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Rich
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http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1088147770105160.xml
Knicks take UCLA forward
Undrafted Hall star Barrett invited to summer camp
Friday, June 25, 2004
BY DAVE D'ALESSANDRO
Star-Ledger Staff
NEW YORK -- If you were wondering how detached the Knicks might be from this draft, this should clarify it: They actually chose a player they never interviewed or worked out.
For now, Trevor Ariza is little more than a GM's cliché.
"We like his athleticism, there's potential for big upside," Isiah Thomas said of the 18-year-old UCLA forward, whom the Knicks selected with the 43rd pick in the NBA draft last night. "I think he'll get bigger. He can handle the basketball, he can play possibly three positions for us."
What those positions are remain to be seen, because at Ariza's size -- he's 6-8, 194 pounds -- you'd expect him to be a wing shooter. Small problem: He shot 42 percent in his only year at UCLA, and 23 percent from 3-point range.
"When you're drafting at 43, you can't always get what you're looking for in terms of putting it in the basket," Thomas said. "Again, we think he has the ability to defend and grow in our game. He's 6-8, with a 7-foot wing span. He has the potential to become a pretty good defender. And also he's a ball mover, a ball distributor."
About 75 minutes later, Thomas met the press and had perhaps more interesting news: He made phone contact with undrafted Seton Hall point guard Andre Barrett, who tentatively agreed to come to Knicks summer camp.
The Knicks, who had traded away their first-round pick for Stephon Marbury back in January, made their only pick at around 10:56 last night, after three quarters of the crowd at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden had already gone home. Some diehards stuck around to cheer the selection of Ariza, who most probably had never heard of.
As for Barrett, Thomas said, "He will probably come to training camp, and we were trying to call other players locally, to see if they are interested."
The Knicks don't really need another point guard, unless Frank Williams is used as trade bait. Then again, they don't need a teenage small forward, either. But Thomas claimed that Ariza has a chance at making the team.
"He does," he said. "We have to be really lucky, but I didn't think we'd get a player such as him at 43. He's a young player, and with his size and length he can do some things for us. Then he can continue to grow into his body and his game."
The fact that Ariza suffers from asthma didn't dissuade the Knicks from taking him, either.
"There are a lot of athletes that played with asthma," Thomas said. "When we were in Detroit, I remembering we drafted an athlete who played with asthma named Dennis Rodman, who had a pretty good career."
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6/24/2004 11:39 PM