New York Knicks: Lottery Nightmare Realized

The New York Knicks were the subject of a cruel practical joke on Tuesday night during the NBA Draft Lottery.

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Slated with the second-best odds to obtain the first overall pick, Knicks faithful and scornful Knicks haters were braced to either rejoice or squirm with the idea that New York would land its first top pick since the days of Patrick Ewing in 1985. And then suddenly, it all was not meant to be.

The Knicks were leapfrogged by the freaking Los Angeles Lakers en route to being handed the fourth pick in the draft. I’m sure Laker fans could hear the groan from Steve Mills in Los Angeles.

In hindsight, the Knicks probably did not deserve to get the first overall pick. They were an absolute travesty to watch this season and show no promise for the future other than a hobbled Melo and an empty shelf of cap space.

I’m happy that an up and coming young roster like the T’Wolves were able to come out with the first overall pick. They actually have the looks of a team that has a sense of direction and a clue.

They aren’t going to be on relying on a jumped-the-shark Phil Jackson throwing his rings down on a table in front of DeMarre Carroll this summer so they can overpay him by about $7 million per year.

DeMarre, I hope you familiarize yourself with the geometric properties of a triangle. I would have this scene from Like Mike playing on a loop the whole summer if I were you:

It is unfortunate for all fans that we are going to lose out on three weeks of debating whether or not Jahlil Okafor or Karl-Anthony Towns had the bigger caboose that met Jackson’s billing.

And we sure as hell know that Jackson doesn’t know any of the prospects outside of the top two or three, so Knicks fans everywhere have to frantically be wandering the streets wondering what is going to happen next.

You think Jackson even believes Emmanuel Mudiay is a real player? “He’s no Alexey Shved or Jose Calderon,” is what he would probably say, as he rolls his eyes and snickers while he scribes a new tweet.

The Knicks getting the fourth pick really opens the door for some crazy scenarios to occur. There is a slight possibility that Jackson falls in love with Frank Kaminsky and pegs him as the “next generation’s Pau Gasol” (when he is really the next Andrea Bargnani) and decides to nab him with the pick instead of gaining another asset by trading down a few slots.

I can see Pat Riley rubbing his hands together in his office now scheming a way to get the fourth pick away from Jackson while simultaneously keeping his core intact.

It’s going to happen, so don’t act surprised when it does.

Losing out on the top pick sent Twitter ablaze for a 15-minute stretch. It was like watching the Warriors when they go on one of those blitzkrieg scoring runs that sends Oracle Arena into a near volcanic eruption, only every tweet was a Stephen Curry three-point dagger right into the Knicks’ heart.

The Knicks were the punchline of a running joke all throughout the 2014-15 season. It only made sense that the same narrative continued on Tuesday night.

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