dealt with.

So are you willing to deal with two more lean seasons?

Consider the risk and the rewards. You might have to watch players like Al Harrington, Tim Thomas and Cuttino Mobley run loose and keep your fingers crossed they don’t slow the development of Wilson Chandler, Nate Robinson and Danilo Gallinari.

There might be a better deal somewhere down the road. There is time on the clock.

Do you wait or jump?

Maybe it’s just the way the release is worded, but the immediate future does not sound bright for Danilo Gallinari.

The prescription for a cranky back is fairly vague.

“Danilo was examined by two specialists (Thursday). Both were in agreement that Danilo should receive another cortisone shot, which he received in the afternoon. He will now have an extended period of rest, and over the next few weeks, will receive additional opinions on his long-term management options.”

It doesn’t sound like surgery has been ruled out.

Basically, we shouldn’t be expecting Gallinari to get many votes for Rookie of the Year. Rule him out for a moment. Zach Randolph is putting up incredible numbers so far, and his trade value is rising. There will be offers made in the coming months.

Do you trade him knowing it might knock the Knicks out of the playoffs, but improve their future?

And just so everybody knows, I’m still covering the Giants, but haven’t missed a minute of the Knicks this season. My DVR is getting a workout. If you miss me like Mase, you can check out a live chat I’m doing at noon. The URL is www.LoHud.com/giantsjournallive.