?Let?s say we wind up with the number 9 pick. Mikal Bridges and the top seven (DeAndre Ayton, Luka Doncic, Jaren Jackson Jr., Marvin Bagley III, Michael Porter Jr., Trae Young and Mohamed Bamba) are all gone. Do you trade down or keep the pick??
?Mikal Bridges and the Top Seven? sounds like a Motown one-hit wonder.
These are all 15 #9 draft picks from 2003 through last June: Michael Sweetney (sounding and looking better after rookie-year struggles that went way beyond basketball), Andre Iguodala, Ike Diogu, Patrick O?Bryant, Joakim Noah, D.J. Augustin, DeMar DeRozan, Gordon Hayward, Kemba Walker, Andre Drummond, Trey Burke, Noah Vonleh, Frank Kaminsky, Jakob Poeltl, and Dennis Smith Chamberlain Bird Jordan Abdul-Jabbar Jr.
(Notice the bigges bust was a NYK selection).
They?ve played 91 seasons between them, with all but Diogu and the Notorious P.O.B. (that really is O?Bryant?s nickname!) having maintained a spot in the league since their draft days. Out of those 15 players and 91 seasons:
6 players have combined for 12 All-Star appearances.
One player made an All-NBA First team (he was taken with the Knicks? draft pick and is currently on the Knicks, so natch he made All-NBA with another team). Two others each made the Third Team once.
One player won Finals MVP.
One player won Defensive Player of the Year.
Two players have combined for 5 All-Defense teams.
One player sounds like but isn?t the dude the Knicks waived after trading Willy Hernangomez.
Choose well at #9 and you can land a secondary star on a good team or a tertiary stud on a title contender. Choose poorly and 2009 happens. We?re all well-versed in the lamentations of Golden State landing Steph (nee Stephen) Curry one spot ahead of our beloved blue and orange. But do you remember whom the Knicks passed on when they took Jordan Hill?
What kind of deal could the Knicks make to trade down that?d be worthwhile? Five teams could end up with multiple first round picks. Two of Atlanta?s three picks belong to Minnesota and Houston; even if Jimmy Butler?s pick leads to a Timberwolf free-fall, those are low-value picks. Depending what happens with the Lakers? ping-pong balls, either Philadelphia or Boston is going to end up with multiple picks, with Boston nabbing L.A.?s if it?s 2-5 and Philly netting it anywhere else; neither is likely to need anything the Knicks have to offer. Chicago has two picks, but since the existence of a loving God is compatible with an evil universe, the Knicks best pay heed to 30+ years of one-sided losses vs. the Bulls? players and front offices and just avoid dealing with those Windy City Slickers altogether.
The Clippers currently hold the 12th and 14th picks. Phoenix has their own probable top-three pick plus #15 (c/o Miami) and #16 (c/o Milwaukee). If L.A. offered both picks for #9, I?d maybe consider it. The Knicks need young talent with upside on below-market deals. If you think it?s a 7-8 player draft and you?re slated to pick 9, adding two picks between 12 and 16 certainly maximizes stockpiling underpaid young talent.
If you think Porzingis is a good bet as a first banana or a second, you stay at #9 and you hope to draft that tertiary star, that Lamar Odom/Draymond Green/Chris Bosh-type. Then one day you land that big stud via trade or free agency (which never happens with this team, as borne out with Kareem [twice!], Dr. J, Michael Jordan and various LeBron iterations). So just wait 3-4 years for Ntilikina to reach MVP-levels, and voila! s?all good.
(TKB.com)