Wow Kobe at 13th to Charlotte then to Lakers (draft day steal)
Iverson at least took 76ers to NBA Final once.

And when was last time you ever recall NYK having 3 (three) 1st round in any first round draft
at #18, #19 and #21. What a bust!

Let me see where we went wrong Ummm Derek Fisher available #24 ?
He wouldnt have won any 5 titles. Conspiracy

1996 NBA Draft, First Round
First Round Player College
1. Philadelphia Allen Iverson Georgetown
2. Toronto Marcus Camby Massachusetts
3. Vancouver Shareef Abdur-Rahim California
4. Milwaukee (1) Stephon Marbury Georgia Tech
5. Minnesota (1) Ray Allen Connecticut
6. Boston (from Dallas) Antoine Walker Kentucky
7. LA Clippers Lorenzen Wright Memphis
8. New Jersey Kerry Kittles Villanova
9. Dallas (from Boston) Samaki Walker Louisvile
10. Indiana (from Denver) Erick Dampier Mississippi State
11. Golden State Todd Fuller North Carolina State
12. Cleveland (from Wash.) Vitaly Potapenko Wright State
13. Charlotte Kobe Bryant Lower Merion HS
14. Sacramento Predrag Stojakovic PAOK (Greece)
15. Phoenix Steve Nash Santa Clara
16. Charlotte (from Miami) Tony Delk Kentucky
17. Portland Jermaine O'Neal Eau Claire HS
18. New York (from Detroit) John Wallace Syracuse
19. New York (from Atlanta) Walter McCarty Kentucky
20. Cleveland Zydrunas Ilgauskas Lithuania
21. New York Dontae' Jones Mississippi State
22. Vancouver (from Houston) Roy Rogers Alabama
23. Denver (from Indiana) Efthimis Rentzias PAOK
24. LA Lakers Derek Fisher Arkansas-Little Rock
25. Utah (2) Martin Muursepp BC Kalev Tallinn
26. Detroit (from San Antonio) Jerome Williams Georgetown
27. Orlando Brian Evans Indiana
28. Atlanta (from Seattle) Priest Lauderdale Peristeri (Greece)
29. Chicago Travis Knight Connecticut

Aside from draft picks 1-13 outside of Ray Allen, Iverson, Kobe, Nash and Stephon this was a weak
draft. The second round was even worst than 1st round in terms on no one really made it big.

Outside of 1 undrafted guy from Virgina Union named Ben Wallace.

Also as a sidenote, Dante Jones dad (biological, but had no role in his life) was a security guard at my middle school. He used to hype him up like crazy when he was in college.

DJMUSIC wrote:

KnicksSince88 wrote:I wanted to package those picks to deal up in range to get Kobe in that draft. I actually remember calling WFAN that week, Ian Eagle was hosting, and i proposed a swap of our 3 picks (18, 19, 21) to the Nets for their #8. Ian said he would do it from a Nets perspective. Who knows if it would have even been possible because there has been talk Kobe wouldn't have played for anyone but the Lakers.

Also as a sidenote, Dante Jones dad (biological, but had no role in his life) was a security guard at my middle school. He used to hype him up like crazy when he was in college.

hey Knicks..88
You should of been GM pres for our Knicks back then
We perhaps coulda beat Jerry West to the punch for Kobe and change our fortunes with Ewing still here

Boy imagine ? if we knew what the NBA draft was about.
Our scouts s_cked then and sux now. We'll see come this week June 24 even though presently we have no first rounders.

Grunfeld tried to move all three picks but no one wanted them. He wanted to move up to grab either Bryant, Nash and O'Neil. The Hornets wanted a center and the Knicks had no assets since they traded them to get that extra pick from the Spurs. He was high on all of them including Marbury of course but no one wanted to move that far back. I remember the Knicks had a pre-draft show and Grunfeld admitted that while he wanted to move up, he would be happy if they couldn't. They were high on Big Z as well. At the end of the day he was surprised that Wallace was still on the board which was considered one of the biggest drops in recent years. West at the time was considered to be bold in his move but he was confident that he could get Shaq or an upgrade in a trade for Mourning or Howard.

Panos wrote:WOW, what an unlucky break! THREE picks and look at the guys that went 13-17 just before us!

13. Charlotte Kobe Bryant Lower Merion HS
14. Sacramento Predrag Stojakovic PAOK (Greece)
15. Phoenix Steve Nash Santa Clara
16. Charlotte (from Miami) Tony Delk Kentucky
17. Portland Jermaine O'Neal Eau Claire HS

Four All-Stars out of Five! Imagine any one of those guys playing with Patrick!

Sucks to be the guys that made these picks:
9. Dallas (from Boston) Samaki Walker Louisvile
10. Indiana (from Denver) Erick Dampier Mississippi State
11. Golden State Todd Fuller North Carolina State
12. Cleveland (from Wash.) Vitaly Potapenko Wright State

We were out of luck and options not because of the draft but because we sucked at planning and running the team with any kind of vision. Which we always did for what... 40 years.
Dallas, Indiana, Golden State, and Cleveland had the options and luck but they just suck in general.

btw, at the time it was thought to be a coup for grunfeld, drafing those 3 players.

all were well perceived college players who came from winning programs...

i feel like a read something in the past year about how the knicks wanted to package the picks for someone, but couldn't find anyone who would...