This was a nice, deep draft class. There were so many good options at #19 and #21 that I promised that, unless the Knicks super reached, I would give them the benefit of the doubt.
Therefore, had the Knicks drafted Quentin Grimes and Miles McBride with picks #19 and #21, then I would have said, “Okay, fair enough.”
But that’s not what happened.
A year after punting the #33 pick in another nice late draft class (look at the guys available at #33 last year and tell me that the Knicks wouldn’t be better off with one of those dudes on the roster right now), the Knicks decided to punt on the #19 pick and make a deal with the Charlotte Hornets that basically guarantees that the pick won’t ever be better than around #19 and might very well become two seconds (unlikely, but possible). In other words, we’re not talking about them picking up some super appealing future trade asset here.
Then, knowing Grimes would be on the board later than #21, they dealt that pick for #25 and a future second. No complaints there if you’re prepared, as I am, to give them a lot of leeway on their pick around this point in the draft.
Then, taking advantage of OKC wanting to move up in the draft, they traded their early second round pick, #32, for two slightly less early but still pretty early second round picks (34 and 36). One, #34, was a nice stash pick on Rokas Jokubaitis and one, #36, was Miles McBride, perhaps the steal of the draft, as he is a top 25 level player taken at #36.
Then the Knicks used their #58 pick on Jericho Sims, a likely two-way player project.
So, in reality, the Knicks are likely adding just two rookies, Grimes (or Grimey, as I assume he likes to be called) and McBride, to the rotation. And that’s fine, as they’re both fair enough players, but it could be and likely should be, those two guys and another promising young player and the trade return on not doing that is not that impressive.
This is not a team that couldn’t use three promising young players to see if they could become rotation guys. This team needs to add talent and they also are clearly trying to keep from giving out long term deals as they look to the 2022 free agency market.
So will one year free agent deals be better for this roster long term than just picking a guy at #19 to go with Grimey and McBride? I dunno, but it’s what you have to keep in mind when grading this draft.
With that in mind, as part of our all-poll content, what is your grade for the Knicks draft?
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