Trading Mitch to move up makes absolutely no sense. He skipped college, he’s essentially a junior coming into the league and nearly averages a double double and could lead the league in blocks. Let’s keep in mind the Knicks don’t have any good shooters or a point guard to help the kid out. He’s working on his offensive game that’s already more advanced than Jordan or Camby, so let’s just keep him and RJ and let them develop.

Grab the safe pick in the draft. If we had taken Mikkal Bridges from Nova instead of Knox we would be in much better shape abs really have a culture developing.

Uptown wrote:3 thoughts:

1. They may be trying to package 8, 23 and a player to move up and grab Obi. They may have a trade on the table with the Cavs or Hawks.

2. 23 is better than 27 so they could package 23 and a player to move up into the teens to grab Terry, Maxey or Cole.

3. Stay @ 23 and draft Josh Green or take a flyer on McDaniels...

Allanfan20 wrote:

StarksEwing1 wrote:Interesting. I don’t love giving away a early second just to move up 4 spots late in the round but Obviously there must be somebody they are targeting who they feel had no chance to fall to 27. Hopefully we can buy a second rounder too

Either that or they plan to trade 23 and 8 to move up.

Possibly. This is my first of hopefully few disappointments on draft day. There is a good chance that if they keep the 23 it will be used on a player that is not going to amount to anything better than who will be picked at 27 or 38.

rpknicks wrote:Prediction: This is a guard hedge.

Knicks will take whatever wing ( or toppin) that drops with okoro likely the target and then with 23, they have more chances to pick one of : Maxey, Flynn, Terry, Jones, and possibly Anthony.

Then they buy back in to 2nd round as necessary if a targeted player falls.

They lept boston, OKC and New orleans, two of which just traded their lead guards and one which needs a backup to kemba.

good catch. if they're not doing it to move up, this is a pretty damn good explanation

HofstraBBall wrote:

Welpee wrote:

joec32033 wrote:My first thought is this has to be a play for something bigger because face value this trade makes no sense. There is NO way they can predict in this particular draft someone not being there at 27 but being there at 23. Even for a trade for a higher lotto pick it doesn't make sense to me, as in this draft I would think the 27 and 38 would be more valuable than the 23 due to the talent level being so close at the bottom of the first/beginning of the second. The ONLY way I see this making sense is they know someone they like got a guarantee from someone in the picks 24 to 26 range and they needed to get ahead of that team to grab whoever.

I disagree.

If the Knicks see I guy they really like being projected to go in the 20s, if moving up 4 spots increases you chances of getting the guy you want by say 30% and all you had to do is forfeit a 2nd round pick (#38), it makes total sense to me. Especially since acquiring a 2nd pick elsewhere is probably very doable. Philly has four 2nd round picks. You would think simply buying one from them is an option.

I would think if it was so easy for the Knicks to pick up another second rounder, the 23rd could have been picked up for that second rounder and the 38th?

HofstraBBall wrote:

Chandler wrote:

IMO, and as others have said, this smells like a deal is in place to move up if player X is available at slot Y. I don't buy for a moment X is LaMelo as opposed to someone else. I love the knicks are playing it tight

But why not wait until 1, you see who you were able to pick at 8. And secondly, to see if the player you or another team wants you to pick is likely to go at 23?

In a drat where many have had trouble deciding who should go from 10 to 30, its was a draft that could be best mitigated by having multiple picks.

Which is why it feels like the Knicks are trying to package 8, 23 and maybe a player to move up to Grab a player they like that will be gone before 8. This feels like a play for Obi to me.

HofstraBBall wrote:

Chandler wrote:

IMO, and as others have said, this smells like a deal is in place to move up if player X is available at slot Y. I don't buy for a moment X is LaMelo as opposed to someone else. I love the knicks are playing it tight

But why not wait until 1, you see who you were able to pick at 8. And secondly, to see if the player you or another team wants you to pick is likely to go at 23?

In a drat where many have had trouble deciding who should go from 10 to 30, its was a draft that could be best mitigated by having multiple picks.

Uptown wrote:

HofstraBBall wrote:

Chandler wrote:

IMO, and as others have said, this smells like a deal is in place to move up if player X is available at slot Y. I don't buy for a moment X is LaMelo as opposed to someone else. I love the knicks are playing it tight

But why not wait until 1, you see who you were able to pick at 8. And secondly, to see if the player you or another team wants you to pick is likely to go at 23?

In a drat where many have had trouble deciding who should go from 10 to 30, its was a draft that could be best mitigated by having multiple picks.

Which is why it feels like the Knicks are trying to package 8, 23 and maybe a player to move up to Grab a player they like that will be gone before 8. This feels like a play for Obi to me.

Uptown wrote:

HofstraBBall wrote:

Chandler wrote:

IMO, and as others have said, this smells like a deal is in place to move up if player X is available at slot Y. I don't buy for a moment X is LaMelo as opposed to someone else. I love the knicks are playing it tight

But why not wait until 1, you see who you were able to pick at 8. And secondly, to see if the player you or another team wants you to pick is likely to go at 23?

In a drat where many have had trouble deciding who should go from 10 to 30, its was a draft that could be best mitigated by having multiple picks.

Which is why it feels like the Knicks are trying to package 8, 23 and maybe a player to move up to Grab a player they like that will be gone before 8. This feels like a play for Obi to me.

unless the player is marginal like DSJ i don't see all three as Obi. I don't think anyone is going to give a lot for LaMelo, Wiseman, Edwards as some would in prior years fot top of draft. We need to be honest they all have MAJOR questions. Edwards is a bit like DSJ in that no one knows how he'll deal with adversity. We already know he's not a basketball junky. LaMelo and Wiseman have fewer data points than Nesmith, and tons of other questions. I saw an ESPN piece last night where they interviewed LaMelo and showed him working out. He sounded dumb and looked scrawny. Wiseman at least sounded reasonably intelligent but huge enigma. In any event, I can imagine a lot of teams not wanting to offer that much to move up there so i don't think we need to include a talented player to get Obi.

knicks1248 wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

Uptown wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/ChrisFedor/status/1329083939995013121

Looks like Obi might be the target...

Makes sense. They've been slobbering over him for a while. Not really thrilled with this. But it means Randle is likely gone, so it's a plus overall.

He's not better then Randle, he's more athletic, but overall, Randle is a 20, 10, 3 player.

I dont how you can judge randle without taking into consideration his crappy coach and his brick laying teammates

Toppin is a better fit in the modern game because of his shooting. He has more defensive potential too but obviously he has to improve a lot.