The New York Knicks must emphasize building through the draft

While the New York Knicks have a lot of questions that need answers, one area that the team needs to focus on is the draft.

The NBA Draft is a crapshoot. It’s all about evaluating the talent and assessing whether or not that player will improve your team or not. Most recently, the New York Knicks took a shot on former Duke star RJ Barrett with the third overall pick.

Now, it’s no question that the Knicks, like most franchises, have been hit or miss when developing their own talent. In recent years, the team has hit on the likes of Kristaps Porzingis, Mitchell Robinson, and Tim Hardaway Jr. In these particular instances, the Knicks hit and hit hard.

In other cases, the Knicks have not been as fortunate. In particular, guys like Kevin Knox and Frank Ntilikina have not panned out as well. Now, these two are still very young and have loads of potential, so let’s not write them off just yet. The point here is that the Knicks simply have not had a ton of opportunities to build through the draft.

In addition, the Knicks haven’t had a ton of first-round picks to go around. New York has had a first-round pick in only six of the last ten NBA Drafts. This is primarily because of deals the Knicks made where they sent their draft picks away to other teams. For instance, the Knicks made a deal with the Denver Nuggets back in 2011 that sent Carmelo Anthony and others to the Big Apple in exchange for a massive package which included the Knicks 2014 first-round pick. That pick, after some other trades made by Denver, became Dario Saric.

Now, the Carmelo era in New York ultimately ended up failing, but at the time, I can’t think of a GM that wouldn’t have done that trade. But it’s important to establish that the Knicks mortgaged their future and it failed. That could be attributed to poor coaching, bad ownership, or even terrible management post-Melo acquisition. But, now that the team has brought in a new head coach in Tom Thibodeau and a new team president in Leon Rose, the Knicks should focus their energy on building through the draft.

Obviously, the Knicks are constantly reported in the rumor mills as candidates to acquire Chris Paul or Victor Oladipo, and that’s all well and good. But, a team like the Knicks needs to build its core before it can even consider bringing in a big name talent. Let’s be real, what would Chris Paul do for this team, especially at his age. Yes, the Knicks would likely contend for a lower-tier seed in the Eastern Conference, but that’s not enough.

What happens once Paul retires? Sure, Paul’s contract expires in 2022 and that’s all well and good. But, haven’t the Knicks learned that mortgaging your future only leads to underachieving? It’s time for the Knicks to take a fresh approach. The team needs to protect its interests by retaining their assets and using them to help bring in quality talent. They need to learn to develop their own pieces.

Teams like the Denver Nuggets and the Boston Celtics have been well-known for hitting on guys in the draft. Those players end up making a big difference down the line. The Knicks have the tools to build a quality culture if they are willing to stay the course. Soon enough, the Knicks might find themselves a Jamal Murray or a Jayson Tatum in the draft.

Short-sightedness causes more harm than good. For a team that has been behind the eight-ball for the better part of a decade, it’s time to change the team’s overall philosophy. Under new leadership, the New York Knicks have what it takes to build a contender. It all starts with the eighth overall pick.