This Thursday convenes one of the biggest days of the year for the NBA, the draft. Both local teams will be looking to vastly improve their teams, with the Knicks drafting at number 6, and the New Jersey Nets drafting at number 10. Here’s who Chad Ford had the Knicks and the Nets zeroing in on in their respective mock drafts.
New York Knicks
Danilo Gallinari
The skinny: Rose was the Knicks’ primary target, but with Gallinari, new head coach Mike D’Antoni lands the perfect weapon for his new team: a 6-10 point forward who knows how to think the game. D’Antoni played with Gallinari’s father in the Italian League for eight years and knows how good the versatile Italian forward really is.
It might not be a popular pick in New York, but D’Antoni will make it work.
D.J. Augustin
The skinny:The Knicks want a lead guard who can push the ball and hit an open jumper. But if Rose, Mayo and Bayless are off the board, they’ll have a tough choice to make.
I had Danilo Gallinari here in the first two versions of this mock draft, thanks to his Italian ties with Mike D’Antoni.
However, a Suns source told me that D’Antoni wasn’t a huge fan of Gallinari when he was shown some tape during the season, which has made me seriously reconsider that forecast.
The Knicks could gamble on one of the next two point guards on the board. D.J. Augustin is a great leader, a fantastic playmaker and the closest thing to Steve Nash in this draft. That will be a plus for D’Antoni. Russell Westbrook is also intriguing. He’s a top-notch athlete, a tenacious defender and an emerging playmaker.
The other choice might be to go with the best player available. In my mind, that would be Anthony Randolph.
Russell Westbrook
Westbrook already worked out in New York, and I hear he was impressive. The team liked the way Westbrook handled himself on the court. His length, speed, athleticism and defense wowed them. And he shot the ball better than expected.
Anthony Randolph
Given the Knicks’ need for talent over position right now, I think they’ll take the best player on the board: Randolph. He can play multiple positions on the floor and give the Knicks some much-needed size and length in the frontcourt.
And here is a few players who Ford had the Nets looking at:
New Jersey Nets
Danilo Gallinari
The skinny: The Nets are looking to make major changes this summer, perhaps via trade, so it’s especially tough to project what they’ll do with their draft picks.
New Jersey is set in the backcourt with Devin Harris and Vince Carter. The Nets are also set at small forward with Richard Jefferson, though sources say he’s on the trading block.
What they need is a talented big man. If the draft plays out as projected above, the Nets will have their choice of two: Danilo Gallinari or Anthony Randolph.
On paper, Randolph looks like the right choice. He is athletic and versatile with a huge upside.
But sources say the Nets are fans of Gallinari and believe he can be a Dirk Nowitzki-type forward. Gallinari’s readiness to play now doesn’t hurt his chances. Given that Gallinari’s agent Arn Tellem told teams that he was pulling Gallinari out of the draft if he didn’t get a commitment in the top 10 picks, I think this appears to be the most logical place for Gallinari to land.
DeAndre Jordan
The skinny: The Nets are looking to make major changes this summer, so it’s tough to project exactly what they’ll do. They are set in the backcourt with Devin Harris and Vince Carter. They’re set at small forward with Richard Jefferson, though sources say he’s on the trading block.
What they need is a dominant low-post player. They’ve had some success with Sean Williams and Josh Boone, but neither has the upside or size of DeAndre Jordan. While he definitely is a work in progress, this is the same position where the Lakers netted Andrew Bynum a few years ago.
Anthony Randolph
The Nets have lacked a super-athletic 4 since Kenyon Martin walked out the door. Randolph has been compared to a young Chris Bosh by some scouts. His combination of length and athleticism is exciting, but he has to get stronger and improve his perimeter game.
Personally, I think there is no question that the Knicks need to draft to improve the point guard position. However, too many of the players in this year’s draft are combo guards or score first point guards, which the Knicks already have in Stephon Marbury/Nate Robinson, so it begs the question on whether the Knicks should just take the best player available, such as a Gallinari or a Randolph. I hope they trade down a few spots and land D.J. Augustin, who in the worst case scenario can do what Charlie Ward used to do for the Knicks.
The Nets on the other hand need some size in the front court. From what I can tell, is that they hope that the Knicks don’t pounce on Gallinari, and they can pick him up at 10. A lot of people seem to love DeAndre Jordan as well, where nbadraft.net had him going as high as five to Memphis. He has the abilities to be similar to Dwight Howard when he first came out of high school to the Magic.
A lot can happen in the next few days, so it will be interesting to see how things turn out.
Filed under: NBA - Knicks, NBA - Nets, Writer - Christian Chiavetta
