In a year where the draft is more unpredictable than ever, Prez breaks down those likeliest to go top-10

The 2024 NBA draft – interesting? Or anti-climactic? Depends who you ask. 

First, let’s rip the band-aid off: There is no obvious Luka, Zion or Wemby in this class. There is also no obvious Chet, Paolo, Ja, Jaren, Mobley, Cade, Scoot or Amen. This class begins with the type of players who usually follow those prospects, anywhere in the 5-10 range in a normal year. In this class, those are the top dogs. 

That begs the question: does that mean the 10th pick in 2024 is like a normal 15th-20th pick? Does that mean the 20th pick is like a second-rounder in a normal draft? I don’t believe that’s the case – fortunately for our 25th-, 26th- and 38th-picking Knicks. 

In my amateur estimation, while the top tiers of this class are nonexistent, the ‘’middle-class’’ – guys you may normally rank 20-30 – is gigantic, probably around 20 players long, at least. So regardless of the quality of the top-10 in the class, the Knicks’ brass has a big pool to pick from at the end of the first round and beginning of the second. In their quest to find the next Deuce, IQ, or Mitch there’s many players who might fit the bill, and that’s why The Strickland is bringing you more player profiles than ever in 2024. 

As a refresher, the Knicks traded out of the last two classes after drafting Deuce McBride, Quentin Grimes, Rokas Jokubaitis and Jericho Sims three years ago. And after the most successful Knicks playoff run since the ‘90s, there’s an argument that rookies won’t do much to help them in a playoff series next year or even the year after that. So it’s entirely reasonable to predict that they will be trading out of this draft.

However, if the Knicks do have a consolidation trade coming for a superstar in the next two years, they’ll need young players — either to include or to fill out the bench in the trade’s aftermath. Additionally, they still lack a true backup point guard, an effective third center and a bench wing with height and athleticism. So who to pick?

Is it a big man to replace an eventually-outgoing Mitchell Robinson? To replace Jericho Sims and Precious Achiuwa as the understudies? A ball-handler to give the bench a pick-and-roll maestro and let Deuce cook as a shooting guard? A wing to give us a backup option with size when OG Anunoby is inevitably hurt? More shooting to replace the injured and aging Bojan Bogdanović? We’ll get into those possibilities for the Knicks in time.

For now, let’s look at that aforementioned top of the draft. Even though the chance of the Knicks grabbing these prospects is next to zero, it’s still fun to prognosticate over their projections.

Possible top-5 picks

Alex Sarr: Sarr is the latest magical Frenchman prospect, a skinny, rangy, lanky 7-foot-1 marvel who covered swaths of the court by himself on defense for the Perth Wildcats of Australia’s NBL. Despite a raw skillset on offense, he finds his way into buckets simply by having a knack for being in the right place at the right time and being bigger and more mobile than almost anyone he plays against. With a developing but solid jumper, Sarr is the kind of prospect who has many different paths to being impactful.

Donovan Clingan: UConn’s two-time champion big man is a 7-foot-3 force of nature on defense, more agile than smaller bigs and much bigger than more agile centers. He’s also an incredible passer and a possible high-post facilitator in the tradition of Marc Gasol or Isaiah Hartenstein. His path to being a truly high-impact center is both simple and highly likely. 

Reed Sheppard: Kentucky’s freshman phenom combo guard shot over 50% from three and all his statistical indicators are through the roof. Although hampered by being only 6-foot-3, his mix of elite shooting, touch scoring skills and legitimately impactful athleticism give him a clear path to impactful offense. We’ve seen many plus-feel/plus-shooting prospects flourish over the last few years, and judging from mock drafts NBA GMs are finally taking the hint.

Nikola Topić: The latest Serbian sensation, Topić is a teenage point guard with wing size and major downhill burst. His production versus adults in the Adriatic League was phenomenal. He carved through their defenses and scored efficiently while setting up teammates using his gravity, all without even hitting many threes. When the jumper comes around, he’s going to be very tough for opposing guards to defend.

Zaccharie Risacher: A 6-foot-9 springy and light-footed Frenchman, Risacher projects to be a versatile shooting weapon who can also defend guards. He really has a great feel for where to be on both ends of the floor. While he doesn’t project to be a initiator scoring wing, he is an easy plug-and-play prospect who profiles as the kind of guy you want in your trenches during the playoffs.

Other top-10 favorites

Matas Buzelis: A tall, skinny forward who in high school was a highly-touted versatile scoring initiator who shot the shit out of the ball. On the dysfunctional G-League Ignite, he was a defense-first forward until Ron Holland got hurt and Buzelis got to show more of his shot-creation chops. 6-foot-10 guys who might shoot, defend the rim, switch onto other wings and dime off are easy picks for GMs. 

Dalton Knecht: Tennessee’s Alpha and Omega, one of the top-two scorers in college basketball. Knecht was a true five-level volume scorer, able to hit normal threes and deep ones, score above the rim, in the midrange and from the free-throw line. He excels spotting up without the ball, in transition, and handling in the pick-and-roll, a truly versatile scorer. And at 23, general managers won’t have to wait a few years for him to be ready to roll.

Ron Holland: The Ignite’s main gun was miscast as a 30-usage primary initiator despite being only 18. He was admirably productive – albeit inefficient – thanks to his size, speed, strength and athleticism as a slasher with burgeoning handles, along with his tremendous defensive motor. In the NBA, he profiles more as a supplementary jackknife wing who is hard to keep out of the paint. But the upside for more is still there.

Rob Dillingham: How good does a skinny 6-foot-2 guard have to be on offense to be a top pick in the NBA? They have to be an elite pick-and-roll operator, an elite shot creator and shooter, and an elite passer with elite ball-handling. Dilly checks off all those boxes . . . but is all that enough to overcome his short stature and 165-pound frame? We’ll see! 

Stephon Castle: A young, technically gifted and extremely high-feel wing who helped UConn to a second championship, Castle has impressed with his productivity in spite of a poor jumpshot and without being an initiator. If he ever gets his jumper right and fulfills the initiator trajectory he was on in high school, he’ll be a force. 

That’s the top portion. Chances are the Knicks won’t be walking away with any of those guys, so I got them out of the way early. Over the next three weeks, I’ll be zeroing in on the guys the Knicks *do* have a decent shot at taking – and trust me, there’s plenty. 

One last note: for the first time in The Strickland’s history, this year’s draft coverage will have a second home: r/nyknicks. Keep an eye out for daily prospect breakdowns and discussions in the weeks leading up to the draft. We’re kicking things off with an NBA Draft AMA (ask-me-anything, for those not familiar with Reddit lingo) Wednesday afternoon, opening up to questions around 1:30 pm EST. I’ll get in my chair and start answering when I get back from work around 6 p.m.