In the midst of a season of public disgruntlement, it's refreshing to see a player distance himself from the nonsense. Larry Hughes and Eddy Curry have made juicy headlines this season by voicing their frustration (which in both cases, was more than a little ridiculous) about matters of roster management. Though he continues to be the most talked about Knick with the most legitimate beef over minutes, little Nate Robinson is strictly business.

The subject of an Internet trade rumor that had the Celtics making an offer for him, the Knicks' backup guard got testy with the media after practice yesterday in Greenburgh.

"We've got to stop Kobe from trying to score 61 again - that's our deal right there," Robinson said, referring to Bryant's record-setting performance at the Garden last season. "We've got to hope that he comes in and misses every shot. But some nights, some guys can't miss."

While Robinson refused to talk about the trade rumor, team president Donnie Walsh made it clear that if the Knicks deal Robinson or any of their players before the Feb. 18 deadline, it has to be a move that can help them make the playoffs this spring. "It's got to make us better this year, assuming there's no cap ramifications the following year," Walsh said.

I can vouch from experience that Nate's occasional tendency to avoid forthright answers can be frustrating (I once tried to ask him about Twitter and he responded by making me help him find his iPod, which I did), but this is excellent. The media likely lobbed him some kvetch-worthy questions, and Robinson spiked them right back. He's all basketball. Good for Nate.

As for the rumors themselves, it's hard for me to imagine anything happening unless the Celtics are interested in Jared Jeffries or Eddy Curry, which they probably aren't. None of Boston's expiring contracts make basketball sense in a deal for Robinson, so I'm not fretting about it. Neither is Nate, which is pretty cool. If you've got stuff to say about those rumors, this thread's looking pretty lively.

Take the jump for a little information on the ticket contests...

As it turns out, I've got no tickets to give away to Friday's game against the Lakers. It sounds like T-Mobile got bullied over those seats, and had to hand them off at the last second to make some important people happy. I'm not too upset (I personally couldn't care less about seeing the Lakers live), and you shouldn't be either. I've got the go-ahead to give away seats to a handful of games between now and the end of February, and they should all be back in the T-Mobile suite, in the company of quesadillas and private bathrooms. Watch for ticket contests, will come at least one game before each of the P&T nights, since y'all will have to guess some leading scorers to earn your spot in the box.

Also, just for fun, I figured I'd pass along the trivia question I spent awhile researching and formulating yesterday. Since there was no game for which I could run the leading scorer contest, I had to come up with some slightly more difficult trivia. The question was this: Who is the only player (to my knowledge) to play for the Knicks and play professional basketball in the Canary Islands in the last decade?

Instead of tickets, you'll get my love and admiration for answering correctly.

More coming soon. Thanks for being you.