2022 Strickland Knicks-specific NBA Draft Big Board 1.0 roundtable
After much deliberation and film study, the Strickland’s first Knicks-specific big board of the 2022 NBA Draft cycle is here, right in time for the NCAA Tournament. A panel of Strickland draft writers got together to analyze the results of their first team exercise of this draft cycle.
What surprised you most about the results?
Stacy Patton: We’ve all been drinking the Alondes Williams Kool-Aid. I also feel like we are collectively a bit low on Keegan Murray, and maybe a bit too high on Shaedon Sharpe. He’s a tantalizing talent, but I wonder if we are underrating the versatility and shotmaking AJ Griffin has shown, as well as Johnny Davis’ creation ability and defense.
Prez: I seem to have forgotten my son Dyson Daniels in my calculations. MY BAD, EVERYONE! He would have scored really highly, slotting in between Kendall Brown and TyTy Washington at the edge of the lottery. I am also surprised Jean Montero, JD Davison, and Kennedy Chandler held on and made it to the end of the first. I know the Knicks draft community has collectively shunned this year’s point guard class (aside from Alondes) despite us not having a rEaL PoInT GuArD, but it appears we couldn’t lock the point guards out completely.
Alex (Draft Film School): I am going to pile on and SHAME Prez for messing up the calculation and excluding my guy Dyson Daniels. Other than that, I think Murray is probably a little too low, but in our defense, we did submit the rankings before the Big Ten Tournament run. But still, him being below a guy like Tari Eason at the same/similar position was a bit surprising.
Oscar: Paolo Banchero at fourth felt a little harsh to me. Building around two power forwards can be borderline impossible, and it seems like we’re unfortunately stuck with Julius Randle for the near future. Still, an offensive talent of Banchero’s caliber is rare, and his rapid growth as a shooter from his early AAU days suggests that a “no one saw it coming” nuclear shooting development à la KAT or Jayson Tatum could be in the cards for him as well. I think Paolo is suffering from “prospect fatigue” — we’re so used to hearing him near the top of the draft that some have began to fade him.
Tyrese London: I’m surprised at how we’ve all placed the “traditional” point guards in this draft lower than the consensus. We’ve also all adopted Alondes as a son, which I find to be incredible synergy from us. Great job, guys. EJ Liddell also getting some love from the squad, I’ve become a big fan of him during the cycle.
Team-specific boards are a funny exercise. Were there any guiding principles that informed your approaches? As in any factors that made your Knicks-specific rankings different from a general big board, or another team’s big board?
Stacy: I came in probably lower on TyTy than I would have for a different team. He is a good guard prospect, but he’s very redundant with the Knicks’ other guys as a 6-foot-3 guy who doesn’t put a ton of pressure on the rim. He’s a good passer, but not elite. He’s a terrific midrange shooter, but maintaining that efficiency at NBA level is a question, as is his whether he can extend that range to volume 3-point pull-up shooting. Definitely an interesting player, but between Immanuel Quickley, Deuce McBride, and Rokas Jokubaitis, the Knicks already have a lot of those skills on board.
Alex: Honestly? Not really. Mainly because point guard is the glaring hole on the Knicks’ roster, and there aren’t any legit difference-makers at point guard in this draft (after Ivey, if you envision him as such). I think I did have some centers higher on the Knicks board than my generic one just given the Mitch situation.
Oscar: I didn’t incorporate any blanket philosophies into my board (“no bigs!” “we need a point guard!” etc.), but there were specific prospects that I faded or raised due to team fit. TyTy will get linked to the Knicks up until draft day just because of the Kentucky connection, but he makes no sense for this roster. If the Knicks do take a guard, he has to pressure the rim and bend defenses off the dribble; that’s New York’s biggest weakness offensively, and another shot making-based guard (along with Quickley, Quentin Grimes, and even Deuce to an extent) is not what this young core needs. TyTy is a good player, and there’s absolutely teams out there who should value him as a lotto pick, but he’s just not the right guy for us.
Tyrese: I don’t think my process changed much overall. The Knicks have a roster that has talent all across the board, even if it hasn’t been optimized as much as it could’ve this year. The big thing they’re missing is a point guard, and I don’t consider this draft to be the draft that the Knicks can find a point guard prospect capable of solving the 50-year curse of being the “point guard of the future,” which basically gave me the freedom to evaluate the prospects based on how they would fulfill the criteria of best player available.
We did this right before the conference tournaments and March Madness. Do you have any immediate regrets from your personal rankings?
Stacy: I was too low on Murray, and perhaps a tad too high on Liddell. Liddell has the skillset to, in theory, be a PJ Tucker- or even Xavier Tillman-type defender, but he has shown some inexplicable lapses on that end despite being a high motor player overall. Being a Tucker type means those lapses in effort and/or focus can NEVER happen.
Prez: I echo the Keegan stuff. I don’t really have a good reason for having him lower on a Knicks board than Tari (whom i love), aside from maybe preferring Tari’s athleticism. Keegan’s really showing out.
Alex: I think Kennedy Chandler deserves more love. I had him at 30 for this exercise and think that’s probably at least 5 spots too low. I get the size concerns but he just produces time and time again. He just lead Tennessee to win the SEC Tournament and think he’ll have some big moments in the NCAA Tournament.
Tyrese: I feel like I could’ve been a tad higher on Max Christie. Keegan ended up outside the top 10 on my board, but I don’t know who I’d move out of the top 10 to make room for him. I’ve been invested in Mathurin since last cycle and have taken a real shine to Johnny Davis and those are the guys I have immediately before Keegan. It may simply be an “eye of the beholder” thing. He’s absolutely hooping, though.
Who are your favorite guys for the Knicks as of now OUTSIDE the top 4?
Stacy: Johnny Davis, AJ Griffin, Shaedon Sharpe, Bennedict Mathurin, and Keegan Murray.
Alex: Johnny Davis, AJ Griffin, Shaedon Sharpe, Bennedict Mathurin, and Dyson Daniels.
Prez: Shaedon Sharpe, AJ Griffin, Johnny Davis, and Tari Eason.
Tyrese: Shaedon Sharpe, AJ Griffin, Bennedict Mathurin, and Tari Eason.
The Knicks likely won’t have a second first round pick, but if they DID acquire a non-lotto first in addition to their high pick, who’s the one guy you would want them to pick?
Stacy: John Butler. He’s 7-foot-1 with shot blocking skills a smooth jump shot with range to three (39% on 8.2 3PA per 100) and the mobility to guard wings. He has also shown flashes of putting the ball on the floor, going coast-to-coast, and/or pulling up for jumpers. Let him marinate and gain strength for a year or two and the upside as a versatile matchup nightmare who can offer weak-side rim protection and switch-ability is worth it in the late first.
The Knicks have done a good job of identifying immediate contributors and plus players (Quickley, Grimes, to a lesser extent Sims) and now have a ton of solid young players. Let’s take a home run swing on a project with massive upside.
Prez: I’m of a similar bent to Stacy on this… though maybe go for a double instead of a home run. I really like what the Knicks did with Rokas — picking a stash with upside in a competitive league who you have optionality with, and who you trust to develop in Europe if need be. Along those lines, i’d really like the Knicks taking my large French son Ismael Kamagate. He’s a “Walt Perrin big’’ as a rim runner shot blocker with great length and hops, but he has a bit of touch in the midrange and at the free throw line, and is a bit older at 21. I think this is a DEEP center draft, so other guys will end up going before him, and you can snag him later than you normally would — and you can keep him in Paris for a year if need be.
I’m giving myself extra bars because I truly do think they should also take a long look at picking Alondes Williams. Wake Forest got upset in the ACC Tournament and excluded from the big dance after he won ACC Player of the Year. Aside from the lilliputian Kennedy Chandler, there’s no other guard who credibly gets downhill like Alondes, so he’s absolutely worth a flier, similar to what the Knicks did with Deuce as an upside swing last year.
Alex: If the Patrick Baldwin Jr. slide actually happens on draft night, I am absolutely eying him if the Knicks do end up trading up into the back half of the first.
Tyrese: Wendell Moore. He just feels like a guy who can be competent at everything at the NBA level. Good shooter, good passer, solid defender with active hands, and incredibly scalable. You can never have too many of those guys on your team.
Any guesses as to what the front office is gonna focus on this in this draft? Last year it was clearly getting guys who could shoot, and shoot in different ways from different places.
Alex: This team is oddly deep, but also not good, so it’s tough to tell what the front office is thinking for this draft. Lead guard is the obvious weak point, but there just aren’t those guys in this draft. I think a big wing defender is an area they may look to add. Aside from RJ Barrett, they don’t really have another guy like that (unless they think Cam can do it?). Tari Eason and Kendall Brown are two guys that could make sense for them in that regard.
Tyrese: If they end up keeping the pick, which I’m not fully convinced they will, I think they end up taking the best prospect available. That will likely be a wing of some kind, since the guards in this draft are not super prevalent. They could throw a wild card in and take a center, but I can’t see this front office investing a high draft pick and subsequent development time into what would ultimately be their opening night center when there are centers likely available for trade this summer.
Prez: I’m gonna say they’d like to pick someone very athletic, who can also shoot. The Knicks don’t really have anyone who can do both of those things, at any position.
