Speaking of Orlando, their 5th pick Hezonja is looking like a bust. Orlando should have been a perfect place for a young player to develop, providing playing time and opportunity for them. The draft is a gamble plenty of high first round picks don't make it, I thought Hezonja was a reach at 5 last year, Knicks need to avoid that by not picking the French kid at say 5 or 6.
Orlando is absolutely terrible at developing their youth....I encourage with kind regards to not look at them as any barometer to gauge what the Knicks should do
Payton
Vucevic
Gordon
Oladipo
Harkless
Have all spent considerable amounts of time coming off the bench or traded their career there, only to be reinserted back into the starting lineup. That's why Rob Hennigan has publicly spoken on the uncertainty of remaining their GM heading into the summer. He's going to get fired! Payton now in his 3rd season officially looks like a starter after having to take a back seat to DJ Augustin..."are you kidding me"
This is the same organization that traded for Evan Fornier and tried to make him their go-to-guy after they drafted Oladipo[same position](who they traded away for Ibaka who they eventually traded away in less than a season). They traded Harkless to Portland(I said last yr we should've traded for him), for a 2020 2nd round pick...disgusting! It was one of the reasons Scott Skiles quit because he implied he was being told what to do on the bench from up top....sounds familiar huh(Phil/Hornacek/Our Knicks)?
They traded Ibaka for Terrence Ross and a 1st. Decent job with the 1st but why would they then start Terrence Ross over Hezonja when you're a lottery team? Dewayne Dedmon is playing the most minutes of his career on the championship caliber Spurs team but was struggling for 2 1/2 seasons getting lost in the sauce in Orlando. They also let Tobias Harris go for Brandon Jennings and Ersan Illyasova....laughable
I'm not saying Hezonja isn't in the suspect category at the moment but don't place all the blame at his feet. Orlando is a mess right now. They better be glad they have a chance this summer to atone for some of their sins
Actually Hezonja is exactly who we should target because you want to get players before they could uptick with a much higher reward. I have no problem if the Knicks draft Ntilikina as long as they've done adequate homework on him. He's no different than taking a chance on #kporzee. He's similar considering positive physical tools given the position he'd play/need filled. I do prefer others over him though, but I do like what I see from the kid.