Knicks, D'Antoni welcome Jeffries back

ORLANDO, Fla. - Mike D'Antoni never wanted the Knicks to trade Jared Jeffries last season, but the move was made to create salary-cap space for last summer's free-agent class. Now D'Antoni and the franchise have him back at a far more affordable price: the prorated veterans' minimum. The 6-11 forward, who worked out a buyout agreement with the Rockets on Friday, was signed last night after he cleared waivers at 6 p.m. Jeffries took the spot that was vacated by forward Corey Brewer, who was waived earlier in the day.

"We think he can pick up right where he left off," D'Antoni said of Jeffries. "He knows the system and you can put him into the group and it would take two seconds. He's going to play with energy and take charges and play defense, and we felt when we lost him last year that he was playing really well. Hopefully he'll get right back to that point and really contribute."

The Knicks also claimed Derrick Brown off waivers from the Charlotte Bobcats to fill a spot vacated by Kelenna Azubuike, who was placed on waivers Monday night. The 6-8 forward was a second-round pick of the Bobcats in 2009 who has played sparingly with Charlotte (3.4 ppg, 1.9 rpg in 98 career games). D'Antoni said he liked Brown after the team worked him out before the 2009 draft and former Knick Raymond Felton, who played with Brown last season in Charlotte, highly recommended him.

SVG: Knicks won trade

Stan Van Gundy has a simple philosophy when it comes to judging trades. "It usually comes down to who gets the best player," the Magic coach said, "and in my mind, New York got the two best players in the trade."

Van Gundy scoffed at the notion that rookie center Timofey Mozgov could have been a roadblock in the Knicks' blockbuster trade with the Nuggets. "It was a little bit funny to me that all the consternation at the end was over Mozgov," he said.