Well that was a letdown.

After two months of talk about blockbusters and superstars swapping uniforms leading up to yesterday’s trade deadline, in the end all we got were a few minor swaps and the derigueur idiotic Knicks trade. Since my colleague Martin Johnson already explained the many errors of the Knicks’ ways yesterday, I’ll take it upon myself to try to piece together everything else that happened.

But not before one segue that I just have to get out off my chest: Can you even imagine how happy Orlando coach Brian Hill is right now? Not only did he get rid of Steve Francis, but he gets to tell Penny Hardaway – who got Hill whacked by the Magic in a palace coup back in 1997 – that his services aren’t required in Orlando. If revenge is a dish best served cold, then to Hill the trade must have tasted like the dinner buffet at the Bellagio.

But back to the trades, or rather, the lack of them. The big question is, why were no superstars dealt after so many were rumored? For starters, many of the rumors had little evidence to back them up. That’s certainly the case with the preposterous Kevin Garnett-to-New York scenario that was floated yesterday. I’m sure the discussions went something like this: Isiah Thomas called up Minnesota GM Kevin McHale and said “what do you want for Kevin Garnett?” McHale laughed and hung up. There was no way the Knicks were getting one of the game’s best players in return for the junk Isiah was peddling.

Nearly equally laughable was the Jermaine O’Neal-for-Chris Bosh rumor that came out of Indiana. I’m sure the Raptors were anxious to trade their best, youngest, and least expensive player for an injury-prone, maxed-out veteran who is barely Bosh’s equal today, let alone a year or two down the road. And for all the talk this week, the fact remains that Allen Iverson isn’t going anywhere until the Sixers can trade Chris Webber first.

In other cases, however, it was more about cold feet. Teams have seen what’s happened in the past few years to the clubs that traded Shaquille O’Neal, Tracy McGrady, and Vince Carter, and they don’t want to be next.

For example, Boston has had several scenarios on the table involving Paul Pierce during the past year, but have stepped back from the brink every time. More recently, the Nuggets had a few different scenarios on the table involving Kenyon Martin, but ultimately management couldn’t reach a consensus on whether it was time to unload him. I’m sure the Sonics felt the same way about Ray Allen, as did the Jazz about Carlos Boozer and the Lakers about Lamar Odom, which explains why none of them changed uniforms yesterday.

Finally, a few deals fell through once Hardaway’s contract was bound for Orlando. The Nugget and Blazers both had serious discussions with New York that involved moving big contracts in exchange for the instant cap relief offered by Hardaway’s expiring deal, but once the Magic insisted on getting Hardaway instead of Jamal Crawford and one of the Knicks’ surplus forwards (most likely Maurice Taylor), that put Denver and Portland beyond reach.

And once Hardaway went, the market for expiring contracts was dry. The only other ones on offer were those of Toronto’s Antonio Davis and Chicago’s Tim Thomas, whom astute readers will notice were both Knicks back in October. And the reason those two didn’t get dealt again? Because the Raptors and Bulls now have gobs of cap space coming this summer as a result of getting Isiah on the phone, so they weren’t about to give up those two unless an expiring deal of equal size came back – making the entire exercise pointless.

While we’re on the topic, look at those Bulls and Raptors again. They were nothing six months ago, and now they’re going to wreak havoc this summer thanks solely to their trades with the Knicks. At this point, if you were an NBA general manager, wouldn’t you be falling all over yourself to trade with Thomas? I’d call him twice a week just to say hi and see if there was some overrated, overpaid cancer on my team that he’d taken a shine to. In fact, I often wonder if during the Davis and Curry deals if Chicago’s John Paxson sat there thinking to himself, “Okay, I know I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but compared to this guy I’m freaking Excalibur.”

In the end, however, a few deals did manage to slip through. Sadly for Knicks fans, the Steve Francis trade was one of them, but a few others also beat the deadline. In New Jersey, the Nets unloaded disappointing backup center Marc Jackson to New Orleans, along with little-used forward Linton Johnson, for the Hornets’ Bostjan Nachbar. Nachbar is a small forward with a decent outside touch – kind of a poor man’s Scott Padgett but slightly quicker. He probably won’t see much action for the Nets either, but with New Jersey’s bench, you never know.

The intriguing part for the Nets, however, is that they’re now in a position to sign Tim Thomas if – or rather, when – the Bulls waive him in the coming days. Jackson makes more than Nachbar, so swapping the contracts gives the Nets enough clearance below the luxury tax line to take a shot at Thomas.

The only fly in the ointment is that Philadelphia looks to be pursuing the Paterson native as well – they even foisted backup forward Lee Nailon off on Cleveland yesterday to clear space. With the two clubs offering similar money, it will be interesting to see if Thomas chooses his high school roots and goes with the Nets, or his young adult roots (he played a year at Villanova and began his pro career as a Sixer) with Philly.

One other deal of note sent Nuggets guard Earl Watson and forward Bryon Russell to Seattle in a four-way deal that also sent Portland’s Ruben Patterson and Charles Smith and Seattle’s Reggie Evans to Denver, Sacramento’s Brian Skinner and Denver’s Voshon Lenard to Portland, and Portland’s Sergei Monia and Seattle’s Vitaly Potapenko to Sacramento.

Improbably, this deal means the Kings were able to send a leftover backup center to Portland and get a talented young forward like Monia in return, making them the big winner. The deal could help Denver, too – they really had no need for Watson or Russell, but Patterson and Evans will help their battered frontcourt immensely, and Smith is an underrated throw-in.

However, any debate about the biggest winners and losers from this year’s trade deadline ended the second Isiah approved the Francis trade. While this year’s trade deadline was a disappointment nationally because so few high-profile players changed teams, it was a disaster locally. On a positive note, Isiah can’t make any more trades until summer, which gives the Dolans four more months to remove the wool from their eyes.

Mr. Hollinger is the author of the 2006-06 Pro Basketball Forecast. He can be reached at jhollinger@nysun.com.