GoNyGoNyGo wrote:I think NY should trade up to get Bamba or Doncic. 2 players that wont be there at 9 and both have the ability to transform the team.Doncic would give NY a Point Forward and allow the guards to be free flowing players.
Bamba would work really well with KP. 2 Rim protectors on Defense allowing NY to pay more attention to the 3 point line defense.
The following is a true story about the NBA and the draft.
Back when Don Nelson coached the Golden State Warriors the first time ( i.e. the Run TMC Era), he, like most coaches, had an advantage in terms of local NCAA teams. Scouting and film and advanced metrics, none of that was like back then like it is today. If a NCAA team was local to you, you simply had a massive advantage in terms of seeing certain prospects play and talking to their coaches, their parents, etc, etc.
Nelson, recognizing the massive pivot drought of that era, desperately wanted a PF/C from Stanford. An elite college player who he had watched for his entire college career and felt he would make a massive difference for his team. He was willing to trade one of his existing players to move up in the draft to get him.
The target? Adam Keefe.
The player Nelson was willing to trade to get him along with his own lower draft pick? Mitch Richmond.
The Hawks turned Nelson down.
This wasn't just a comedy of errors on one side, it was on both sides. This was Don Nelson, one of the first to understand the imapact of mining the old Continental Basketball Association. The first coach to introduce the Stretch 4/Stretch 5 concept. One of the first NBA executives to entrench in scouting overseas. The coach who set the tone and early footprints for the modern space and pace game we see today. The coach who groomed Gregg Poppovich. The basketball mind who spawn a legion of future GMs/executives from his "tree", including Otis Smith, Rod Higgins, Chris Mullin, Kevin Pritchard and a few others. The basketball mind who was the first to test the "Hack A Shaq" format, using Byron Houston and Tyrone Hill to batter other players long before there was even a Shaq in the league. The coach who had his gunners like Steve Alford shoot three pointers on a fast break, recognizing the value of the three point shot before the league shifted that way. Also a really excellent drafter and evaluator of talent when you consider his entire career. ( He traded Richmond for Billy Owens, so no one is perfect)
The point being you can have one of the best basketball minds on the entire planet. One who shaped the league as we see it today. And he would have traded Mitch Richmond and a first round pick for Adam Keefe.
There are very few mortal locks in the NBA. You knew LBJ and Shaq and Duncan would be stars. But everyone else?
The Knicks are limited in assets. They are not in a position to move quantity of assets. That should end any discussion about moving up. Even if they picked a future Hall Of Famer by trading up, they'd still be gutted to do so.
