avatar

Duke/UNC has plenty of interest for Knick fans

by Tommy Dee on February 11th, 2009 at 5:08 pm

I truly believe that the first Duke/Carolina game is the start of March Madness.

Next thing you know, there are heated conference games for tournament seeding, then the Conference Tournament (Big East week may be my favorite event at the Garden), then the Big Dance begins.

As the game’s most heated rivalry tips off tonight, there’s a lot at stake for the schools. In addition, Knick fans should pay close attention (before the Clipper game starts of course)to Gerald Henderson who just may end up in a Knick jersey on draft night.

I’m not a huge Duke fan, but that doesn’t stop me from liking their players. A novel concept except there is so much Duke hate it’s pretty annoying. I like Henderson a lot. He’s strong and very athletic and his jumper has improved to the point that he’s now a borderline lottery pick. As we know the Knicks are desperate for a natural two.

Henderson is the son of Gerald Henderson who played guard briefly for the Knicks in 1987.  I remember him as a very smart player kind of in that Rory Sparrow mold of a tweener guard who could score and defend.

The Tar Heels have a few players that are considered first round picks. Both Ty Lawson and Tyler Hansbrough, neither of whom seem to fit a need,are first round picks for sure. They aren’t what the Knicks are looking for. That said Danny Green interests me. Now, you know I have a great affinity for Patrick Ewing Jr.’s skills, and I’m trying to see if Green is more suited for the 2 and not the three. Green is a high IQ guy from Long Island (he starred at St. Mary’s in Manhassett) and may be flying under the radar here in the second round where Donnie Walsh could make a deal to scoop him up. You have to hope that he’s allowed to make those types of moves with roster flexibility. That’s why he passed on Mario Chalmers, no room at the in.

Coming into this season, Green wasn’t considered a pure shooter, but all he’s doing this season is ripping it at 47% a clip from behind the arc. He can also defend and score, which you all can really ask from a 2nd round pick, right?

Obviously, the Knicks wouldn’t draft both, or make a move to get both, but if you can get Green in the second round and fill another need with the high pick, you’d be adding two very solid pieces.

But then again, Green may not be under the radar by then.
  • pedro

    Do we have a 2nd round pick? wasn’t that pick lost in the epic trade of Curry or something?
    Are we going to buy that pick?

  • LouisQ

    If we indeed pick in the early to mid teens this year, Rubio, Jennings, Holliday and Monroe might all be off the board by then. If that’s the case, I would feel comfortable taking Lawson as our PG of the future-he’s quick as hell.

    Does anyone else feel like Hansbrough is like a higher-profile David Lee?

  • Ilan

    Not only is Henderson Duke’s go to guy offensively, he’s probably their best perimeter defender. Nolan Smith is a good defender as well, but he doesn’t have the size or the freakish athleticism of Henderson (Russell Westbrook comes to mind).

    In hindsight, $2 million dollars doesn’t seem like much for the type of production and defense Chalmers provides. It would make it a lot easier to say goodbye to Nate and would actually have been a much cheaper long-term option.

  • greatman42001

    Tommy as long as we are on the topic of college basketball are you willing to now retract an earlier statement you made that you would rather have Greg Monroe then Hasheem Thabeet, I am watching the guy now and have been all year, the guy is a flat out freak of nature when it comes to shot blocking and defense.
    Also if we are taking a shooter in the middle of the first round I rather have Curry then Henderson.

  • greatman42001

    Speaking of second round also if we lose Lee or we are not planing on resigning him, I think Jeff Adrien is a very similar player, he isn’t going to wow you but he just gets the job done he is a human double double, reminds me of a Lee/ Paul Milsap type player who will be available in the second round, and worth taking a flier on.

  • http://theKnicksBlog.com Tommy Dee

    LOL..retract? I’m accountable but not crazy.

    Monroe still is the far better talent, He’s lefty and younger.

    Thabeet can’t play 30 minutes a game in the NBA, so, no, I’m still taking Monroe, can’t forget he used him the first game.

  • http://theKnicksBlog.com Tommy Dee

    I totally agree with Bilas tho…he’s getting better because he’s staying on the floor.

  • greatman42001

    I respect your opinion Tommy but I have to disagree with you on this one. Thabeet is a game changing player, he can single handedly clog up the middle of the floor and force the opposing team to change their game plan and take worse shots. I don’t think Monroe is good enough at any one thing to be that.
    As for more potential, Hasheem Thabeet has improved every single year he has been at Uconn. It is also important to remember that he only started playing basketball in high school, so to say the ceiling is higher for Monroe might not be so true. I no doubt will be willing to agree that on offense he is still a project, but his defensive and shot blocking ability is too great to take Monroe over him.

  • Mucha

    What’s your opinion, is the upcoming draft class really weak or is it underrated because we just had one of the greatest drafts in NBA history?

    By the way, even though Gordon and Lopez are putting up great numbers and despite the fact that I always had love for Anthony Randolph, the only player I would have drafted ahead of Gallinari was D.J. Augustin. And maybe not picking him will turn out to be a great mistake. But I really got love for Gallinari no doubt about that. Hopefully we’ll be in a position to get Monroe or a nice talent at the point because what we have is REALLY not enough.

  • http://theKnicksBlog.com Tommy Dee

    I think this class will be equally as good. And Mucha great job with the comments. You like to come up with a lot of trades, which shows me you’re a thinker.

    I can dig it.

    YOu too greatman.

    Augustin was a tough one for me to pass on too because we needed a PG badly but i’m fine with duhon. I saw DJ as a Nelson and I saw nelson as a very capable PG in this league.

    I really like Gallo tho.

    Great, say what you want about thabeet, i hear you and I respect it, but he’ll be 26-27 before he transitions himself. Plus he’ll always have the stigma that he should dominate and he’ll never do it at the NBA level. Monroe has the skills to get 8-10 pts early per game then turn that into 15 and so on. He can score. defensively, thabeet is better but you don’t play “defenders” that many minutes if they can’t score, especially in the middle.

    Plus thabeet doesn’t fit the system here, which wasn’t your point I know. My point was gimme monroe in D’Antoni;s system…

  • greatman42001

    Is Tim Thomas kidding right now? They are down 2 players and the guy can’t give them a couple of more minutes of the bench. It really is true that this guy never reached his full potential because he plays with no heart or integrity, how can you leave your team out to dry like that!

  • Mucha

    Thank you Tommy.

    Monroe would obviously be a better fit than Thabeet and I bet he’ll become a better player as well. I also believe that this draft class is underrated and I’d love to see the Knicks get another lottery pick in order to get Monroe. Or Anthony Randolph, you know what I think about it. I really like his aggressivity and he had a great game against the Knicks. I know that Mullin has ties with Donnie Walsh so please Mr. Walsh, make something happen…

    By the way, Gallinari’s four points were great but he didn’t play well after these baskets. I really liked the pick but I still believe that Donnie Walsh should have made a move for Gordon, Augustin, Bayless or Randolph. And I hope that – if we don’t get one of the first picks – he’ll try to make a move for Monroe or Harden.

  • NY_TJ

    It would be crazy if we drafted Danny Green I was on the same St. Mary’s basketball team that he was on I graduated the same year as well. Knowing him personally he’s a good guy and a great teammate and as stated above he’s team player. His Brother Rashard Green is really good too (he’s a year younger). It would be really weird seeing Danny in a knick jersey but he could help this team if we can get him. Here’s to hoping we can draft him in the second round

  • Pingback: The Knicks Blog » Watch out for Danny Green

  • Pingback: The Knicks Blog » Knicks Thinking Green in the Second Round?

  • Pingback: The Knicks Blog » So Let’s Recap