A real-time 2020 NBA Draft diary
It’s a yearly tradition like no other — Matthew Miranda’s real-time NBA Draft diary. Relive the suspense, relief, confusion, and more of the Knicks’ night through the eyes of The Strickland’s resident Professor.
8:00
Draft night! Finally! I’ve been feening for this since... when? The end of the season? The months without play? March, when the Knicks last played? October, when last season began and the playoffs were already out of reach? It feels so good just to have something fun going on, for a change.
8:06
Rece Davis says “Since 2007 it’s been a really tough time for the Timberwolves.” 2007 was 13 years ago. 13 years is not “a time.” In NBA time, 13 years is like three generations passing. Klay Thompson is pro’ly out for the year with an Achilles injury. Golden State is having a tough time. Minnesota is poorly run. Tell the truth, Rece.
8:08
We’re able to see LaMelo Ball and his family and friends. LaMelo is literally the only person not wearing a mask. What is this warm milk everyone’s drinking that they can’t be bothered with a minimal precaution during a global pandemic that keeps getting worse? When I watch movies now, it’s weird seeing people acting like what used to be normal. Isn’t that a kind of exhaustion? Is that even any different from what I’m complaining about, then?
Yeah, it is. Projecting my reality onto a work of fiction doesn’t run the risk of sickening or killing someone. Not wearing a mask does. Advantage: projecting.
8:11
The Timberwolves pick Anthony Edwards, who’s flanked on his couch by pictures of his mother and grandmother, who he lost within a few months of each other.
8:15
I’ve heard good things about Malika Andrews, who’s interviewing the players tonight, but something about her talk with Edwards rubs me the wrong way. It’ll hit me later — the problem isn’t Andrews, it’s the role she’s in. It’s a one-note song: mention some tragedy or adversity from each player’s life, ask them how it prepared them for tonight (an odd and ominous juxtaposition, when you think about it — “Hey! You know the deepest and most profound pain you’ve ever known? Tell millions of strangers what happened and how it makes you a better basketballer”), listen while they drone on about working hard. I’m all for gut-wrenching human interest angles, but if you only ever wrench one way you’re gonna hurt yourself. These players have other talents and interests. ESPN shows some of that tonight. It’d be dope to see more.
8:16
Jay Bilas goes into a spiel about how “the only question” there is as far as Edwards succeeding is whether he wants it enough, and I’m 17 again, a first-year music major learning that some of the most prestigious professors deliberately hold students back in what they’ll teach them or expose them to, because the professors consider the students their future competition for jobs and contracts. I know Bilas means it sort of as a compliment — “Edwards is so talented, no one can stop him... except himself” — but it walks and sounds like putting too much weight on someone barely old enough to vote vs. a rich and powerful organization led by a billionaire with a 13-year record of failure. It’s all very Cronus swallowing his children.
8:18
They’re talking about Klay’s injury. It strikes me that the root of Golden State’s fall probably planted during their heyday. Winning is a form of erosion: it requires exposure, and over time exposure equals erasure. Getting to five Finals in a row is dynastic. Thompson’s injury reminds one to appreciate the journey and not fixate on a single outcome. As a 1990s Knicks fan who lives where the Buffalo Bills are king, I re-learn this lesson over and over again.
8:20
OK, ESPN: how you gonna tell the audience James Wiseman’s story and be like “He played three games at Memphis, then withdrew” without mentioning why Wiseman withdrew? The NCAA ruled him ineligible after concluding his high school and college coach, Penny Hardaway, gave Wiseman’s mother $11,500 for moving expenses when the family relocated to Memphis, and that this was a very bad thing. John Calipari has suits more expensive than that thanks to unpaid labor at three universities, but Donzaleigh Wiseman getting help moving is a problem.
8:24
It’s off to Charlotte for LaMelo, who has a huge smile on his face. I keep thinking of LaVar Ball and Michal Jordan meeting for the first time. I can totally see them hitting it off.
8:30
The Bulls pick Patrick Williams. My partner hears my sudden intake of breath and wonders what it’s for. I tell her the truth: I gasped not from surprise at Williams going fourth, but because it’s clear the universe is unfolding so that Obi Toppin is a Knick. It’s so, so obvious.
The word “nachträglichkeit” means “afterwardsness,” a "mode of belated understanding or retroactive attribution of... traumatic meaning to earlier events.” In The Usual Suspects this happens at the end (PSEUDO-SPOILER ALERT; skip to after the video if you don’t want to know), when Keyser Söze’s true identity is revealed. Agent Kujan’s realization of that truth is compounded by another: the sudden, retroactive awareness of the reality he’d been living in without ever recognizing it.
As soon as Adam Silver said “Patrick,” the slow dawn of Toppin’s fall to No. 8 began its burn. It felt like predestination as an out-of-body experience. It didn’t matter who took Isaac Okoro or who didn’t take Deni Avdija — all roads lead to Toppin being a Knick.
8:33
All these people around all these players tonight, not a mask in sight. Father time is undefeated, but COVID’s eight-month winning streak doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon.
8:37
When I was young, I had a recurring dream where I’d find myself in a strange house with many rooms. I had to get out of the house because I knew there was a man in one of the rooms, a bad man who would hurt me. I’d run from room to room, dozens of them, never knowing where I was going or if I was any closer to escape or capture. Every dream ended the same way: me running into this one room that the man was always sitting in, waiting for me.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are that man to me now: a recurring nightmare, one that pops up every lottery and draft night to bring anxiety and horror to my world. When they pick Okoro a part of me dies. The same part that will never really get over losing out on Jonathan Isaac.
8:48
The Pistons choose Killian Hayes. Even though it’s Wednesday night, I’m hit with a full-on case of the Mondays. It’s 100% gonna be Toppin. Two nights ago I tweeted a question that’s been gnawing at me for the past week or so: why did it seem so many Knicks fans were vehemently opposed to the team nabbing Toppin? Why did this one-dimensional talent seem so much easier to walk on by than others? There were convincing arguments against selecting the Brooklyn-born Obi.
Growing half a foot your junior year of high school is rare, but — as was the case with Toppin — it happens. Growing out of your high, tight hips generally does not. A few kind souls pointed me in the direction of Stacy Patton’s terrific piece on the importance of a versatile 4. The logic was clear. I understand the case against Toppin. He isn’t my top choice. Isn’t in my top-three. But I think I know why I’m cool with him, or rather why I’ll choose to be cool with it.
I’ve been following the Knicks on an everyday basis for 30 years. Back in 1991, I used to keep track of every game, recording the dates, final scores, the Knicks’ record after each, what kind of streak they were on, who each game’s MVP was, notes from every game. My brain loves having the Knicks as something to focus on, be it math, narratives, hypotheticals, etc. I enjoy thinking about them maybe even more than watching them (that may be one consequence of watching 20 years of losing basketball). I’ve missed them for over eight months now, which is the longest stretch without them of my life.
So for me, Toppin offers something and someone new. I hear him compared to Julius Randle and Enes Kanter. I get it. But the NBA’s biodiversity has historically been one of its strongest pulls for me. The ‘90s Knicks were the only team at the time with a dominant big man and zero shooting around him. They tried a different approach. It didn’t win them a title, but the stories it led to were worth more. If Toppin peaks in three years and never does more than get knocked out in the first round a couple of times, that will be different; it’ll be a form of progress. One form. One is, at minimum, at least, better than none.
8:49
Coverage shifts to the Knicks. The ESPN boys laugh as the screen shows an old NY Post headline from when Kristaps Porziņģis was traded. That’s the same Porziņģis who had to leave the Mavs’ first-round series against the Clippers to surgically repair the meniscus in his right knee. The same Porziņģis who’ll miss the start of next season recovering from the surgery. The same Porziņģis who has four years and $130 million left on his zero-injury-protections contract with Dallas. Laugh some more, ESPN. The empty can rattles the most.
8:50
They’re talking Haliburton and Vassell for the Knicks. This isn’t my first rodeo. They can’t fool me.
8:53
CUT TO:
INT. BRAINWASHING THE SELF
...toppin can shoot a little, but doesn’t defend well, while mitch can’t shoot but defends; maybe they’ll fit together... could’ve been worse: they didn’t have to trade up for him, at least... anthony davis and scottie pippen had late growth spurts and they’re awesome… with toppin a knick and sabrina ionescu a liberty, nyc has the reigning men’s and women’s wooden and naismith award winners... scoring is a thing, ya know? gotta score points to win... adding a scoring forward allows them to trade randle or knox without depleting their frontcourt of any punch... man, i really wanted okoro…
8:56
It’s hard not to like Toppin watching him interviewed. For the second year in a row the Knicks land a player who actually seems to care about being a Knick.
There is a wondrous, Beatitudinal anaphora to Toppin going around the room announcing someone’s name, then declaring “I wouldn’t be here without [them].”
9:01
After avoiding Twitter for hours, I take a peek.
Gracias, CJ.
9:03
¡Que nachträglichkeit!
9:17
I think Haliburton is the first player taken after Toppin who I would have rather have had. I don’t know how upset I should be, if at all. Okoro, Williams and Hayes were all gone at No. 8. I wasn’t passionate about Vassell. Kira there is a “stretch,” I keep hearing; lotta people were down on Haliburton. What should the Knicks have done differently? Could they have given Atlanta No. 8 and a second to leapfrog Detroit for Hayes? Okongwu would pro’ly have still been there for the Hawks.
9:30
The Celtics get Aaron Nesmith. The Celtics are going to have a better draft than the Knicks, aren’t they?
9:37
Cole Anthony to Orlando seems a good fit. After spending much of the day terrified of the Knicks taking him at 23, then talking myself into all the reasons he’s pro’ly become underrated, I’m ultimately relieved — for Anthony, me and the Knicks.
9:42
My eight-year-old daughter after seeing Adrian Wojnarowski: “He looks like a girl with those giant eyelashes.”
“Out of the mouths of babes…”
9:44
Rochester’s own Isaiah Stewart goes to Detroit at 16. I will soon have a trash plate and a Genny Cream Ale in his honor.
9:57
I’m far more wired to see what New York does with pick 23 than what they did at No. 8. My brain keeps trying to wrap itself around the potential of the Knicks will landing a guard I actually want — Tyrell Terry, Malachi Flynn, RJ Hampton, Grant Riller, and Payton Pritchard are all still available — measured against the seeming inevitability that something will go wrong somehow. My brain is losing.
10:00
Had to pause here. The dogs had to pee, and we just got a second dog who’s so skittish she flinches every time a leaf blows, and will circle an area for three minutes before finally going. A friend of mine texts that he’s never seen so many players cry like they have tonight. “It’s odd,” he writes. “Maybe it’s their generation.” Personally, I love it.
10:18
Tyrese Maxey is my fashion MVP so far, going with an all-gray look.
10:21
LeBron James tweets that Philadelphia “got a good one for sure” in Maxey. No word on what Shabazz Napier or Dennis Smith Jr., two prior LeBron draft endorsements, had to say.
10:22
Zeke Nnaji plays the piano and composes. Thus he is officially my favorite non-Knick of the night.
10:27
There are still six point guards available! Which will the Knicks choose?
10:28
BOLMARO!
Whoa! What a twist — and what a momentum turn. I feel pure joy and warmth with this pick. This is what I imagine Cardinals fans felt like when Albert Pujols homered off Brad Lidge in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2005 NLCS. Houston was right on the doorstep of their first-ever World Series. Until they very much weren’t.
My new dog is suddenly barking in a frenzy of excitement, which got the older dog going too. Bolmaro to the Knicks. Nature is healing.
10:30
What?! The Knicks traded Bolmaro to Minnesota for 25 and 33. Leon Rose turned 27 and 38 into 25 and 33. Maybe there’s a plan after all. MAYBE THERE’S A VISION.
10:32
The moment of the night: after R.J. Hampton is drafted by Milwaukee, a little boy pulls out the wrong hat. A voice off-camera booms its dissent, then a hand grabs the hat and whips it across the room. The little boy is clearly confused about what he did wrong. You’re doing fine, sweetie.
10:34
Turns out Hampton is headed to Denver. Man, Denver is good.
10:35
At 25, the Knicks pick Immanuel Quickley, who is (checks notes) not a point guard. I hear he can shoot, and defend, but he’s like 6-foot-3, so… yay?
10:39
Literally growing ill watching multi-multi-millionaire John Calipari, who’s built a lucrative career for almost 30 years on the backs of unpaid college kids, on TV talking about the need for players to take... what is it? Responsibility? Accountability? I can’t. Fuck that. “You’re betting on yourself,” he says during what feels like a Kentucky infomercial. “You’re not betting on me as a coach. You’re betting on yourself.” Nothing more fake than a guy like Cal talking about how much it’s *not all about him. God spare me this man.
10:42
Pritchard is going to Boston. Props to his people for wearing masks
10:59
Toronto takes Flynn in what feels like goodbye to Fred VanVleet.
11:09
Mark Tatum is a pro’s pro. The dude who always announces the second-round picks makes the same face and brings the same energy to the gig, even with no live crowd. That’s honorable.
11:10
Dallas gets Terry? Man, fuck that team. For real.
11:13
Vernon Carey Jr. goes to Charlotte. like that for them. Later we’ll learn Carey was who the Knicks were eyeing at 33.
11:15
Instead, New York selects Daniel Oturu, apparently the only player in the draft to average 20, 10 and two blocks per. Doesn’t make much sense, but anyone who puts up numbers that bring Patrick Ewing to mind is someone I’ll give some time to.
Or not: Oturu is traded to the Clippers for the Pistons’ second-round pick in 2023, for… reasons, I guess?
11:25
Philadelphia ships Josh Richardson to Dallas in a trade that lands them Seth Curry, meaning Curry is now playing for his father-in-law, Doc Rivers. The NBA: it’s IN-cestuous!
***
So that’s that for this year’s draft diary. I ended the night dazed and confused, with less hope than I felt entering it, but a willingness to stick around and see where it’s all going. Basically, just another day in 2020.
