As the trade deadline comes to a close this afternoon, Donnie Walsh made two improvements to the Knicks roster.

First, he traded Jerome James, Tim Thomas, and Anthony Roberson to the Chicago Bulls for Larry Hughes. Second, he traded Malik Rose straight up for Chris Wilcox.

These two trades show that Walsh and the Knicks are trying to compete this season instead of dumping cap room for the future. The contracts in both deals match up almost perfectly, so the Knicks do not add any substantial money to their salary cap nor have they cut salary.

I like the addition of Wilcox better than Hughes. Wilcox adds a more physical presence to the Knicks, which is something they need. At 6′10″ and 235 pounds, he’s tall and athletic, and should be able to contribute solid minutes in Mike D’Antoni’s run-and-gun style of offense as well as defend the oppositions center (allowing D. Lee to matchup up against a power forward). Malik Rose never played anyway, so anything Wilcox can contribute is just gravy in this swap. Wilcox averaged 8.5 points and 5 boards per game with the Thunder this season.

I’m not sure how I feel about the Larry Hughes deal. I used to be a big Hughes fan when he was on Washington because he played great defense and could get hot on the offensive end. But he kind of seems like a cancerous teammate. I’m not sure if that will be a problem because so many players (including Hughes) are playing for new contracts that they should be on their best behavior. In 30 games for Chicago, Hughes shot 39% from 3-point range and averaged just over one steal per game. While the Knicks won’ t need him to provide too much offense, I think he is a good pick-up on the defensive end.

Another thing I’m not sure I like about the Hughes trade is the loss of Tim Thomas. I actually can’t believe I’m saying this because I hate Tim Thomas as a player, but he seemed like one of the leaders of the team. He was pretty much the only veteran player on the squad and you can tell that the other players listened to him when he talked on the court and bench. I hope that Chris Duhon and Lee can take over that leadership role.