Nate Robinson has been linked to the Boston Celtics for a few weeks now. Robinson signed a one-year contract this past summer with the Knicks. Boston has has three players who have expiring contracts: Eddie House ($2.8 million), Brian Scalabrine ($3.4 million) and Tony Allen ($2.5 million). House played under Knicks Head Coach Mike D’Antoni with the Suns.

Robinson is a “base-year compensation” player which means the Celtics may have to send multiple players and a draft pick to complete the deal. The Knicks may have to deal a future first-round pick for Tracy McGrady so adding a pick would help. Robinson, recently won his third dunk contest over All-Star weekend.

Nate has had an inconsistent year with New York after averaging a career high 17.2 points last season. If he is dealt to Boston he would provide a spark off the bench. However, Robinson has the right to approve or disapprove any trade.

Week 17 (Feb. 15-21)
Teams playing four games: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Golden State, Houston, Memphis, Miami, Minnesota, New Jersey, Phoenix, Sacramento, Utah
Teams playing three games: Atlanta, Charlotte, Cleveland, Denver, Indiana, L.A. Clippers, Milwaukee, New Orleans, New York, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland, San Antonio, Toronto, Washington
Teams playing two games: L.A. Lakers

Anthony Morrow (Warriors)- Morrow has returned after missing 12 games due to a knee injury. He has scored 33 and 26 points over his past two games and has played 45 and 48 minutes. He is a great source for threes.

Daequan Cook (Heat)- Cook has 27 points over his last two games including 5 three-pointers. He played 24 and 21 minutes in that span. He is a great source for threes as well.

Chris Richard (Bulls)- Richard was signed to his second 10-day contract due to Joakim Noah being sidelined with an injury. Richard has played in at least 20 minutes in two of his past three games and is averaging one block on the season.

JaVale McGee (Wizards)- McGee could …

“The Knicks and Rockets are getting closer to a deal that would send Tracy McGrady, Joey Dorsey and Brian Cook to New York in exchange for Jared Jeffries, Jordan Hill, and either Al Harrington or Larry Hughes.”-Yahoo Sports

Draft picks being swapped have also been rumored. The Knicks do not have a first round pick this year but could deal one in 2011 or 2012. New York needs to move Jeffries because he is owed $6.9 million dollars next season.

T-Mac would see minutes in the rotation because he is playing for another contract. Also the  rotation would get thinner due to the trade. He is turning 31 years-old in May and may have some skills left in the tank.

David Lee had 4 points ,2 rebounds and 1 assist in his All-Star debut as the East won 141-139. He only played 12 minutes and had  3 turnovers. Lee replaced Allen Iverson who missed the game due to personal reasons.

Lee was the first Knicks All-Star since 2001 and played in front of 108,713 fans. Lee said he wanted to score a basket and get a win so at least he accomplished both in his debut. Hopefully, Lee and LeBron James can be All-Stars for the Knicks next season.

Pitchers and catchers are only days away, but, unfortunately, the Mets pitchers and catchers are mainly a bunch of back-end rotation guys slotted in behind Johan Santana and a group of backups to catch them. Omar Minaya seems to be going with a (broken, fragile) wing and a prayer for the team’s 2010 rotation. Not overspending on average-to-mediocre talent is all well and fine, but since they didn’t make a big play for the only number-two starter out there, John Lackey, they really should have tried to come up with a healthy innings eater to hedge their bet against all the injury-prone pitchers they’ll be going with. Even their depth is coming off injuries. Where is the creative, wheeler-dealer Minaya this offseason? Something akin to last winter’s three-way trade with Seattle might have been a nice tonic for them again (of course, that trade didn’t exactly pan out, but at the time it was looking pretty nice).

We can look into our crystal ball and make an educated guess as to how the seasons of Mike …

Fantasy MVP: LeBron James (Cavs)

James is leading the league in points (29,9) and is  6th in assists (8.3). He also is averaging 1.9 threes, 1.6 steals and

1 block per game. He is shooting 50% from the field and is the second best free throw % of his career 77.6

Runner up: Kevin Durant (Thunder)

Least Valuable player: John Salmons (Bulls)

Salmons was traded to the Bulls last season and was expected to carry some of the load this year with Ben Gordon gone. He averaged 18.3 points and 1.9 threes per game while shooting 47% from the field and 81% from the line in 26 games. This season he is averaging 12.8 points, 1.4 threes and is shooting 41% from the field and 78% from the line.

Runner up: Gilbert Arenas (Wizards)

Biggest Fantasy Surprise: Zach Randolph (Grizzles)

Randolph has not missed a game this season playing in all 51 games. He is one of the main reasons Memphis is 26-25 and three games out of the 8th seed. The most games he has played in a season were 81 back …

Super Bowl Sunday combines everything that’s great about our country: Drinking, eating 15 pounds of Buffalo wings, gambling and British classic rock. Why, oh why is this day not a national holiday? Here in New York, did we care who won? Well, if you had a wager on the game you did. Or did one of those squares things at work. So even if you don’t have a true rooting interest, it’s still hard to watch the game in a nice, relaxing manner when you’re yelling at the TV for the Colts to get a safety so they could end up with a score that ends in 5. The halftime show is always fun. The Who (or what’s left of them) rocked as only senior citizens can. Let’s give them credit, though, when I’m their age I’ll be lucky if can eat solid food and remember where I live. But the band is getting too rickety to smash their own equipment, so they have roadies do that …

David Lee becomes the first Knick to make the All-Star team since 2001.

Lee and Chris Bosh are the only two players in the East who are averaging 20 points and 11+ rebounds per game. He also is shooting 55% from the field, 79% from the line and 3.5 assists per game. Lee has seen his scoring increase due to scoring 20+ in seven of his past eight games.

Other options to replace Allen Iverson could have been Josh Smith and Andrew Bogut.

The Hawks have the second best record in the East and already have two players on the Eastern squad (Joe Johnson and Al Horford). Smith is 5th in the East in blocks (2.1).

Bogut is tied for 2nd in the East in blocks per game and is 7th in rebounds. Along with rookie PG Brandon Jennings, the Australian big man is one of the main reasons the Bucks are one game out of the 8th seed.

David Lee has better numbers than both these players but the …

We all know about the great athletes in New York sports history – Babe Ruth, Tom Seaver, Lawrence Taylor, Joe Namath, Mark Messier, Walt Frazier – and even the busts – Ed Whitson, Mo Vaughn, Roberto Alomar, Stephon Marbury, Scott Gomez. But what about the slightly-to-highly-above-average athlete? The kind-of-great but not all-timer? They may not have been Hall-of-Famers, but they were All-Stars, fan favorites, cogs on a championship team or maybe even just pretty darn good. They’re the little brother that didn’t hog all the attention. But they’re certainly worth talking about and remembering. So when do they get their due? Well, now they will. Here is a series of the not-quite-legendary in New York sports history.

Giants linebacker Brad Van Pelt was the bridge between the Alex Webster/Norm Snead/Ron Johnson era and the Lawrence Taylor/Phil Simms/Bill Parcells years. He played for five different coaches (Webster, Bill Arnsparger, John McVay, Ray Perkins, Parcells) and in four home stadiums (Yankee Stadium, the Yale Bowl, Shea Stadium, Giants Stadium). And he was a Giant through and through. He …

“If you don’t play this game with a big heart and a big bag o’ knuckles in front of the net, you don’t got dinky do.” Donnie Shulzhoffer (aka Mike Myers) in Mystery, Alaska

Some things just seem out of place or don’t go together, like the time Chris Drury hosted Soul Train for a year, and the Rangers playing a full 60 minutes, battling in front of the net and doing all the little things to win seems out of character for this year’s edition of the Rangers. But their rivalry with New Jersey seems to bring out the best in this team, so maybe if the Rangers played the Devils every game they would have a lot more “dinky do.” Or maybe they should just pretend every other team is the Devils.

Sure, it was near the end of the game on Saturday night, but at one point almost every player on the ice was piled up in a big heap in front of the Rangers’ net …

Week 16 (Feb. 8-14)
Teams playing three games: Orlando
Teams playing two games: Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Golden State, L.A. Clippers, L.A. Lakers, Miami, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio, Utah
Teams playing one game: Boston, Houston, Indiana, Memphis, New York, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Toronto, Washington

Will Bynum (Pistons)- Bynum has returned from an ankle injury and has 29 points and 14 assists over his past three games.

C.J Miles (Jazz)- Miles has at least 10 points in four straight games while receiving more minutes in the rotation.

Marquis Daniels (Celtics)- Daniels returned from a thumb injury and played 13 minutes vs. the Magic yesterday. He is a valuable bench player for the team but his role could increase if Ray Allen gets traded.

Brad Miller (Bulls)- Miller has started the past two games with Joakim Noah sidelined with a foot injury. Miller has 23 points, 13 rebounds, 5 steals and a three-pointer in his two starts.

Honorable mention: Morris Peterson (Hornets)

We sports fans are a dramatic bunch when it comes to our teams – everything is life and death – but in real life we shrug sadness and tragedy off like it’s nothing. “My Uncle Maury died? What are ya gonna do? He had a good run. Can you pass the ketchup?” But if the team we root for goes into a slump or, God forbid, gets knocked out of the playoffs, we’re screaming, tears are falling like Niagara Falls and we’re pulling what’s left of our hair out. Think back to the 1994 Stanley Cup and tears of joy start falling. Think of the Wilpons or James Dolan owning your team, and tears of sadness reign down. And if you’re like me and Rip Torn, you’ll get so drunk you’ll mistakenly take a local bank for your house, break in and pass out as I did when the 2007 baseball season ended and the Mets pulled off the collapse hear round the world. I was in such bad shape that I was nearly fired …