Category Archives: 2011 Draft
I will be in the house tonight in Newark. Follow the tweets here and for other NBA Notes click here.
Would I be surprised if Kemba Walker slid down to 17 and into the laps of his hometown Knicks in a similar fashion that Mark Jackson ended up at 18 some 2 decades ago?
Absolutely not.
There is the growing sentiment that it could happen and here’s my two cents. Information, the GOOD STUFF, has just started coming out from teams over the past few days and in this day and age reporters can’t sit on it. So I take what I hear from my sources with a grain of salt until about 48 hours before the draft goes down.
Again, this all begins with what the Jazz do at 3. Then the draft officially begins.
The Red Devils of Peekskill were the two-time defending state champions, and their star player, Mookie Jones, had already committed to play for Syracuse. Glens Falls was the underdog going in, but this was a huge opportunity for Jimmer to rise to the occasion and carry his school to the title. The game didn’t exactly turn out that way, though.
The Glens Falls Civic Center is a modest arena, accommodating just over 4,800 fans. It serves as a hockey arena, and the court rests on top of the covered ice with folding chairs set up to fill the rest of the empty space. Every single seat was filled that night. Nearly everyone in attendance was cheering for Jimmer and Glens Falls. As intimidating as this must have been for visiting Peekskill, it must have added some pressure for Jimmer and his teammates. Glens Falls got off to a quick start and led 19-14 after the first quarter. Peekskill started to assert itself athletically in the second quarter and took the lead at one point, but Glens Falls maintained a slim three-point lead, 32-29, at the end of the first half. Peekskill had all of the momentum riding in its favor until Jimmer launched a long three and connected with 32 seconds left in the period. The crowd went into a frenzy, especially because Jimmer had been struggling from the floor. more.
The Fredette/Peekskill game has particular meaning to me because the team I helped coach, Archbishop Stepinac, was the only team to defeat that Peekskill team that year in front of a raucous crowd at the Westchester County Center. I had heard of Fredette, but assumed that Peekskill, a perennial basketball powerhouse in Westchester, would be too much to handle in the state finals.
Four years later, Fredette is on the verge of having his name called in the NBA Draft.
The same can be said for another experience with Kemba Walker and Rice High School as well. We scrimmaged Rice when Edgar Sosa and Curtis Kelly were seniors and Kemba and Momo Jones were freshmen. Walker was off the charts that game.
Great memories.
The New York Knicks are believed to be moving in on a deal to acquire the 30th overall pick from the Chicago Bulls according to sources. The Knicks have told a number of players projected in the early second round that they would and could acquire an additional pick to take them. The problem is this is exactly what the Knicks said last year and did not end up taking any of the players they pledged to draft nor did they follow through on acquiring additional picks.It is worth noting that Bulls sources have said it is unlikely that they use both of their first round picks, the 28th and 30th overall, so the rumors of the Knicks moving on the 30 lines up with what Chicago is saying.
It just begs the question for me which is: Why would the Bulls do the Knicks any favors?
If the Knicks can score 30 and then land a 2nd round pick, which they’ve easily done in the past, then this could be a grand slam night for the Knicks if they fit the right pieces. A player like Andrew Goudelock makes total sense, but don’t discount Chandler Parsons as well.
Good stuff here from Sam Amick, who was a huge pickup for Sports Illustrated’s NBA coverage.
New York (No. 17) has attempted to move up, most likely for BYU sharpshooter Jimmer Fredette or Thompson. But the Knicks continued to scout all their options, holding a private workout with 20-year-old, 7-foot forward Donatas Motiejunas (Italy’s Benetton Treviso) on Tuesday. He is in play for their pick, and a source said he played much better in New York than he did in an atrocious workout in Treviso. Motiejunas worked out for the 76ers (No. 16) on Monday and, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, is expected to work out for Houston (No. 14) and San Antonio (No. 29) as well.
Via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Brooks has worked out twice for both the Knicks and the Bucks. He said he hurt his ankle in his initial workout with New York but was able to overcome the injury through a total of 11 workouts.”They’re very interested,” Brooks said of the Knicks. “I think it’s their style of play, sort of similar to what I played at Providence. So they feel like I’d be a good fit. We’ll see. The countdown begins.”
Brooks was asked about any comparisons of his game to that of Burks and Thompson, who are considered serious candidates to be selected by the Bucks.
I had heard that Brooks didn’t work out well for the Knicks and it appears that ankle injury may just by why. I’m not sure he’s the right fit in terms of this roster based on the fact that he’ll need the ball to be effective. His scoring talents are undeniable.
Tagged Marshon Brooks Knicks |the Knicks also were impressed with Michigan point guard Darius Morris, who has risen on their draft board. Morris outplayed Kansas guard Josh Selby, who is being viewed by the Knicks staff as too big a risk at 17. Georgia Tech point guard Iman Shumpert and Selby could be available later in the first round, and Walsh is confident he will buy more picks as he has done in the past.
Morris is the best distributor, period.
Some great, er, nuggets, from Alan Hahn (including a note from a current Nugget who wants out.)
On Biyombo
The 6-9 power forward, with a 7-6 wingspan, wanted to work out for the Knicks and he’ll be in the New York area for the draft anyway. I’m getting a ton of mixed signals on this player. He’s been touted by all the draft experts, but yet one NBA source I talked to said there are fears that he could be another Saer Sene, an athletically-gifted, but extremely raw 7-footer who went 10th overall to the Seattle Sonics in the 2006 draft and is now out of the league.
Faried
…consider that we already can mark in ink that Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire will take an aggregate of 45-50 shots per game for the Knicks. That will produce, with generous percentages, about 23-25 rebounds. Someone has to get them. But the Knicks have to be holding out hope they can find a more talented rotation player at No. 17, though, despite the efforts of the draft gurus, this just isn’t a deep enough draft to give reason to believe they can.
On Tyler
Tyler is also a legit NBA body, but a project, period. He hasn’t had enough quality coaching for him to be prepared to be an effective NBA player. But is he worth the selection if you had a second first round choice? “Absolutely,” one NBA executive said. Tyler has the size and some intriguing physical tools, but he needs a lot of work, quite possibly in the D-League, before he can be counted on.
On Ray Felton
Another player potentially on the move is Raymond Felton, who definitely wants out of Denver if he’s not going to be the starter. He has one year left on his deal ay $7.5M, so he’ll be a good value for someone. But no, not the Knicks.
On trading out of the draft
…they might be better off pulling completely out of the draft by trading this year’s pick for a 2012 first rounder, which, of course, would be a fine asset to add when it’s decision time in New Orleans next year.
I can’t imagine them trading out of the draft, myself, although it’s never been Donnie Walsh’s nature to make anything about himself. He’ll still do what’s best for the team.
I can’t see the Knicks trading up $3 million dollars to Indiana to get to 15, when they can spend that money towards the end of the first round. Unless, of course, they can’t. Still trying to figure why Chicago would do them any favors. Two teams that could look to move their guaranteed money could very well be Oklahoma City and your world champion Dallas Mavericks.
I’ve been getting a lot of questions surrounding players “falling” to the Knicks. Look there’s always one, maybe two, players with skill who fall but they rarely fall to 17. If they do, there is usually a red flag surrounding that player. Fredette and Thompson won’t fall but Chris Singleton might based on his offensive game. That’s the biggest reason I chose to focus on him. He’d be the best talent to drop. He can score, but the Knicks don’t need him to. He’s an NBA defender right now.
Let’s say Biyombo and Singleton are on the board. I tweeted several days ago that the Knicks had to take Biyombo if he were there. And when I was at Portsmouth talking to scouts they all were vague on his ability but believed that he was a lottery pick in a weak draft. The issue I have is that it’s easy to say a player “will be the next” whomever, in Biyombo’ case it’s Ibaka, but it’s another to guarantee it. That’s where fans point to coaching and “development” which I agree with in a sense. The Knicks cannot take a player who can’t compete at the NBA level in any aspect, and word is Biyombo isn’t the impact defender right now that he’s been made out to be. Throw in his lack of offensive talents and you have a player who very well get exposed at a young age. When a player gets exposed and loses confidence (see this for reference) then you have a potential disaster on your hands.
That said, I still don’t believe Biyombo falls to 17.
As far as the guards go in picking between, say, Brooks and Shumpert, you take Shumpert because of his ability to get to the rim and play both backcourt positions but more importantly it’s his ability to defend both. If the Knicks do draft a guard at 17 then they’ve traded Toney Douglas.
If they can’t find the proper deal for Douglas and Singleton, Biyombo and obviously Thompson and Jimmer are all off the board then they probably take the safe and popular pick in Faried or the slight risk in Vucevic. and look for depth in the late first and/or early second.
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