The Knicks are armed with a myriad of options, which is the takeaway from Tuesday night’s lottery reveal in midtown Manhattan. New York received the No. 4 overall selection in this year’s NBA Draft and the franchise will now devise a game plan to pick an impact prospect or execute a trade to acquire more picks or current players to enhance the roster.
“We feel really good about this pick,” Knicks general manager Steve Mills reacted following the Lottery. “We felt that in this draft we could have gotten a good player with any pick one through five. We went into this very optimistic and we will remain that way.”
He added, “We still have exceptions that we can use between now until the Draft. We’re talking to teams about a lot of different things, so we’re open to looking at different opportunities to continue to improve our team.”
The talent located at the top of this year’s Draft will present the Knicks with some intriguing players. Draftexpresss.com has New York selecting the explosive power guard Emmanuel Mudiay with the No. 4 pick in their most recent mock draft. Ohio State guard D’Angelo Russell, the ultra-athletic Mario Hezonja, Kentucky’s big man Willie Cauley-Stein, and the two-way forward Justise Winslow could all be in play for the Knicks on June 25.
“I think this pick is complementary to where we’re going, with a guy like Carmelo [Anthony] in place, and what we plan on doing with the $28 million we have in cap space,” Mills stated.
New York’s front office may elect to take a guard or forward if the two big men (Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor) are off the board on draft night. The draft pick decision could also be a reflection of the Knicks direction in free agency considering the abundance of big men on the market.
“It will have a big impact,” Mills answered. “What kind of guys we think will move in free agency and make our draft plans accordingly.
Over the next month, the team will hold workouts for potential draft picks while also evaluating restricted and unrestricted free agents to chase on July 1. Numerous options are on the table for the Knicks, it’s just a matter of time to find out who will don the orange and blue.