The New York Knicks will be heading into the 2015 NBA Draft and it looks like their main priority is to find big men. At least, that is the immediate thing that Knicks president Phil Jackson wants to address as far as the team’s needs are concerned.
However, he is also aware that with the Knicks’ current draft position (fourth) there is a chance that they would consider some of the smaller guys in the mix. Apparently, this has something to do with either D’Angelo Russell and Emmanuel Mudiay, two prime guards who could prove tempting to pick.
Hence, a lot would depend on who the Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers will draft. It seems like a foregone conclusion that Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor would be the top two picks followed by Russell and/or Mudiay would end up at third.
With that said, would the Knicks end up drafting a guard instead of a big man?
In an interview with the New York Times, Jackson shed some light on that possibility.
“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, OK, we’re going to draft a big, now we have to be open to what’s there for us that makes our team different,” Jackson said during the interview.
So from the looks of it, the initial plans to plug up the lack of big men could probably take a backseat for now.
That is unless for some reason that some of the teams, which would go first, pass up on Towns or Okafor and decide to fill in their void with guards. Such is a possibility, especially for the Lakers who previously said that they could opt to go for D’ Angelo Russell.
As it stands, Jackson and the Knicks will have to wait for their turn before they eventually decide. Three teams will pick ahead of them but he knows that the draft has a good pool of players at least up to the 14th pick. So losing out on three potential players out of 14 leaves them with 11 candidates, which should not be that bad.
And if they do end up landing a guard instead of a forward or center, the Knicks can still look forward to NBA Free Agency next month.
Greg Monroe for one has been linked on possibly joining the Knicks, and his brand of play could be what Jackson’s vaunted Triangle Offense would need. Aside from Monroe, there are also the likes of DeAndre Jordan or even Kevin Love, which he could consider.
With that in mind, the Knicks can opt to go for a big man in free agency, tried and tested compared to a freshman who will likely need time to develop.
Jackson did stress however that they want a player who is interested in playing basketball and not for the sake of getting a big salary.
“We’re trying to find players who are the best fit for us. We’re really chasing as much information as we can. We’re not interested in guys who are just interested in the money and in their branding. They have to have a little more to their life than just those selfish desires..” Jackson said in the same interview with the New York Times.
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