Knicks NBA Draft Primer: Should the Knicks Actually Use Their Picks This Year?

Knicks NBA Draft Primer: Should the Knicks Actually Use Their Picks This Year?

welcome in to locked on Nicks and welcome in to draft season that’s right the season is over you know we’ve had enough time to mourn it’s time to get into the draft primer and I’ve got some great guests to do it with today you are locked on Nicks your daily New York Nicks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day [Music] all right welcome in to locked on Nicks and I want to remind you today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on MBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply and I want to thank you guys for making locked on N first listen today and every day whether you’re checking us out on your favorite podcast platform or taking in the sits and sounds on YouTube we appreciate you making us a part of your daily routine make sure you hit that Auto download function on your favorite podcast app or the notification Bell YouTube so you never miss an episode because it might be the offseason but we’re still here for you guys five days a week no rest no offseason for us it’s still the on season as far as we’re concerned but the best part of the off season as we all know is draft time you know we’ve had a little time to process the playoff loss you know game seven all that stuff but you know they were injured it’s fine they’ll beat the Pacers next year the Pacers got their butts handed to them it was you know it was it was cathartic in its own little way but now it’s time to start talking about the draft because the Knicks have three draft picks in this coming draft and I think there’s a decent chance they’re going to use at least one of them finally we might finally have a rookie on the Knicks after two long years of not making a draft pick so I brought on some great guests to talk about that with today no better two guys that I could think of to do the initial draft primer to give you guys some guys to think about then uh Corey tulba and Albert gim from No Ceilings one of my favorite draft coverage websites uh I’ve got these two guys on this episode this turned into a three-parter I went in thinking oh this will probably be about two parts there was three parts it was a huge huge episode that we did but we start off talking about just the philosophy of this draft the is this truly a quote bad draft which it’s being touted as by a lot of people that it’s like there’s not a lot of top end Talent you’re GNA struggle to scrape out good NBA players out of this draft but Cory and Albert don’t really think so and we sort of talk about that and the philosophy for the Knicks what they should be looking to do in this draft so I won’t hold this up any further let’s get right into it with Corey and Albert right now all right as promised it is draft season and it’s time for a Knicks draft primer and I couldn’t think of any two guys that I would rather bring on than my two buddies from No Ceilings here we’ve got Albert gim and Corey tulba you might know him from the draft podcast that’s like dollar sign DRFT With No Ceilings uh which is in my opinion the cool it it no matter what you think about everybody’s takes or whatever on any draft Place No Ceilings I think has the most Aura of any draft website out there so if you like to go to a site that looks cool as hell and also has tons of smart analysis definitely check it out it’s where I’m going to be doing a lot of reading for the next few weeks leading up to the draft or I guess about a month so we have almost a month until the draft but guys uh how are you doing how’s how’s the draft cycle treating you I feel like I’m just getting into it because the Knicks just got eliminated from the playoffs so this is a whole new world for me you guys have been at this for a while um I’ll start with Albert and then Corey if you want to give your take too like what is what has your scouting process been like for this current draft class one which has been as we’ll talk about in a minute sort of uh panned in many ways it’s been maybe a little polarizing in some ways there’s a lot of opinions going around about the quality of this draft class about what type of players you can get whatever it seems like a pretty interesting one to cover no I I 100% agree first off appreciate uh you having us back on uh it’s been some time but um excited to talk because like you um lifelong Nick fan and so being living through uh that playoff run was a lot a lot of different emotions um but I think with this class specifically as you said right there are all kinds of opinions and takes on the strength uh of this class and I think I find myself even like throughout the year as we’ve been scouting this class I find myself kind of going back and forth and I think where I’ve landed is I think it’s somewhere in the middle um and we’ll talk more in depth about how we feel about this class but it’s been a wild one it’s been a lot of fun it’s been a more challenging draft class I think in my opinion on in in certain ways I guess um but um excited to be here excited to talk Nicks excited to talk about what the Knicks might end up doing and I’m sure Corey feels the same I do feel the same uh you know I think that people are typically a little hyperbolic on the internet I don’t know if that’s a hot take these days um or or not I know Stephen A Smith has on elonmusk x.com you think people are hyperbolic no way no no no no I mean look Stephen A Smith has a documentary on Sports journalism and I think what’s wrong with it so I what world are we we living in at this point um but I I think that there is some truth into it from the perspective of like sometimes there are just like punch you in the mouth this dude is an all EnV player and there’s not really a risk in taking this guy right like obviously Victor wanyama was like that I personally think Chad hren was like that um Luca was like that like there are just guys that you’re like there’s no way that this guy’s not awesome so like by and large if you have one of those guys people are typically going to look at the draft as a Little Bit Stronger because there is a prize you know because at the end of the day the draft is about hope it’s about you know we just endured a really tough season and was it for oh it was because our future is going to be bright because we get the shiny new toy that comes in is going to be you know the next Superstar face of the league and we know that the reality a lot of times is that’s easier said than done even for these guys that are hyped up Kade Cunningham had a lot of that hype he was one of said prospects and you know Detroit just endured an entire season of losing to end up with a fifth pick after falling in the lottery um but this is the type of draft where maybe that doesn’t sting as much because there isn’t that prize necessarily waiting for you at pick one that prize might be there at five that prize might be there at 12 it might be there at 24 you know this is the kind of draft where the talent level there isn’t necessarily these super large gaps and like Albert said it that makes it challenging at times but there’s also a little bit of freedom in it um and I think one of the cool things that we’ve seen as people who cover the draft and as this space grows with enthusiasts is that um this is the kind of draft where like it’s okay to stray from quote unquote consensus because there isn’t really one so like if you have a guy that you really like it’s like you know what I’m gonna have this guy in my top 10 or my top five because like if I’m gonna swing like why is this guy a worse swing than this other guy just because this one kid had a higher rsci ranking coming into you know his college or you know alternative uh freshman season playing in the g-league OR NBL or whatever like screw it I’m going to go with my gut and I think that that’s been cool to see because people are are more passionate about their takes and they’re more willing to go out on a limb and I think that that’s cool because ultimately even in these drafts where people think that these things are uh a lock to go a certain way like last year when scoot Henderson was this generational Prospect who was a no doubt he’d be the number one pick in any other draft and he’s gonna come in he’s and he struggled this year and like now all of those Charlotte fans are really upset that they selected Brandon Miller like oh maybe we actually got the right guy you know so like the draft is unpredictable in a lot of ways and a lot of it there are things that just you can be a team like the Knicks in 2018 and you can draft and swing for Hope and maybe not have a lot of luck and then you could be the Knicks in 2024 or 2022 and take guys who end up contributing in in the playoffs who weren’t as sexy so like that’s the cool thing about the draft there is no wrong or right that like you can just do a formula or an equation and be like Oh EPM this guy’s the best guy on the floor like there that doesn’t really exist in the draft you can do your best but there’s an unpredictability and a variability and uh this year it’s been really cool to watch how different opinions are and definitely on some of the guys we’re going to touch on today um and and see how uh passionate people are for or against and even within the No Ceilings crew which you know is is pretty large these days um you know it feels like we’re the NWO uh you know with the wolf pack at this point um but yeah it uh it’s this has been a cool year just from the perspective of it’s it’s a lot more unpredictable and people are uh a lot more willing to actually step out on a limb all right we’ll be right back in to talk about the Nicks strategy and what the Knicks should be looking to do in this draft to close out the show but first I gotta remind you all that Today’s Show is brought to you by game time and I don’t know if you’re familiar with game time do you like going to live events I like going to live events I I find it to be a lot 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game time if you want or you know maybe just go to a concert in the New York area download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code l c k e d o n MBA for $20 off your first purchase download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed yeah so I’m actually gonna I’m gonna I’m gonna throw this right back to you Corey in just a sec because the direction I wanted to go here sort of Builds on what you’re just saying there so so I I want to get your take on this like I I feel like we hear so often that a draft is a quote unquote weak draft or a quote unquote strong draft you know and sometimes that comes to be sometimes you get the 96 class or the 2003 class or um I mean I guess you could say 2018 is looking pretty pretty strong in the alltime list now you know you get these classes that you get multiple Allstars out of very stacked top of the draft or whatever but you see so often too like you said you know sometimes 2021 for example everybody was like this is a all-timer draft class and it that hasn’t really come to fruition yet like it just had you know there’s been some really good players out of there and some guys that clearly still have some tantalizing talent that just haven’t quite put it together yet uh including the guys that were considered to be like the no-brainer for sure multi-time Allstars whatever it just doesn’t look like they’re maybe on that path yet so you know we see these like quote bad Drafts come up I want to say like every three or four years and like you know one of the ones that I always think of would be like 2013 for example but even in 2013 for as bad as the top of that draft was you had jannis s a Copo come out of it and you know it was one of the one of the best stabs in the draft of all time um you know for as much as 2020 got panned you’ve got a guy in the Conference Finals and and well you just had two guys in the Conference Finals from from that class that were leading their teams uh you know and and that was a class that everybody going in was like go it’s pretty weak like Anthony Edwards looks good but what about the like work ethic or whatever and you know this that the other people had so many I mean myself included I panned the crap out of Tyrese halberton for example and he’s worked out pretty good um because he had stuff in his bag that people didn’t realize he was going to have uh the Knicks themselves even found a guy in that draft and Emanuel quickley so I guess this is all to say like what are your guys thoughts on the label of bad draft and do you do you sort of feel like I do where I’m kind of just throwing that away anymore and just kind of my general thought is like there is an All-Star in there somewhere like almost every draft produces a guy that makes at least an All-Star team or two and I think there always is one of those guys and no matter what like if you look hard enough and you Scout good enough you can find that guy so Corey since since you’re just kind of going on that um headed down this path a second ago I’ll throw that to you first what do you think as far as the bad draft label which this draft is definitely at least on the surface level getting that rep uh at this point where people are saying the top level Talent is not that good and you’re probably not going to find an All-Star T caliber talent in this draft which would then make it a you know non-life changing quote unquote bad draft Yeah I think that it’s foolish to say that there’s not going to be any Allstars that come from this draft I think that we’ve seen through history and uh we had our own Tyler Rucker from No Ceilings today write a a piece called how can we find the Hope in 2024 and one of the things he does is he goes through um like a 20-year time frame from 20 to 2020 and like every draft has all stars in there um these guys emerge you know and um you know you mentioned the Giannis draft I think that that was a weird time I don’t know if Giannis would have gone as late as he did in 2024 given the more access that everyone has to these guys around the world um so I I think that was a really unique situation so I’m not expecting there to be a Giannis level Prospect in this class necessarily and even in 2020 um you know when we were like ah this this draft isn’t that great we all knew like Anthony Edwards had Superstar upside lamelo ball has Superstar upside James wisman has Superstar upside it’s just like are they going to reach it one guy absolutely did one guy I think we’re still on the fence about and one guy absolutely did not so like but there are other guys that emerged in that draft like you mentioned Tyrese Halbert and which I’m guessing is gonna have to be bleeped out that name you know throughout the rest of this podcast um but yes I think that there are going to be all stars that emerge I mean I just think it’s going to be the GU I don’t think it’s going to be guys that people necessarily expect it to be you know like Albert and I doing what we do at No Ceilings we get to go to cool things like the Nike hoop Summit and you know we got to see all of the the quote unquote top players in this class practice for a week um last two aprils ago now I guess um and we were like all right like yeah you know I I don’t know if I necessarily see that this guy should be number one that guy should be number two and you know we were we ended up being a little bit lower on some of the guys that were ranked higher so it’s not really surprising to us that you know there aren’t guys that slap you in the face but there are some guys in this class that do have such tantalizing tent there are always guys in college that emerge that stay a little bit longer I mean you know like there are going to be guys that people have these these rules about that you can’t break in The Scouting Community um like hey you can’t draft a guy high that is under 63 because 6-3 guards don’t succeed and then Jaylen Brunson goes in the second round even though he was the best player on National Title teams in college and is a superstar like that is going maybe not that exact scenario I’m not going to try to pitch Tyler KCK or KJ Simpson as a guaranteed Superstar or anything but like when we look back in hindsight and then we go oh you know what it does make sense that this guy turned out the way he did because he was an unbelievable college player who did a lot of winning and like okay so we just overthought this one that’s always going to happen and there are going to be guys that we overthought and we’re going to fall in love with athleticism and all that stuff but at the end of the day there are a lot of guys in this draft that still can play basketball and they can do it at a high level and some of those guys are going to take their games to the next level because they end up in the right situation and and part of that is the unpredictability of the draft we don’t know where these guys are going to end up yet um you know one of the things that I’ve always wanted to do conceptually is is do a post-draft big board where you can change the way that you think guys are going to develop based on where they end up because I think that’s part of the evaluation of these guys if some Jaden Ivy ending up in Detroit is like ah that fits not great I don’t know how this is going to end up but if he went somewhere else where was maybe a little bit more conducive to his game maybe right now he’s looked at a lot differently as far as his potential to become like an All-Star player and take a leite because he still has that same potential that he had in the draft he’s just not developing the way that we envisioned it so I I I think those guys are going to emerge though in this draft and it might be two of them maybe it’s three maybe it’s four but they’re going to be guys in this draft class that make all-star teams uh at points during their career for sure before I even get into my answer I I do want to say um I think Corey deserves a round of applause he came out just guns blazing I thought we were doing like intros at the beginning and he just came out shooting so um love the energy I love this uh it’s fantastic and just to kind of picky back off of what Corey just said I I really do think like okay at the core of the draft at the core of the ESPN trade machine the at the core of everything that we talk about during the offseason free agency Madness the reason why everyone has the alerts on for wo’s tweets is because of that word right that you guys mentioned earlier hope everyone’s looking for Hope whether you’ve won a title or you lost in the Conference Finals or you didn’t make the playoffs at all I feel like every team is looking for Hope even the defending champions last year Denver when they got into the draft they also were looking hope looking for Hope and they took some swings on some guys that kind of you know we still don’t know right guys like strawther guys like um whoever I don’t even remember who else they drafted last year but regardless of that teams are looking for Hope and I think if we get into the semantics of whether or not this class is strong or not it really depends on who you’re talking to right if you’re talking to somebody who’s looking for a world eating monster like a I don’t know like a Zion Williamson or an Anthony Davis then I think it is fair to say that maybe this class is a little bit on the weaker on the weaker side because we don’t have have any of those guys in this class in my opinion right but whether it’s Tyler Rucker from No Ceilings or Pierre who talked about it recently um peee the plug who talked about it on his YouTube channel um there are definitely guys that are going to contribute to NBA teams and with something that I wrote about recently I wrote a piece on PJ Hall from Clemson and I was talking about how in this class I feel like this is where GMS have to fill out the rest of their rosters and this is where you might find a seventh guy an eighth guy ninth guy um a two-way guy but these guys may end up contri contributing to your team and on your pod specifically right now as we’re talking about the New York Knicks uh there are gonna be some guys I think in this class that could potentially even play for tibs and I know everyone likes to think that tibs doesn’t like to play young guys but sometimes circumstantially he’s had to um and I think there might be some guys in this class whether they’re upper classman or whatever that may actually be able to contribute to this team and I know Alex you have some guys that you want to talk to us about and you want to bring up and we’ll get into it but just going back to the original question I do feel like once again it depends on who you’re talking to if the hope that you’re looking for is a number one guy who’s G be who’s going to be a perennial all NBA guy make 10 to 15 all-star teams and do all that then you’re probably going to look at this class and say that it’s weak and I we’ve heard it everywhere whether it’s the Ryan Rell pod or uh other pods where you know they talk to NBA GMS and they say stuff like well this draft it’s kind of like a normal draft where the Draft starts at pick seven or pick 10 right and that’s how NBA front exe in front office execs might be perceiving this class and it’s because exactly that right because we we don’t have a world eating monster in this class but once again I think if you were talking to the Nick specifically right and you’re talking to someone like I don’t know Walt parin right he might tell you that this might be where uh I make my money where I get to work and show off what I’m capable of because there are going to be some guys in this class that I think will be able to contribute to real contending teams next year is kind of where I’m at so somewhere in the middle things that I love to hear personally so you know maybe now we could start getting into the Nicks aspect of this a little bit and I want to talk sort of concept about them first as a team and where they’re at right now what I would be doing and then you know Albert I’m especially uh Curious what your thoughts are on this because I know when we were talking about this before uh the show you were like I don’t know I’m kind of conflicted on what the Knicks should do and I’m like I kind of am too and you know there’s a part of me that looks at this draft and is telling myself don’t get your hopes up like this is a team that has traded out of the draft two years in a row and you know for various circumstances obviously like the two years ago I know I was less than thrilled with them trading out of the early teens pick uh twice that they did uh to ultimately clear the money that turned into Jaylen Brunson but now I’m willing to say who cares it turned into Jaylen Brunson um so they did what they had to do and they made that work and then last year you know I guess feeling that there wasn’t anybody that particularly interested them they they got out of that draft as well um and you well it’s sort of it wasn’t quite that simple I mean it was they turned one pick into Josh Hart the other one did convey because the Mavs tanked but I sort of had a feeling that they wouldn’t have made that pick even if it conveyed to them via the Mavs anyway just based off how things have been going and they didn’t make any effort to like they certainly didn’t make any effort to get back into the draft last year let’s put it that way um but this year you know I was starting to do a little bit of offseason prep and you know breaking down like I was trying to just I did an episode where I just set out like Baseline goals like what should the Knicks be looking to do and it’s like you know get ogan and Obi and Isaiah hardstein on new contracts like first and foremost those are two your starters you got to lock that up but like number two for me even more so than like start scouring the trade market was trim the fat a little bit on this roster like I think that they used a lot of end of bench spots and they have been for a couple years under Leon Rose I don’t want to be a jerk like everybody’s trying to make it in the NBA whatever but they felt like favors like the the last couple spots on the roster they felt like it was guys that you’re like these guys are glorified g-league players like they there’s probably no real case for giving them a real roster spot other than like let’s do good by them let’s do good by their agent they’ve been here on our G League team like they’re good in practice or whatever blah blah blah and you know that includes like um uh Charlie Brown Jr who was on a two-way I believe uh you had like uh diakite on the on a full deal towards Wards the end of the year which is not a guy that I would have like handed a full contract to um even like Jericho Sims for example or dayon Jeff like those guys have been around for a little bit but I’m like I like Jericho Sims as far as 58th picks go he’s far exceeded expectations but not a guy that I feel like I have to stay married to for the life of his his deal which could be one more year uh especially in favor of potentially drafting someone at 24 25 and or 38 like they have three picks coming up in this draft and I think maybe 2021 is the year we can look to as far as inspiration for like the Knicks under this front office are not averse to making three picks in a draft they’re just they want the situation to be right and they need to have no other things they need to accomplish which this year I don’t think they really do have anything they need to accomplish they don’t have to clear cap space they don’t have to do anything like that so they shouldn’t have to like weaponize these picks in any way personally I think they should use the picks and what they use those picks on what archetypes of players is the bigger question um but Albert before we get into like the archetypes and various players and stuff like how do you feel from a Nick’s perspective about like would you be looking to potentially bring three rookies onto this team or are you thinking like n maybe maybe try to consolidate a little bit like this would be the the draft that would kind of be right for moving up because there’s so much par that like if you have your guy and you want to ensure you get him pay your 24th and 25th pick to move up to 18 or something and some team will jump at that because they’ll be like oh we got two guys we like that’ll definitely be there um but how how are you just feeling kind of on on the Baseline before we get into like the the archetypes and stuff I think my initial thought is according to everyone on Twitter there’s no point in this conversation because it looks like we’re going to ship ship you know 24 and 25 out for Macau Bridges or something like that you know um so I don’t know I I I I don’t exactly know what that that looks like or what’s actually going to happen and I know that everything’s on the table and I love and me personally I actually love that Leon doesn’t ever talk to anybody um I like that he keeps all his cards really close to the to to his chest his vest and I know like it’s it can be frustrating for people like us that need to create content and talk about what the Knicks are going to do but the fact that we don’t actually know much at all I think is kind of a beautiful things sometimes and I I think to your point we really don’t know like the Knicks literally could just draft three rookies and they’ll just do it or they could package and move up or they could just move back and collect more assets for the future right like let let’s say there’s a team uh back into the first round or even second round doesn’t have first round pick and they go hey we want 24 we’ll give you future assets for it right I I don’t think Leon would be opposed to that um or this front office so I think it’s really up in the air as you mentioned I think Priority One is probably going to be OG um I highly doubt like someone recently I don’t remember where I read it but they’re like oh you know the Knicks you know they could just lose OG and it’ll be a thing and I was like well I I don’t think our front office would have given up RJ Barrett Manuel quickley uh to lose ogan and noi I just don’t think we function in that way anymore I’m pretty sure uh and this might just be me but I I I don’t think it’s crazy that to say that they probably have like a deal already on the table and they’re all all good to go right so I I can’t imagine us losing OG I really can’t imagine us losing hartenstein either just with how important he was for us in the playoffs and obviously with Mitch and his uh injury stuff it’s we kind of need hartenstein back right but you mentioned some really important names because for me when I was thinking about what are some you know moves on the fr es that we can make to kind of improve this team the first name that came up for me was Jericho Sims right and the reason why is I just don’t understand like look like you said right for a 58th pick he’s done his job right he’s given us minutes when we’ve needed them when hartenstein and Mitchell Robinson were out with injuries he was a starter for us he played minutes for us I I totally get that it’s just um he’s not much of a Defender he’s not much of a rebounder he’s really athletic I think we can replace that is kind of where where my head is at and whether that’s at 24 or 25 or even later at 38 or we trade back and spending even later second round pick on another big I I I I like the idea of us improving that third Center Spot especially if we’re going to keep Mitchell Robinson now of course that’s a totally different discussion we don’t know what’s going to happen with that right there might be a world where the Knicks ship out Mitch Mitch as a part of a package to to go get get somebody I don’t know but if we are keeping Mitchell Robinson and Har together I’d like a third Center that we can actually rely on and I know that’s like such a luxury and how many teams in the NBA actually have a third Center that they feel like they can throw out there and play you know real minutes for them but the position that we’re in right now with the contracts and like the the Dante contract we have him on is just unbelievable value right and we have some good values and you know BD donovich we’ll see what happens but I feel like this roster is so strong that we can talk about having the luxury of having like a pretty good starting not not a starting but a really good third Center is kind of where my head is at um but as you mentioned whether it’s dayquon Jeff or Shake Milton or whoever we have at the end of the bench I’d like to kind of swap those guys out and get someone stronger that could potentially even play for us but then at the same time it’s what are we talking about we’re talking about 12 guys on the bench and generally those guys don’t really offer a ton but I do like the idea of us potentially improving that so my ultimate answer is this 2425 it could happen right we could spend those picks and take some guys but at the same time if we move up and let’s say this front office they go we we want to find a legitimate big right or we want to find a three and D wing for the future maybe we move up to 14 maybe we move up to 13 I I could see that too but if you put a gun to my head and you were like what do you think the Knicks are actually going to do my guess would be that they might just trade out or trade back is kind of where my head is at right now if I had to guess but um the more exciting answer would be definitely to move up or package something into a trade of course and you know that I’m sure the the whole they’re going to trade those picks for maau Bridges will not die down at all I did I made a pretty solid uh case the other day that whatever move if they want to make a star move they should probably do it before the new league year just because of all these really uh punitive luxury tax things that are about to kick in so if they want to trade for Macau Bridges or they wna um you know trade for like Paul George for example and extend him or something like that it would behoove them to do that before the league year turns over so then once they start handing these contracts out to Oobi and Isaiah hartenstein all that they already have all the cards in place ready to play rather than having to still draw another one uh before they do that but Corey uh you know I know you’re in you’re in a room with two Nicks fans you know you don’t express Nick fan Allegiance per se but you are in the area and you keep up with the team and so I’m curious your opinion as well like what do you if if you were Leon Rose and Walt parin what’s your overall philosophy going into this draft with those three picks at your disposal yeah I think my thing it would be to it gives them flexibility which is something that I think they do well with and the thing that I think goes underrated whether we’re talking about the draft or whether we are talking about free agency it is like the aspect of team building in not like making additions because it’s cool to see it pop up on W’s timeline but to actually full on dive into the concept of building an actual team that has a culture and so like the Knicks have done that you know as well as anybody I I look around the league it’s like I don’t know OKC obviously has done a great job building out what their culture is um and you know so the first thing like when I ask myself what are they going to do I’m GNA be like well does this fit what they have been doing because I don’t think the Knicks are going to operate the same way that say like brooklynin did when they had their little run of like their cute little d’andrea Russell season and people loved it and then all of a sudden they shipped everybody out just so they can you know bring in Superstars or whatever and then you know everything imploded because they were building towards something and then shifted perspective like that’s not in the way that I think the Knicks are going to operate so like if if I’m looking at what they’re going to do in the draft I’m GNA go like does this fit philosophically with what the Knicks are building the kind of players they they’re going after the kind of personalities um that they uh and if it’s like looking at it from like what would they do in a trade or or free agency it’d be like all right well like clearly they’re interested in male Bridges one he’s awesome and two I think they value the chemistry that of the Nova Knicks like this is not a secret I think it’s obvious and I think it’s smart because they all fit together they play for each other and they you know they they have chemistry and and they all fit into this modern game but you know without going into like that kind of specifics of how they that because I I don’t have enough information behind the scenes like I think on the surface I don’t think you can ever have enough like um shooing uh Shooters and maybe shooters that are like have a little more functional size than a Dante Devon chenzo and a Jaylen Brunson like I think the the back cour maybe could stand to um you know get a little bit bigger so like shooter bigger shooter maybe maybe even somebody who can handle the ball a little bit um confidently when when you know a guy like Brunson you know is being draped all you know guys draped all over him relieve the pressure and then you know I I don’t think they specifically would you know go for you know a stretchy kind of big necessarily I think they like playing the kind of bigs they play but I I think that there are maybe some guys who are Nick’s kind of guys so maybe but maybe they’re not the third Center maybe they actually turn into the second Center because Daniel Gafford and Derek Lively I think are boosting the trade value of one Mitchell Robinson as athletic vertical shot blocking centers and the value of that around the league um so you know I I think they just have flexibility and I think that they should take that flexibility into draft night this is the first draft where the second round is going to be on a separate night and they’re going to be able to reconvene and strategize and they’ll have time in between picks and like maybe that second round pick isn’t a tossup and maybe their guy that they really like is probably going to be available then so if they trade up um packaging the picks or they trade out or whatever they’re comfortable attacking the second round in a really smart way ultimately these guys are going to be guys that are going to be developing either on the bench or in Westchester you know du McBride didn’t play until he replaced somebody and then he was a main stay in the lineup right like there’s no reason to believe that anybody in this draft is going to all of a sudden take Julius Randle spot take Jaylen Brunson Ste chenzo OG heart and blah blah blah the expectation should not be like can we get an impact player now it’s like can we get somebody who fits into the culture that fits into the vision in the long term adds an asset to the team and like maybe we’ll help down the line on a cheap contract um but all in all that just goes back to the flexibility of everything and and I think do making smart moves like giving Deuce a really giving that contract before he kind of broke out right like you know like I I just think they’ve operated in a really slick calculated way and part of that has to do with the flexibility that they have they felt confident moving off of Emanuel quickly and the money he’s going to demand because they developed du McBride you know like they knew what they had already because they had watched it every day and part of that goes back to the culture that they’re building because they knew Duce McBride was a hardnose you know lunchbox hard hat kind of guy those are the guys that are okay and don’t feel entitled and are willing to earn their spot down the line and I think that’s that’s kind of how they should continue to attack and and build this thing is by targeting those kind of guys yeah and you know to go back to something that Albert said a second ago too I think that this this conception that tibs does not or perception I guess that tibs does not uh play young guys does not play rookies I think he’s pretty unfounded as well like yeah he might not play your favorite rookie as much as you want him to like he’s gonna make him earn every literal second that he’s on the floor but he also I mean dating back a number of years I mean he’s he played emanu quickle uh a solid amount his rookie year which if you read some of the articles that have been written about that since that was sort of an accident like quickly just sort of forced his way into that by playing so well in the preseason that tibs could not like not play him um so there’s that there was Obie toppin you know for as much as some people bellyaches myself included sometimes about what his minutes were and whatever he did give him a a pretty fair Shake if you look at it you know in the in the long term and then Quinton Grimes you know played his way into a starting role and then played his way out of a starting role you know it goes both ways um and then you know yeah DEC bride like all the way back to his rookie year you know in emergency situations was getting trusted to potentially start gam some times um when it was needed and then you know he kind of faded back and then you know came back up this year after that trade and just asserted himself and tibs does respect if someone comes out there rookie or not and proves they belong like that’s all he needs to see but if you you obviously get a shorter leash if you’re to one of those guys because he wants to you know make sure that you’re ready to go and ready to correct those mistakes all right that’s it for today’s episode and I’ll be back with two more episodes within those ceilings guys so hope hopefully you enjoyed Albert and Corey’s takes on this episode if you did you don’t have to wait too long you can get another episode tomorrow and then either the day after tomorrow or possibly Monday haven’t decided quite yet so either Saturday or Monday but either way because Gavin has a interview coming up as well that I think you’ll want to listen to hopefully too so we’re figuring out the schedule but you’re going to have two more episodes coming up in short order with the No Ceilings guys so keep your ears out for that on the next one you’re going to get get to hear about Zach Edy the two-time player of the year why he might be a perfect fit for a tibs Le team and then also Ryan Dunn who is as Cory and Albert put it one of if not the best defender in the draft fantastic Wing Defender who can defend up or down sound a little bit like a guy on the Knicks yeah that might have a little bit of ogan noi Vibes so maybe that the perfect guy to learn under ogan anobi for a little bit uh and hopefully become another Lockdown Defender so I’ll talk about those two guys next time and then in the third episode talk with Corey and Albert about just a laundry list of their favorite guys in this draft which hits really hard from both of them because uh Corey’s a big New York basketball guy and Albert’s a big Knicks fan so just a a big time uh episode for that third episode so keep your ears out till next time though thank you all for listening and I’ll talk to you soon peace out everybody oh [Music]

Alex is joined by Albert Ghim and Corey Tulaba of No Ceilings NBA to get into the first of a 3-part episode about the 2024 NBA Draft, and what the Knicks should do in it. In this part… is this actually a “weak” draft? Is that term a myth? What should the Knicks’ strategy be going into this year’s draft? All that and more on today’s episode!

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