The Knicks haven’t had a whole lot of lottery luck in recent years, and that trend continued in 2017. After finishing this season tied for the NBA’s sixth-worst record, New York lost a tiebreaker to the Timberwolves, then slipped one more spot in the lottery, having been leap-frogged by the Kings. As a result, the Knicks will have the No. 8 overall pick in next June’s draft, and team president Phil Jackson isn’t discouraged by that outcome, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post.
“Our opportunity (at) seven could have been 10, so eight we’ll live with,” Jackson said. “I think that we’re good at what we do. We look forward to a young player we’ll be able to draft in that spot.”
As Berman and Ian Begley of ESPN.com detail, Jackson added that the Knicks have needs at the guard and wing positions, so those figure to be areas of focus for the franchise as the draft approaches. Here are more Knicks-related rumors and notes, via Begley:
- Begley identifies De’Aaron Fox, Frank Ntilikina, Dennis Smith Jr., and Malik Monk as prospects the Knicks like in the top 10. Fox will likely be off the board by No. 8, however, and a couple of the others could be as well.
- The Knicks will begin conducting workouts on Wednesday, and a source tells Begley that UNC center Tony Bradley will be among the players getting a look from the team today.
- The Knicks have discussed the possibility of acquiring a second first-round pick in a trade, sources tell Begley. The ESPN scribe notes that some members of the organization like UNC’s Justin Jackson, who will probably be selected somewhere in the middle of the first round.
- Walt Frazier, representing the Knicks at the lottery, offered a couple interesting opinions on the franchise, suggesting that he’d like to see Carmelo Anthony remain in New York. That seems to be at odds with Jackson’s vision. As Begley writes, Frazier also said that he doesn’t expect free agent point guard Derrick Rose to return to New York.