NEW YORK – Disgruntled guard Nate Robinson says his preference is to play with the Knicks, but at the same time his agent has asked Donnie Walsh to trade him.
“I want to play the game of basketball,” Robinson said Sunday before the Knicks beat Charlotte, 98-94, at Madison Square Garden. “I want to be a Knick. I want to stay here. This is here I want to be. And I want to play. I want to help this team win. I think I can do that. I expend energy. I do all the little things and I just feel I haven’t got that privilege to play the way that I like to play.”
Aaron Goodwin, Robinson’s agent, called Walsh late Saturday afternoon and told him, “I’m disappointed Nate not’s playing, and I may want him out of New York if this is going to keep going on.’” Walsh said Sunday.
Asked if Goodwin indicated whether Robinson asked him to call Walsh, Walsh responded, “No, but I assumed it.”
Robinson denied he told Goodwin what to say.
“I say what I want to say. He says what he wants to say,” Robinson said.
Walsh said he and Goodwin agreed to resume talks Monday “and try to get into it,” but that his preference was to keep Robinson with the Knicks.
Robinson signed a one-year deal for $4 million prior to the season. He is one of six Knicks with an expiring contract, which makes him appealing to the Knicks because they are trying to clear salary cap space for the summer of 2010, when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh become free agents.
The Knicks would only take back another player with an expiring contract, but other teams will likely be hesitant to move such players.
“That’s been true since the beginning of last summer,” Walsh said. “We’re limited because we want to keep the room we have next summer…so it limits the trades that are available.”
The Knicks could also opt to buy Robinson out while also maintaining salary cap flexibility.
The 5-foot-9 Robinson is averaging 10.9 points and 3.2 assists on the season. He has fallen out of head coach Mike D’Antoni’s rotation and has notched eight straight DNPs.
During that stretch the Knicks have gone 5-3 even as periodic chants of “We want Nate” have erupted during several games at Madison Square Garden.
D’Antoni has clearly been unhappy with some of Robinson’s antics this season – including shooting at the wrong basket during a game in New Jersey and celebrating when he should be playing defense.
“I come here every day, do whatever coach asks, any of my coaches I’ve ever had,” Robinson said. “So I just do whatever I can to help this team and if that’s me sitting down on the bench and cheering my teammates on, then I’ll do that as well.”
D’Antoni says it’s not personal and that he simply prefers to play rookie Toney Douglas, who places a stronger emphasis on defense.
“It’s not personal,” D’Antoni said. “I’m just trying to win basketball games. We’ve been winning lately. [I am] trying to keep the formula going and just try to get as many wins as we can. That’s my job.”
Still, Goodwin believes it’s personal between the coach and the player. He seemed particularly upset that Robinson did not play in Thursday’s 98-89 loss at Chicago even as the Knicks were outscored 29-17 in the fourth quarter.
“Coach told the press, ‘I would play SATAN if that could help me win,’ and when his team shot 4-for-23 in the 3rd quarter against Chicago, he didn’t even look Nate’s way,” Goodwin wrote in an email.
Walsh insisted the ‘Satan’ comment was facetious and that it’s not personal between D’Antoni and Robinson.
“He’s facetious a lot and when you print facetious it doesn’t always look facetious,” Walsh said. “I don’t think that meant anything by that. I think what he’s trying to say is anybody who can help me win, I’m going to play. I think that was it.”
At the same time, because Robinson is one of six Knicks with an expiring contract, Walsh believes the players feel pressure to play, and play well, in order to earn a contract for next season.
“They’re all uptight about if they’re not playing,” Walsh said. “They think it’s going to hurt their career, and their agents are the same way and maybe appropriately so, I don’t know.”
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