Just a few days after a pair of Knicks beat writers told Hot Stove New York that Zach Randolph is nigh-untradeable, the Post’s Marc Berman reported on Friday that there are “rumblings” that the team may in fact have found a sucker at least willing to discuss the notion of acquiring the bloated ballhog – and here’s the real kicker – in exchange for expiring contracts no less! Truly too good to be true…which is why we don’t believe it for a minute.

According to Berman, Mark Warkentien, general manager of the Denver Nuggets, served as director of scouting in Portland when the Blazers selected Z-Bo in the 2001 NBA Draft, and as a result, remains one of the few people in the NBA with any sort of confidence in the player’s abilities. A brilliant one-on-one scorer and ferocious on the boards, Zach’s game is deficient in nearly every other respect. In particular, his distaste for moving and sharing the rock would seem to be a disasterous fit for a team whose No. 1 and 2 options on offense are Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson. Perhaps Warkentien is willing to gamble that Randolph could be a selfless cog in an offense that features a pair of proven All-Stars; however, it’s a gamble that could cripple that franchise for the foreseeable future should it blow up in their face. The deal would also seem to fly in the face of the biggest knocks against the Nuggets: an inability and/or unwillingness to defend.

In the rumored swap, Denver would surrender a pair of its more effective defenders in the bodies of Eduardo Najera and Steven Hunter, in addition to J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza. Forgetting the short-term impact the deal would have for this Knicks’ squad – because after all, who cares? – the contracts of Najera and Smith represent $6.5 million in expiring salary this coming offseason, Hunter is due $3.47 million next season and $3.69 million in 09/10, while Kleiza is signed for just one more season at $1.8 million. According to Berman’s report, in addition to providing some cap relief, the Knicks are intrigued by the talent of Kleiza, who the report describes as an “up-and-comer.”

Kleiza could be a down-and-outer, for all I care. Regardless, a trade such as this would be monumentally significant in that it would be the first move in the Isiah Thomas Era that represented a shift in philosophy and a move toward cap flexibility and fiscal sanity.

As we said, it’s too good to be true, but Hot Stove New York gives this one a big ol’ rubber stamp of approval.