There’s just 22 games left and the Knicks appear playoff-bound, but the draft still looms as a potential source for talent for years to come. The Strickland’s draft primer series continues.

Welcome back to The Strickland’s early draft preview! If you missed Part 1, you can check it out here, and Part 2 is available here.

Prospects are listed in no particular order; this ain’t a mock or a big board! Almost everyone on this list – and it is a long list, hence breaking it up into multiple parts – has a case to be a lottery guy in a normal, not-too-bad-but-not-too-great year. Which is kind of nuts.

Amen Thompson
6-foot-7
Guard
Overtime Elite
20 years old

Oscar: Amen Thompson is the best basketball athlete of his generation and the best passer in his draft class. Starting off with such an appealing pair of superlatives begs the question: why isn’t this guy rubbing elbows with Scoot and Vic at the top of mock drafts? The problem is that, just like his brother Ausar who we covered in Part 1, Amen is spending his draft year as a soon-to-be 20-year-old beating up on high school-aged (though highly touted) competition in the Overtime Elite league. 

Even still, Amen’s wing size and combination of flexibility, burst, lightning-quick load time, and vertical pop off one or two feet are all truly S-tier athletic traits, making for an overwhelming downhill driver, secondary rim protector, and point-of-attack defender. What truly separates Amen is his craft as a ball handler, often finding and accessing angles that only a select few players in basketball history could dream of attacking. He loves to manipulate defenders as a passer, which is a devasting trait when paired with the massive advantages he generates with his burst. The shot is the obvious question mark, as Amen’s touch from the rim, free throw line, and three all leave much to be desired. If he can put it all together, Amen could be a game-breaking primary creator with All-Defensive team impact on the other end — what his mid tier outcomes look like is a much murkier question. 

Jett Howard
6-foot-8
Wing
Michigan
19 years old

Avinash: Jett Howard is an anomaly. For all intents and purposes, the 6-foot-8 Michigan wing is a guard. The young freshman is one of the best shooters in the country, but more importantly, he blurs the line between connector and tough shotmaker in a way that is never seen at his size. Once upon a time, guys like Joe Johnson regularly plied their trade as gigantic shooting guards, but it is much rarer now in the contemporary NBA.

Jett is a walking mismatch on the perimeter in college, considering his frame and wildly fluid handle and footwork. His skills are enhanced further by his not-so-irrational confidence. Jett is unbothered by closeouts, not simply because of his high release point, but because he genuinely does not care about contests. Employed largely off Miami actions and other second side sets, Jett is such a force because of the sheer schematic versatility his fluidity and shooting touch enable. He scores and shoots in a wide variety of ways, seemingly making it up as he goes. On top of that, if his defender is too close to his hip, Jett can continue to glide all the way to the rim, often for a floater or finger roll, though he’s more smooth than explosive.

On top of all that, he might be the best wing passer in the class, with a 17% assist rate and a bevy of dump off, kick out, and post entry passes often-enabled by the hard perimeter closeouts that he inevitably draws. He rarely turns it over. So why isn’t he some top-five god-level wing prospect? Well, we mentioned he is basically a guard — that probably holds true on defense, too. As a young freshman, he sometimes shies away from contact defending, on the glass, and at the rim. If he’s guarding guards… well, that requires a lot of speed for someone his size, and speed and explosion are not among his many gifts.

Jarace Walker
6-foot-8
Forward
Houston
19 years old

Oscar: Jarace Walker is a versatile 6-foot-8 forward with a ton of different development pathways to NBA value. As a senior at IMG Academy high school, he took on a role as a jumbo creator, flashing impressive (though inconsistent) passing on the move, handling dexterity, and touch in the midrange. His craft as a driver is rare for a 240-pounder, although he isn’t always as proactive in leveraging his wide frame as he should be. On a veteran Houston squad with two established guard creators, Jarace has scaled down to a connector role, while carrying over his high impact as a secondary rim protector and havoc creator on defense. His warts as a finisher have magnified in this new role, although his newfound high volume from three is a welcome sight. Jarace’s impressive combination of length, strength, coordination, and touch is a toolbox that has historically returned lottery value. The Knicks certainly don’t need another 4 on the roster, but Jarace is an intriguing combination of high-floor role player bet and star gamble that could be going much higher if privy to a more flattering college context. 

Kyle Filipowski
6-foot-11
Center
Duke
19 years old

Mo: At 6-foot-11 with a terrific skill set, Kyle Filipowski is one of the more intriguing players in the 2023 draft. He can score in different ways, bullying mismatches and like-size guys in the post, putting the ball on the floor, and shooting the three. While the shooting numbers don't look so great, the shot is fluid and he is still putting them up. Another reason to buy his shot is that he is shooting 79.8% from the line on almost 5 free throws per game. Filipowski can also handle it — running the break and grab-and-gos are all likely, especially when you add that he is a really good passer from a standstill and also on the move.

While the offensive vision and skillset are more obvious, the defense leaves a lot of questions, like what position does he defend? Can he switch? What is his best pick-and-roll coverage? He plays hard and has good length and size, which is a good starting point. This isn't to say that he has been a bad defender in college, but the NBA is an entirely different ball game. If he can give some semblance of an answer to most or all questions before the draft, then Filipowski is sure to hear his name in the late teens or early 20s.

Jalen Hood-Schifino
6-foot-6
Guard
Indiana
19 years old

Prez: A 6-foot-6 five-star recruit point guard joins former Knicks head coach Mike Woodson at Indiana. The biggest questions about his game are about his jump shot. He entered February well above 40% from three on decent volume and variety. So why aren’t we talking about Jalen Hood-Schifino? 

He’s not the most explosive, and he can be inefficient, but his tremendously strong handle and good size let him be a very steady, very strong game manager and combo guard. He’s as comfortable on the ball as off it too, now that he can shoot. He can defend guards and wings, and does a lot of little things well on both ends of the ball by setting screens, rebounding, and being aware off-ball on defense. He may not elevate above the rim, and he may get a little too comfortable throwing up floaters or tough shots in the paint, but his package of skills in savvy means he will likely be in the NBA a long time, even if his NBA destiny remains an open question while teams figure out how to best utilize his versatility.

Leonard Miller
6-foot-10
Wing
G League Ignite
19 years old

Prez: Leonard Miller was a Canadian mystery man who suddenly became eligible for last year’s draft and caused waves in the scouting community in the process. At 6-foot-10 with fluid movement, legitimately strong ball handling and passing and one of the funkiest shots you’ll ever see, he was among the most interesting and tools-iest guys in last year’s draft. Playing in the NBA Draft Combine, however, exposed him as woefully behind in his basketball education, as he plied his trade in pretty normal Canadian high school leagues where his size alone made him impossible to guard. He pulled out of the draft, weighed a variety of options including attending college in the US, and decided on joining the G League Ignite. 

On the Ignite, he has been able to immerse himself in high-level organized ball, and has plugged along averaging 16 points, grabbing a solid amount of rebounds, and sometimes even playing point guard for them when Scoot Henderson was unavailable due to injury. He enters this draft with questions about his jump shot, questions about whether the reality of Leonard Miller is equal to the idea of Leonard Miller, and undeniable talent and feel for the game — all while remaining one of the youngest prospects.

Kris Murray
6-foot-8
Forward
Iowa
22 years old

Kurt: Elite play finishing Iowa forward K. Murray is looking to build off a stellar year and work his way into lottery contention – wait a minute, wrong Murray! Kris Murray, identical twin to Kings forward Keegan Murray, has had a BLISTERING start to this year scoring 20 points per game on 50/38/80 splits from the field. He is also pulling down 10.8 rebounds a game and averaging just under a block a game. He can score from just about anywhere on the court. He doesn’t create an avalanche of size and strength mismatch buckets,  but he is more than happy to collect junkyard buckets, on cuts and in transition, and to shoot the lights out of any gym he enters. Whether he’s asked to hit a spot-up three, come off curls like a guard for movement threes, battle centers in the post, attack closeouts as a complementary player or backdoor cut unsuspecting defenders, Kris is game. He had big shoes to fill with the departure of Keegan, but he seems to be up to the challenge. Kris may be among the older first round prospects at 22 years old — the same age as our own RJ Barrett — but that only makes him more ready to plug and play once he enters the NBA.

Rayan Rupert
6-foot-6
Guard
New Zealand Breakers (NBL)
18 years old

Kurt: Rayan Rupert is a young French guard that has gotten better every year he has played professional basketball. He has improved as a shooter and scorer yearly, which is more intriguing when you consider he is 6-foot-7 with a 7-foot-3 wingspan. A hot start in the NBL on the Breakers — the same team that employed LaMelo Ball and Josh Giddey — had his numbers looking gaudy prior to an injury. That being said, he is one of the youngest in the class and still will need a lot of work to develop into more than just a theory.  

As for play style, he looks to be fairly active when it comes to rebounding, so I see a lot of potential for an energetic, oversized grab-and-go type guard who can flip the court off a miss. His shot release looks slow, but clean. He has long arms, so it might not be a massive issue shooting from a spot-up position, but I see a tough path to him being an iso scorer. However, offense isn’t his calling card. On defense he is tenacious, and in international play for France that has been his trademark. He is an absolute hound on the ball, and it is hard to not be intrigued just by watching him move on the court. I am going to be interested to see how the remainder of his first season in the NBL goes, because it is a step up in competition compared to what he has been playing in prior to that in France, and prospects who can put up numbers in the NBL have done well in the NBA so far.