De hecho, Dé Antoni y Stoudemire expresaron una mirada confundida y luego un infinito enfado.En ese momento, ambos tenían un sentimiento de haber sido traicionados.
Los Knicks informaron del trato poco antes de su finalización, lo que no les dio tiempo a prepararse.
Donnie actuó muy rápido.
Después de persuadir a Dolan, inmediatamente cerró el trato con los Lakers y nadie se opuso ni le informó a Dé Antoni, porque en la ciudad de Nueva York solo sabían tres personas sobre esto."Hugo, I've been traded.
Do you know about this?" asked Small Stephens after learning of his trade.
He thought that Little Beards wouldn't trade him and neither would Wu Huang, since they had a pleasant season last year working together.
Therefore, naive Small Stephens even tried to convince the head coach and Wu Huang to stop the trade.
He really didn’t want to leave New York;he still wanted to win three consecutive championships here."What?Where did you get this information?" Wu Huang asked in his usual acting tone when answering the call with Xiao Ke Luo.
His voice sounded genuinely surprised, despite his practiced expression.
Inmediatamente preguntó qué había pasado con Staude, lo que hizo que Small Stephens se confundiera aún más sobre por qué iba a ser traspasado.
En Nueva York, tanto Staude como Dunton estaban en la oscuridad;on the other side, Pau Gasol couldn’t believe he had been traded either.However, Gasol didn't call Kobe because he knew that any major trade would have been known by him beforehand.
Not greeting him implied acceptance of the trade, just like how most fans and media believed the Lakers were getting a great deal in this transaction, with even new coach Mike Brown agreeing that swapping Pau for Small Stephens was a profitable move.Last season, Small Stephens contributed an average of 22 points and 10 rebounds per game during the regular season and close to those numbers in the playoffs.
His performance was remarkable given the presence of the scoring champion in New York, making his skills evident.
Experts agreed that he had reached his career peak last year.Gasol was in a similar state when he helped the Lakers win back-to-back championships but began a downward trend last year and would likely continue to decline.
Therefore, this trade benefited the Lakers greatly;especially after signing Sean Sing, they addressed their base weakness and regained offensive vigor.
In the next two seasons, Kobe had high hopes of leading the Lakers back to glory.New York fans were furious with their team management over this transaction.
It was already absurd that Donny and Dunton gave up no draft picks, signaling a possible return to past practices.
Wu Huang remained silent;after the trade, his roster appeared weaker but he would still have strong interior defense thanks to Gasol's presence.Before heading to play against Orlando Magic, the Knicks quietly announced another unremarkable news – they signed Hassan Whitehead on a 10-day contract from an NBA team in China.
This 2nd round pick only played one season with Sacramento before being cut and followed other free agents abroad.However, Whitehead was different;he had outstanding physical abilities but lacked intelligence and discipline, which led to him being cut by his Chinese team after just a few games.
The Knicks needed a backup center and Whitehead's impressive physique made him stand out among the tryouts.Wu Huang saw him continuously block shots in a 5-on-5 game and decided to give him a chance with a short-term contract.
Despite De Antonio’s lack of interest, he still honored Wu Huang's decision by giving him a token role as water boy.The final roster for the 2011-2012 New York Knicks:bases: Wu Huang, Isaiah ThomasShooting Guards: Iguodala, Tony Allen Small Forwards: Shane Battier, Jeremy Lin, Danny GreenPower Forwards: David West, Yi JianlianCenters: Pau Gasol, Greg Monroe, Jason Collins, Hassan Whitehead.