Did Knicks do Andrea Bargnani deal to counter Nets?

Knick fans were reeling Sunday night with news that New York has agreed to send a 2016 first round pick, two second round picks and the contracts of Marcus Camby and Steve Novak (and possibly a signed-and-traded Quentin Richardson) to Toronto for Andrea Bargnani, the oft-injured seven-footer who Toronto wanted to dump badly as part of its rebuilding campaign.

The Internet was filled with speculation and accusations that the trade was New York's counter move to the Nets trading for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry.

Knicks' agreement to acquire Andrea Bargnani viewed by other team execs as predictable response to rival Nets' spending spree.

— Ken Berger (@KBergCBS) June 30, 2013

One exec of Knicks' deal to acquire Bargnani, an overpriced luxury: "Now that the Nets put their wallet down, the Knicks had to keep up."

— Ken Berger (@KBergCBS) June 30, 2013

Similarly, Howard Beck reported...

The Knicks are under immense pressure to improve their roster to keep up with a rapidly improving Eastern Conference — and to stay relevant in their own city. The Nets made a deal last week to acquire Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, two likely Hall of Famers, from the Boston Celtics.

And DIME Magazine simply stated...

How will the New York Knicks move to keep up with the Brooklyn Nets and their addition of two Hall of Famers in the last week? Step One is clearly to trade for a hideously poor rebounding, soft 7-footer of course.

Meanwhile, a league source told NetsDaily that all Masai Ujiri, the Toronto GM, wanted for Bargnani was an expiring contract. But the Knicks didn't have anything to fit the bill so they had to add the picks.