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Probably not as much draft day drama or big decision making as some of us thought. "Prior" is somewhat vague, but my own feeling is that Phil made the promise after the aborted workout, or shortly after consulting about it with his draft team.

I expect that Jackson simply told Kristaps that if you're still there at #4, we will take you.

The 3 people Phil said he was targeting were obviously Russell, OK4, and Porzingis, and he was going to take whichever one of them fell to 4. He knew one of them had to be there, so he might have made the same promise to Russell. Not sure if he ever spoke to OK4.

This would also mean to me that in the days shortly before the draft he was never really considering the usual suspects: Mudiay, Winslow, Stein, and later on, Hezonja.

I think when Kristaps called the Knicks a "great organization" (Clearly showing a lack of knowledge about the team's recent history) and told an interviewer that how Jackson would use him in the Triangle was a private matter, he clearly knew that he might very well be a Knick in the near future.

Seems that the draft drama might have been created in our heads and in our threads... but the reality is that Phil was probably playing with us, or we were simply unable to read between his lines.

This is a bit like the Gallo pick - great talent that few other teams knew anything about. Too bad injuries sideline a all star career imo. I hope Porzingis stays healthy and we get to see what he can be.

The one thing that can keep a player in the league is having NBA skills and KP has that. He will get pushed around a little but not so much in Mid Range and 3pt Range. He can also slash to the basket and stay in motion in this offense. I wouldn't expect him to be posting up a lot early on. Let him run the floor and find the open spaces in this offense. Let him get PnR dunks and dump offs. Just being tall and athletic KP should be able to get some easy buckets.

CrushAlot wrote:Listening to Givony podcast. Said Hinkie was in Seville 10 times to watch Kristaps this year.

Means the Embiid injury might have been the deciding factor in his choice. Unless you had a trade down partner, I have to wonder if you take OK4 if Embiid is healthy, since they are similar in many ways.

He was also trying to buy out Saric's contract until shortly before the draft.

I think Hinkie was devastated that Russell was not there- I hear the crap about how he and Morey downplay the importance of PGs, and I really wonder what is going on there- but you have to think they were desperate for him to fall, and I had heard that Philly was possibly going to trade up to get Russell.

Went on to the RealGM Philly site- looked at one thread, and all I remember is that it seemed every other comment was about acquiring "assets." Seems like they've all been brainwashed.

Feel real bad for OK4- he was supposedly a Laker fan, and like Porzingis, I think he refused to work out for Philly, but I wonder about the folks he was training with pre-draft. Can I assume that they were the type of guys Porzingis and Turner trained with, or the Kentucky kids, who all came in physically stronger for their workouts, with fine-tuned BB skills, from what I could see?