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New York Knicks: Towns First On Draft Board

ByOwen Sanborn|
Mar 28, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Kentucky Wildcats forward Karl-Anthony Towns (12) is guarded by Notre Dame Fighting Irish forward Zach Auguste (30) during the first half in the finals of the midwest regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 28, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Kentucky Wildcats forward Karl-Anthony Towns (12) is guarded by Notre Dame Fighting Irish forward Zach Auguste (30) during the first half in the finals of the midwest regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Knicks finished with the second worst record in the NBA, losing out by one game to the Minnesota Timberwolves. As we have learned in the past with the draft lottery, having the best odds is no certainty that you are going to land the top overall pick by no means.

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As a matter of fact, the last team to have the best odds (25 percent) of getting No. 1 and actually get the pick was the Orlando Magic in 2004.

2004!

The moral of the story is to not worry Knicks fans, being stuck in the second position may actually be a better spot after all.

If not, David Stern will come back as commish for one day and rig the lottery for you as he did in 1985 in order to restore order in New York basketball by handing the Knicks another big man a la Patrick Ewing, it is still likely that they end up with a high pick anyway. If New York somehow falls out of the top four, Phil Jackson may start plotting his way out of town immediately.

This is a possible transcript of a Skype video call (you know Phil is in L.A. right now) between Steve Mills and Phil Jackson after the draft lottery:

Mills: Hey Phil, we got the fifth pick. 

Jackson: What?

Mills: We got the fifth pick, Phil. You scouted other players besides Towns and Okafor, right?

Jackson: (Sips on a glass of chardonnay) Uhh, yeah. (Starts cracking newspapers off screen)

Uhh Steve, yeah I think our connection is poor. I’m going to have to give you a call back. 

Mills: Phil I am staring at you through this screen and can see your hand moving towards those newspapers. That trick hasn’t worked since the early ’90s. 

Jackson: (Starts pointing to his ears and mouthing words) I can’t, I can’t hear you.

Mills: Oh, my god. 

According to ESPN, the Knicks have revealed their draft board and the lucky son of a gun atop of it is Karl-Anthony Towns. This is no surprise really, as Jackson has been adamant about wanting to surround the team with a more defensive culture that is more reflective of late ’90s brand of basketball that the Knicks currently showcase (I added that last little part).

Towns would indeed be a great get for the Knicks as he is a more active, and the general consensus is that he boasts a higher upside than his one dimensional counterpart, Jahlil Okafor. I would guess that the higher upside thought correlates with Towns’ defensive abilities as he blocked nearly a full shot per game more than Okafor.

Additionally, Towns may just be a better fit with the way Carmelo Anthony intends to run the offense once he comes back full healthy. Towns doesn’t necessarily need the ball in his hands constantly to produce offense. He is capable of running some pick and roll action and scrapping for loose balls around the glass for second-chance opportunities.

His post game currently isn’t as well-rounded as Okafor’s (who I compare to Brook Lopez), but it may not need to be when you already have Melo taking 10 or more isolation shots per game.

Plus, he is capable of doing things like this:

Another thought for the Knicks is to go after a young point guard to take the reins from the immortal Alexey Shved and Jose Calderon before he got injured (I actually think Langston Galloway has some staying power on this roster).

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    • D’Angelo Russell is flying under the radar right now after his underwhelming showing in the NCAA tournament, but he is one of those players that has skills that translate better to the pro game than the slow and methodical college game.

    Emmanuel Mudiay — an intriguing guard prospect that is thought to resemble Russell Westbrook — and Justise Winslow — a cross between Jimmy Butler and James Harden — may still be on the board when the Knicks are on the clock.

    The NBA is very much turning into a guard’s league. If anything else, this year’s MVP race has shown us that. If I were Jackson, I may even consider neglecting traditional NBA thought and bypassing both bigs to select my favorite player out of the trio mentioned above. 

    There are so many different variables to consider when making a decision of this magnitude. Draft position, workouts, free agency and the trade market are just a few that come to mind right off the bat. Jackson is going to have to weigh all of these variables and pull the trigger on something big get some juice back into the Big Apple. 

    For now the answer is reportedly Towns for Jackson. It will be interesting to see if that answer changes in the upcoming months. 

    Next: NBA: 50 Greatest Players Of All Time

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