I think we should get a player with a proven skill, with perhaps less “upside.” We won’t get a player at pick #23 with lots of “upside” unless he also has gaping holes in his game. Go with Almond!

As far as the European Jamal Crawford, Rudy Fernandez’s your man. A rail thin 6-5 combo guard whose favorite offensive play is to dribble around on the perimeter for 10 seconds and then throw up a fade away three pointer with a hand or two in his face.
That said, he’s already one of the best players in the Spanish league, a better shooter and less selfish/clueless than Crawford, and definitely has NBA talent. I’m not saying the Knicks should take him at #23-although I wouldn’t be against it either-and in the long run there may be a couple better players available there, but Rudy’s already showing that he can play in the world’s second best league. If he falls to the late first/early second he very well might be another Euro guard steal for the Suns (29) or Spurs (28 & 33).

I agree with everyone that the Knicks aren’t exactly one shooter away from contention (unless that shooter is a top 5 or 10 player in the league), as some might lead you to believe, and that said shooter might not even get many looks with the current Knicks roster. But given the corner that Isiah seems to have painted himself into, with Curry and Crawford as “franchise players,” maybe drafting (Almond) or trading for (Lewis) a dead-eye shooter isn’t such a bad move (if he’s also a good basketball player in other respects). If the guy can play significant minutes right away Isiah might be able to convince Eddy that passing is worth it because he’s gone out and gotten a dead-eye shooter just for Eddy, and maybe said shooter can replace some of Jamal’s 32% 3-pters with 40% 3-pters.

Its no Coincidence the MVP, and the Finals MVP, and last years 1st Overall pick were all from Europe.

The Knicks are only about $40,000,000 over the salary cap.

Unless Lewis signs for the midlevel exception, it will take a sign and trade to get him on the Knicks.

Sorry, I got cut off before finishing that thought. What I meant to say was Belinelli is the most intriguing but there are some questions about him. I don’t know what kind of shooter or defender he is. Of course, you’re not getting players with no question marks at #23. But for all the grief Jamal Crawford takes in this forum Belinelli looks like and reads like the Euro version of him.

With Young, obviously the key is the upside. You look at that body combined with the fact that he’s already a decent mid-range shooter and say “we can work with this.” If there’s one nit to pick it’s that I hate it when guys have bodies out of a catalog but don’t rebound.