Knicks Draft Post Mortem

[Kampuchea]

The trade details were missing and confusing yesterday during the draft. Thankfully, I woke up to find it had been clarified.

As I understand it, this is the end result:

Knicks in:
2023 first round pick via Detroit (protected 1-18 until 2024, protected 1-13 in 2025, protected 1-11 in 2026, protected 1-9 in 2027)
2023 first round pick via Washington (protected 1-14 in 2023, protected 1-12 in 2024, protected 1-10 in 2025, protected 1-8 in 2026)
2025 first-round pick via Milwaukee (protected 1-4)
$18 million in cap space

Knicks out:
Pick 11
Kemba
Four second round picks (2023,2023,2023,2024)

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/2022-nba-draft-breaking-down-the-knicks-three-separate-trades-after-moving-kemba-walker/

Upon review, I actually prefer moving draft picks down the road either to draft them or to aquire a difference-maker via trade. We have too many mid-level players that we already have a difficult time getting them minutes, I do not want to draft another guy that we can't give minutes to. The Detroit and Washington picks will both convey.

I can only give the trade a B/B+ though - Even though we definitely don't want to keep all those second round picks (we going to draft 4-5 players next year?), I think we could have used some of those to move off other deals if we need more space.

[DOT]

People talk about this like we're gonna be drafting guys with those picks

There's a 100% chance we trade those picks, either to unload salary or to try and chase a "star".

[3toheadmelo]

[Kampuchea]

People talk about this like we're gonna be drafting guys with those picks

There's a 100% chance we trade those picks, either to unload salary or to try and chase a "star".

That is likely true - and moving the draft picks out for either a trade OR to pick a player in a future year are both better scenarios than drafting one this year IMO.

[DaGawd]

A for ass

[Kampuchea]

A for ass

A for Ass game..... good ass game

[DLTGWH]

Garbage ass Leon Rose.

[HEZI]

Voted FU for many reasons. The same idiots that signed the guys last summer are now using those picks to clear salary.

Really didn’t mind trading out of the draft as there was nobody there that was a must have so that was fine but those protections do suck.

The fact that they are clearing cap space also means our free agency will suck too. This FO has been awful in spending money so it’s just going to be more of the same. The direction they have picked absolutely sucks

[robillionaire]

I didn’t like anybody in this draft very much, so I’m fine with the trade out. Plus it leaves us with 3 extra firsts going forward that can be used in trades. But I can’t give it a grade until free agency to see if they actually land the PG they are chasing. If they strike out in FA I would give the deal an F. The only move I am disappointed with is bringing back Mitch. Could have taken Duren or Williams to replace him but once it was rumored Mitch is close to re-signing there was no point. Anyway just in case you forgot, this is a win now team, there will be no tank, there will be no draft rebuild, there will be no French stickman next year, Randle is here forever, Thibs is here forever, and I cannot stress this enough, F them kids

[KnicksGadfly]

Made mistakes and made bad trades to fix them, when the real fix would have been to rebuild and blow this squad up instead of trying to mash together a Brunson/Randle core.

I’m really confused at FO’s assessment of this team. Do they seriously think we’re just a Brunson away from contention? Are we going to try and make the same trades to rise in the draft next year, instead of just tanking? Overall plan is sus for me.

[DOT]

Like, all this, right

And we're still 10 mil off from being able to almost give Brunson what he wants

That's what makes this trade so stupid, besides the everything else, is that we still need to make moves to clear enough cap space

D+ could have been worse.

[DOT]

Also, I changed the title to make this an unofficial draft thread

Man, last night was stupid.

[Synciere]

Voted D.

We traded a lottery pick for three firsts with way too many protections. I was rooting for top 3 to top 10 protections, max. These picks aren’t even great trade assets. No one will clamor for that Milwaukee pick that’ll convey in 2025 when Giannis is a 30 year old, in his prime all timer dragging the Bucks to conference finals and Finals rounds. All of these picks will be worse than 11.

[duetta]

I think an "Incomplete" is the most accurate grade for now.

I didn't mind the trade of our pick trade at all - although I will admit to being annoyed that management had to give up assets to unload last off-season's mistake, Kemba Walker. That does annoy me - but what is done is done.

I also think that people are undervaluing the contribution that Brunson made to Dallas last season - and how good a player he is, despite his relative physical limitations. My issue with pursuing Brunson remains my skepticism that Dallas can afford to simply let their second-best player walk when they can give him more years than anyone else.

Lottery picks are great when the player on the board when you're drafting is someone that management has done their due diligence on, and is excited about taking. They're not great when you're forced to take a player that you'd rather not have on your roster, for one reason or another, at that spot - and then have to pay and invest developmental time on (Kevin Knox, etc.).

Knick management targeted Ivey and perhaps another player in this draft and once they were off the board, made the decision to bail out of the first round - rather than be subject to a shotgun wedding to someone that they did not want to invest in. They obviously did not see quality value in any player that would have been available to them in that slot or later.

If the Knicks keep the picks that they acquired last night - which they may not - I fully expect that one or all three of them will produce a player that management will be more excited about investing in the years 2025, 2026, etc.

For the present, this trade disappoints - but so have most of our actual picks under previous management over the past decade.

[JXL]

Is there a "?!" option?

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

[DOT]

Lottery picks are great when the player on the board when you're drafting is someone that management has done their due diligence on, and is excited about taking. They're not great when you're forced to take a player that you'd rather not have on your roster, for one reason or another, at that spot - and then have to pay and invest developmental time on (Kevin Knox, etc.).

"This is a good trade because the FO is incompetent, therefore lotto picks are worthless" is a hell of a take.

[Chanel Bomber]

Ultimately, this trade will be judged based on all the outcomes and to what extent they validate the Knicks (or not).

If Dieng busts, and the Knicks manage to 1. flip contracts for cap space 2. sign Brunson who then becomes a star 3. become an attractive destination for players again, then maybe it will be remembered as a positive trade.

If Dieng becomes a star, and the Knicks 1. have to overpay to flip contracts because these picks have no value 2. see Brunson stay in Dallas 3. strike out in free agency, then this trade will be remembered as a disaster.

With all the other possibilities in-between.

Let's see what they manage to pull off in free agency, but I hate the underlying motivation and the fundamental message (seemingly) behind this draft night trade: we're building around Randle and RJ, and we will try to move the pieces around them to compete.

The Knicks needed a reset. Instead, it seems they doubled down on their core.

I think you’ll be a happy man when they eventually include your boy RJ in their inevitable godfather offer for a Max Cat signed by CAA.

What’s the point of signing a 22 y/o longterm if A) you’re going to be bad longterm because you have no good young players; and B) you’re going
to be fired as POBO because you failed to deliver on your promise of a star player?

Seems highly logical that they’d try to maneuver one max slot this summer for a Brunson or Kyrie while godfathering a second grade getting rid of RJ, Obi, IQ, and multiple FRPs for an older marquee player or two.

It all depends on the players.

Trading for actual stars and winning players is not some nonsensical direction. The Knicks did see some success with Melo after all, despite effing up every step following the trade.

The issue is that the Knicks don't actually get stars and winning players - they acquire fake stars and losing players, and develop their high draft picks in the same manner (it happened with KP too).

I think one of the problems this offseason is that the most talented players that might be available this summer are redundant and can't play together (Brunson, Lavine, Mitchell, Kyrie) outside of Ayton. So it's hard to envision some holistic overhaul that would actually put the Knicks on a path to contention, albeit on a shorter timeline.

Let's see if they pull a rabbit out their hat in free agency (they won't), but in my estimation this was not the summer to go all in.

I wish the Knicks had just stayed at 11 and picked Dieng. At least, the possibilities of the unknown would have been intriguing. But, to be fair, if Brunson has a career-arc that's similar to Lowry, it changes everything. That's assuming he even signs.

[cgmw]

- I fully expect that one or all three of them will produce a player that management will be more excited about investing in the years 2025, 2026, etc.

Really though?

A) the picks are highly protected;
B) our coach hates rookies; and
C) isn’t it obvious FO views FRPs as trade chips only?

I don’t know how much more blatant they can be about what they value. The future picks will never become drafted rotation players for the Knicks.

Personally, I fully expect them to trade those picks along with RJ, Obi, IQ and/or Grimes.

[Reign23]

I like the complete trade, but I fear that we might not get Brunson and then the same thing as always happens:
they feel like they HAVE to spend the money and sign multiple mediocre vets to block the young players.

[DOT]

Like, I understand the logic of, whoever we picked 11th was probably not getting playing time, and would likely be pretty mid even if they were, but we haven't fixed the problem of our current young guys not getting playing time because we traded the one guy who was already out of the rotation

Actually, it's gonna be even worse if we do sign Brunson

No matter what, one of Grimes or Cam is out of the rotation. Plain and simple, no two ways about it, even if we trade Burks. If we trade Noel to free up the space, then both Grimes and Cam are out, or maybe one of them and Quick, but we seem to like Quick more

Best case scenario:

Brunson/Rose
Fournier/Quick(Grimes)
RJ/Grimes(Cam)
Randle/Obi
Mitch/Sims (but likely we re-sign Taj after waiving him to free space)

So either we wasted a 1st trading for Cam, or we wasted a 1st drafting Grimes

But no matter what, Obi's still buried on the bench. And I'm not even a big Obi guy, but the way we've treated him is ridiculous. Part of that is on him for not being positionally flexible, but most of it is on the FO for being morons

Honestly, just trade everyone and have a fire sale. Hard tank this year, acquire a bunch of assets, and maybe we can do a poor man's version of what OKC is doing.