When Donnie Walsh took over as the team president of the Knicks, everyone knew he would have to make bold and exciting moves to remake the team. His first move, hiring the former coach of the Phoenix Suns, Mike D'Antoni, was an impressive start. But he'll have to top that to make the most out of the Knicks' draft pick.
Before the lottery on Tuesday night, most Knicks fans dreamed of moving up to a top two or three draft choice; their 23-59 record made them the odds-on favorite to finish with the fifth overall pick. But the lottery has a track record of disappointing fans of bad teams. Last year, fans in Boston, Milwaukee, and Memphis rooted for their team to lose most of the season in the hopes of finishing high enough in the lottery to draft either Kevin Durant or Greg Oden. Instead, both Portland and Seattle finished ahead of them, leaving bewildered partisans wondering what had hit them.
Once again, the NBA lottery was cruel to a hopeful team, and this time the Knicks were the victim. When the Chicago Bulls parlayed their 1.7% chance of winning the first overall pick into gold, it set off a chain of events that pushed the Knicks back to the sixth pick. Most observers felt that the Knicks would finish in the top five and have an opportunity to draft one of the three most coveted guards available, Derrick Rose, Jerryd Bayless, or O.J. Mayo. Barring something very unexpected, all three players will be off the board when New York's turn to pick comes up.
Walsh and D'Antoni have their work cut out for them in the days leading up to the June 26 draft at Madison Square Garden. It isn't as if there aren't solid players to take with the no. 6 pick. It's just that none of them fill the Knicks' greatest need — a solid point guard. The remaining point guards available have substantial liabilities and will likely be available later in the first round. University of Texas point guard D.J. Augustin would be a good fit for the up-tempo offense that D'Antoni is known for. But at 5 feet 11 inches, he's a tad short and defense isn't his strong suit. Augustin will likely last until the middle of the first round. It will behoove the Knicks to trade down.
That's where the savvy of Walsh and D'Antoni will be taxed. In their comments to the press, it sounds as if Walsh and D'Antoni are committed to preserving the Knicks' salary cap flexibility after the 2010 season. Unfortunately, the Knicks are in a very poor position to trade players without taking on additional bad contracts.
Coming off of a 23-59 season, in which nearly every player except David Lee and Wilson Chandler either regressed or stagnated, it will be hard for even a seasoned executive such as Walsh to get value for most of his players, and few teams will take one of the Knicks' overpaid underachievers just to move up to the no. 6 pick.
Since a trade will be complicated, another possibility would be keeping the pick and using it on Italian swingman Danilo Gallinari, who may develop into a forward who can run the point. The Knicks have a terrible track record with European players — but both Walsh and D'Antoni bring a substantial track record of success in this area. At 6 feet 9 inches, Gallinari is tall for a guard, but he is said to have a very good handle and court sight. D'Antoni played in the Italian leagues in he 1970s and '80s, and one of his teammates was Gallinari's father. Drafting Gallinari would be another signal that it's a new day at Madison Square Garden — after eight years of clueless regimes led by Isiah Thomas and Scott Layden — but the Knicks need more than symbolism now. While most draft pundits have Gallinari going in the top 10, he will need to impress at the scouting combines before the Knicks commit to him at no. 6.
The Nets, meanwhile, have interesting options with their picks. They have two picks — their own pick at no. 10 and the Dallas Mavericks' pick at no. 21, which they acquired in the Jason Kidd trade. The team is in the midst of retooling their roster, and their first pick may indicate their preferred tempo next season. Although point guard Devin Harris and forward Richard Jefferson are excellent open-court, up-tempo players, the best player likely available at no. 10 is UCLA power forward Kevin Love, a player who would give the Nets a solid inside presence but who could also slow their tempo.
With their second pick, the Nets should simply take the best available player. The team finished in the bottom third of the league in Offensive and Defensive Efficiency (points scored and points allowed per 100 possessions). It's rare to find future Hall of Famers that late in the first round. But it isn't uncommon to nab a solid player, and the Nets sorely need more of those.
