Welcome to the Knicks, Dink Pate! (2025 UDFA)

[thebuzzardman]

Bump.

Thoughts on Dink

Agree with someone's comp of Cam Reddish. Particularly Duke Cam Reddish. Where all the potential was on display and the question was, would he put it together, reign it in.

Going to post about 6 Dink Pate highlights/scouting videos. (Yeah, I know)

In his 17 year old 1st pro season, you can see all the skills and some athleticism but in the 2nd pro year (18-19) his athleticism POPS. And the skill is there and better.

So, guy is clearly a pretty top rate high school prospect, decides to take the NBA up on it's offer to turn pro in the G-League (I think this is before NCAA $ rules flip but whatever on his decision making process) and he's still 19 with TWO YEARS pro ball. You know, the same thing that gets people excited about certain euro prospects.

I get its G-League and Summer League. But why weren't more teams clamoring to get this guy, even if he's a project? A team could invest two development years and still have a player just 22 years old.

I get he gets to bypass the draft by some wrinkle of joining Ignite, but even with that, he seems to have 1st round pick talent.
Why did he become easily available to the Knicks? Bias against players who forego the draft? Perceived or real ego problems? Teams not sure he can play defense or adjust to role off the ball?

I don't get it. He looks really good. I mean, not Trevor Keels good, but can't have everything.

17-18 years old

Watch on YouTube

18-19 years old

Watch on YouTube

19-20 years old

Watch on YouTube

Scouting reports

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

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Discuss

[j4remi]

Perfect project player. He's super young and hyper-athletic with the building blocks to develop a lot of useful skills.

But, I'd throw in that his Summer League performances didn't catch me the way some of the late hype has acted. He came on strong in the games where most first rounders and returning players are already resting up to stay healthy. When teams were at full strength, he just looked like a raw athlete. That's totally fine for a young project player, but some of Knicks twitter's energy has been a little OD for my taste.

[Spree2Houston]

His jumpshot is hideous

[BKlutch]

Perfect project player. He's super young and hyper-athletic with the building blocks to develop a lot of useful skills.

But, I'd throw in that his Summer League performances didn't catch me the way some of the late hype has acted. He came on strong in the games where most first rounders and returning players are already resting up to stay healthy. When teams were at full strength, he just looked like a raw athlete. That's totally fine for a young project player, but some of Knicks twitter's energy has been a little OD for my taste.

I prefer watching recordings of the SL games, because I'm not very excited about the outcome. So I don't finish it in real time - instead, I rewind to rewatch plays that seem interesting or particlarly enjoyable. So I feel comfortable with my understanding of Pate's SL play. As J4remi said, he's extremely athletic. He seems to have really good instincts for a 19 year old, and is relatively mature for his age, although not mature in NBA terms. His shot off the dribble seems better than his off ball shooting, but these are thethings that young players can improve. I also thought he has some good defensive instincts, even if he might get abused defensively early on in the NBA.

Given that what he needs seems to be the kind of thing that can be developed with hard work, I really hope the Knicks keep him around long enough to either decide he's got a role with the team, or he'll never reach his ceiling. Either way, this is the kind of kid it would be a real shame to waste. The Knicks are short-ish on athleticism, length, and speed, and if he continues developing, they need what he could bring.

[BKlutch]

His jumpshot is hideous

That's true, but it's also not at all unusual that good players had ugly jumpers at 19. So it's something to watch, but it's not a reason to put him in the trash bin.