George Karl wanted some toughness. Ruben Patterson and Reggie Evans wanted out of the Northwest.

They all found what they were looking for Thursday.

Patterson and Evans were acquired by the Denver Nuggets as part of a four-team, nine-player deal before the NBA's trade deadline. And while neither player is a star — none of the 17 players moved Thursday is — both fill needs for the Northwest Division leaders.

With Nene out since opening night and Kenyon Martin still troubled by knee soreness, the Nuggets have lacked the defensive abilities that Patterson provides or the knack for rebounding that Evans has.

"I am a coach that believes that playing hard is the key to success in the NBA," Karl said. "And intensity and pride of playing hard has to be developed on the team. And for some reason this year we lost that, that characteristic."

Seattle sent Evans to Denver and center Vitaly Potapenko to Portland and received point guard Earl Watson, forward Byron Russell and a second-round pick from the Nuggets. Portland traded Patterson and Charles Smith to the Nuggets and acquired Voshon Lenard from Denver and forward Brian Skinner from Sacramento.

Portland then dealt Potapenko to the Kings along with Sergei Monia, and admitted the trade wasn't a blockbuster.

"It is what it is," general manager John Nash said. "We did at least do something that will help us in the long term."

Evans was frustrated with his lack of playing time since Bob Hill replaced Bob Weiss in Seattle, and Patterson's unhappiness apparently went back even further.

"Since Day 1 when I got here and spoke to Ruben, his concern was the direction of the club," Portland coach Nate McMillan said. "Our agreement was that if he wasn't happy with the direction the team was going, we would try to accommodate him.

Ruben was basically playing to be moved."

Lenard also was unhappy in Denver and Marc Jackson had expressed his desire to leave New Jersey, paving the way for another deal.

New Orleans acquired Jackson and Linton Johnson III from the Nets for forward Bostjan Nachbar. The Hornets needed help up front after Chris Andersen was dismissed from the league for violating its drug policy, and Jackson Vroman broke his right wrist.

"Both of them are physical. Both of them are aggressive," Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "It just gives us a different look."

The Sonics made another deal, sending guard Ronald "Flip" Murray to Cleveland for Mike Wilks. Also, Miami acquired swingman Derek Anderson from Houston for Gerald Fitch.

With all of Thursday's five trades fairly minor, the biggest pre-deadline deal came Wednesday, when the New York Knicks acquired guard Steve Francis from Orlando for Penny Hardaway and Trevor Ariza.

Knicks president Isiah Thomas said New York looked into making more deals Thursday, but couldn't find anything it liked.

"It's safe to say that we tried to touch base with a lot of the teams," he said. "We started in the morning with talking to teams in the East and then as the day progressed started talking to teams in the West. ... We were pretty active today on the telephone."

The Philadelphia 76ers made one minor move, trading disappointing forward Lee Nailon and a 2006 second-round draft pick to the Cavaliers for a conditional second-rounder. Nailon hasn't played since the end of last month after he was arrested following a domestic dispute.

"There wasn't a deal to be made that would take us to the point where we were a better team," Philadelphia president Billy King said. "Rather than just do a deal, we decided just to do something tax-wise."

With so many other teams also sitting out deadline day, the Knicks were confident their move would have the biggest impact.

"We got Steve," coach Larry Brown said. "I think if you look at the movement in the league, that was a pretty significant trade and I really believe he'll help us."