2015 NBA Draft Recap

With the 4^th Overall Pick, The Knicks Take… Who?

The New York Knicks are in the unenviable position of wanting to win right now but needing a to improve at just about every position in order to do so. There probably isn’t another team so ill-equipped to make a playoff run that is not trying to rebuild. Carmelo Anthony, at the age where most players hit their physical peak, is surrounded by a cast with little NBA experience and that Knicks fans would be hard pressed to be able to name. But yet, he is under contract until 2019 so it seems like the team is committed to winning with him. So with the goal of winning now, you’d think the Knicks would try and fill out the team with rookies ready to contribute immediately, right?

Well, in one of the deepest drafts in recent memory and with the highest pick the team has had since 1985, the New York Knicks selected Kristaps Porzingis, a 19-year old 7’1” Latvian who played

2014 NBA Draft Recap

Knicks Trade into the Second Round

            The Knicks were one of many teams to enter this draft with no picks in either the first or second rounds. However, a trade with the Dallas Mavericks sent Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to Dallas in exchange for Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert, Shane Larkin, Wayne Ellington, and Dallas’ two second round picks (numbers 34 and 51).

            With the 34^th pick, the Knicks selected Wichita State’s Cleanthony Early. Leading up to the draft, Early seemed to be a mid to late first round selection but, for unknown reasons, dropped to the second round. When the 34^th pick came up I was hoping the Knicks would select one of two players. Spencer Dinwiddie out of Colorado was one of them and Early was the other. Anyone who leads their team to an undefeated season entering the NCAA tournament should get serious consideration and I think Early was a great pick at the top of the second round. He is not going to be the focal point of an NBA team like he was at Wichita State, but his scoring ability and aggressiveness could keep him in the league for a while. He is going to bring a lot of energy to the Knicks and I think New York will embrace him soon after he steps foot on the court.

2013 NBA Draft Recap

Knicks Pick a Rival

As a recent University of Wisconsin graduate (wow, still not used to that), I am horrified at the thought of watching a Michigan man wear a Knicks jersey. As a Knicks fan, I am very happy with Tim Hardaway Jr. as the 24^th pick in the 2013 NBA draft. As a Badger, I was able to watch Hardaway Jr. play many times throughout his career at Michigan and I think he fits in very well with the Knicks. Hardaway Jr. seemed to drop in this draft because he was overshadowed this past year by his Wolverine teammate Trey Burke, the national player of the year, but Hardaway Jr. is a very good player who clearly has no problem deferring to a better player (something he will have to do as a teammate of Carmelo Anthony).

2012 NBA Draft Recap

New York Goes Overseas

In a pick I definitely did not see coming, the Knicks selected Kostas Papanikolaou out of Greece. Although I was hesitant at first, I grew to, more or less, like the pick. I can honestly say I have never heard of this player nor have I seen any video of him. However, Fran Fraschilla spoke very highly of him (although which international player does he not speak highly about? It seemed like every international pick during the draft was a “great” or “solid” pick). 

In addition, the Knicks are trying to win right now and in doing so are taking a page out of the San Antonio Spurs’ draft manual by aiming for a championship while also looking towards the future in developing young players overseas, as Papanikolaou is not expected to enter the NBA for a

2011 NBA Draft Recap

 

The Knicks Keep Piling on the Mistakes

It is unbelievable how my favorite sports franchise refuses to do anything to make the team better. This year alone, between trading half the team for Carmelo Anthony and in doing so losing Danilo Gallinari instead of Landry Fields, a decision Fields quickly made the Knicks regret as his excellent first half of the season was followed up by a nearly invisible second half and playoff performance (apparently he did not realize that a sophomore slump usually starts in the second year); not re-signing Donnie Walsh, the man who brought the team back to a respectable level after the Knicks were a punch line for half a decade; and now wasting their 17th pick in the draft. Again, that was just 2011, and we are still in June.

2010 NBA Draft

Knicks

          Let’s start with my favorite team of all time, the New York Knicks. A team I have waited loyally for year after year to make any kind of splash. They may not have had a 1st round pick this year and may be living and dying on this year’s free agency, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t have drafted decent players with their two consecutive 2nd round picks, but they blew it...BIG TIME. I waited 3.5 hours anticipating their pick, and they could not have let me down any more. There are 2 positions the Knicks desperately need, and it just so happens that those 2 positions are not available in free agency. They need a point guard and a center. Maybe Bosh and Amar’e can play center, but they are true power forwards, and the best point available is Raymond Felton, which isn’t much. Donnie could