With the NBA Draft less than a week away, the Knicks front office is in the midst of a crucial period of time when trade rumors are bandied about on a daily basis and mock drafts are shifting by the hour. Options will present opportunities for New York, especially with the No. 4 overall pick and a myriad of directions it can navigate on Thursday night at the Barclays Center.
“We’re enjoying the process, and that’s the fun thing. I think if you get a high position, you’re kind of locked in,” Knicks president Phil Jackson told the New York Times. “You try to stay open-minded, but there’s so much pressure about who’s slotted to go where and how all the pundits think the picks are supposed to fall. Now, we have an open field and we’re really exploring all our possibilities. So whereas before I was like, O.K., we’re going to draft a big, now we have to be open to what’s there for us that makes our team different.”
New York’s general manager Steve Mills is fielding calls from teams around the league seeking a trade partner. The Knicks could explore a deal that would move them back in the draft for one or more picks or an acquisition to land an impact veteran.
“There are a lot of teams that call, but you don’t get that many calls from teams who are picking from, let’s just say, 15 to 30. Everybody who is in that range wants to know, ‘Would you be willing to move down for X, Y and Z?’ So we’re diligent in trying to be open to thinking about whether there’s a combination of a good player plus a move down that we think rounds out our roster and puts us in a better position to build this team and move it forward. At the same time, we understand that we’re going to get a really good player that can be a part of where we’re going long term at No. 4,” Mills explained.
Most mock drafts project the Timberwolves selecting Karl-Anthony Towns at No. 1. After this consensus belief, the draft becomes much more difficult to predict as the Lakers could take guard D’Angelo Russell or center Jahlil Okafor with the No. 2 pick. The recent workout from Kristaps Porzingis sent shockwaves around the league and he is now considered a wildcard that could land as early as No. 2 or to the 76ers at the third spot. All these scenarios will generate a tremendous amount of intrigue by the time the Knicks are prepared to make their move on draft night.
“We have no big men,” Jackson stated. “So we’re seeing what can we add to our team that will move us along and make us a better team, and we’ll have to fill out that big possibility with some free agents if we end up going smaller with wings and guards in the draft. But there’s some good players. This is a draft that everybody feels like, in the lottery, from 1 through 14, there’s really good players, and a lot of good players that will be there in the later part of the first round, too. History tells us that 1 through 10 usually indicates that you’re going to get a starter at some level.”
Stay tuned to Knicks Draft Central for comprehensive coverage, including draft profiles, photo galleries, and videos.