excellent news! right off the bat he has better work ethic than Curry and Kwame! 2 more days to go baby!

I look at it this way, how do I project this kid? If this kid is already willing to work very hard, he is a legit 7 feet in bare feet and a svelt 275, yet still growing according to his doctor, has a high IQ, nice set of raw skills, what would he do at Uconn in year 2? Well I would say something like 18 points 10 rebounds 3 blocks shooting 60%+ in 26-28 minutes wouldnt be a stretch. that would probably earn him pick 1 with the age limit in place.

Is it guaranteed that any player who is older than him, Granger, Taft, Wright etc.. is it a lock from watching them play that they will have a material impact on the Knicks in year 1? I mean Chris Taft has problems going against aaron Gray in practice, gave up on his books, put on weight, showed up every other game, and thats just in college. Is he a top prospect? yes of course--is he really a better prospect long term than Bynum? well we will see, but from everything I have read ,seen etc.. Im skeptical, I think Bynum is the better long range prospect. With all of our fowards making so much money, where does Chris taft fit in? He can play C, but he also put on weight his soph year from 230-260--is his real weight 230-240? Maybe Im wrong, but in terms of just being a hard arse worker, so far Chris has not done it.

We were one of the dumb teams that skipped over amare stoudemire, I fear that we may end up being a team that skips over this kid because the front office is in panic mode. Isiah sais 2-3 years, but what has he done so far that he can be taken with face value, hes been dishonest at every turn. I know there is pressure on him, but he has to lay it on the line for dolan--you have to do this this and this or you are going to be living in medicority

Posted by gunsnewing:

who do you think has a higher ceiling Briggs? Bogut or Bynum? I gotta say Bogut..his intensity and maturity really impressed the hell out of me! I think Bogut at worst is a 16pts, 10rebs & 2 blks Center while Bynum as of today might be a 12 & 10. Its hard to tell how he racks up with Bogut since we didn't see him in College. Its just that I'm sure there's been many 7'0 centers who've dominated HS. It takes a lot to dominate college level competition and having a solid NBA career is that much harder. Whatever Bynum becomes he definitely worth the risk where we most likely will pick!

I already think Bogut will be a superstar. I think he's a clear number 1 pick and an instant impact player.

I think Bynum has huge upside, as in NBA all star, franhcise C upside. But you have downside to factor in. There are two worlds in this draft, one in the top 3-4 picks and the rest of everyone else.
My 50 cents puts Bynum on the upside tract--from IQ to work ethic, to skills, to size and pick 8 is leverage in his case. right now, we don't even know who we are talking about, the kid we saw at the MCD game was 300, this kid now is 275. Obviously there is going to be a mobility + conditioning increase. hes got great hands, hes huge skilled and only 17. we'll have to see.

Bynum has been inserted in the NBADraft.net mock draft and they put him at 22. I don't thing it would be hard for us to get a possible 16-22 pick in exchange of the 30 and something else. It would make a perfect draft for us if we got one of the top 10 players with the first one (Green? Vazquez? Felton? Splitter? Webster? etc.) and drafted Bynum with the second! Im all for it!

Posted by Knick2001:

Briggs: Couldn't Bynum also turn out to be another DeSagana Diop, a big disappointment for Cleveland?

Anyone can be a bust, who is the sure thing after 4? Im pretty sure both Williams Paul and Bogut will have immediate impact, but after that, even Green isnt ready and who knows what could happen.

But lets get back to Diop.

Diop isnt the brightest book on the shelf--Diop did NOTHINg to help improve himself over 3 years. he was always overweight, he didnt play or practice hard and bang. Would I give up on Diop? No if I were the Knicks I would look at him this summer myself, why not?

But the evidence we have on Bynum

High IQ--solid SAT score high GPA and graduated at 17
Work ethic--came back from a bone bruise to his kne which made him jump up to 335 at one point--big guys sitting doing nothing will put on weight. He gets to play in 11 games this year, plays very well not in the best of shape, then does very well against the top of his class in the all star games

Comes home and starts two a day workouts and changes his diet loses another 25 pounds down to what i hear is a very svelt 275. I mean we have had Mike Sweetney for 2 years--hes 5 years older than this kid, why didnt he do it? this is a much bigger person than Mike

If you add in confidence work ethic desire to learn and get better, intelligence, massive size with good agility big strong hands that are soft and multiple nice yet raw skill sets, well you are way ahead of the game. You see how big Jerome James is, that how big Bynum is NOW AFTER he lost his weight, 7-1 275. you see how jerome can play--imagine the same size with the same agility in a kid who is intelligent and works hard?

So far this kid has not shown one negative

Ive come to the conclusion that there is no way, NO way, NO way, that this kid isnt going top 14 picks. It isnt going to happen. I know a lot more about this kid reading up on him over the last 3 years, his coach posts over on Uconn Insiders. this kid has I would say an 80% chance in the next 2 years[and will still be 19] to develop into a serious, SERIOUS asset in a league void of guys his size.

I'd be very interest in Bynum, Green or Webster at the eighth spot. I'm not impressed with the college players that will go in that area.

After thinking about it, I would take Bynum at 8 if he impressed in the workout. Sometimes you have to take a risk, but this is one of those smart risks. Bynum could be the next great center.

Posted by Bonn1997:

If Bynum looks good in workouts, I'd definitely take him at #8. I wouldn't reach conclusions about his work ethic just because he lost weight right before the draft lottery. Even lazy people work their hardest when they have to (be it before the draft or in a contract year). If he keeps it off after he's drafted, it would be impressive.

It's one thing if a 26 year old player with an ending contract coming up does everything in his power to get in shape etc.. it's different when a 17 YO who really didnt have to move a muscle because he was guaranteed to go 18-25 without any work, but decided to lose the weight anyway.

But forget that, working hard in school and acheiving very good grades is a huge sign of
character, determination, work ethic, striving to be better etc,, and he did very very well in school. maybe a lot of guys would let that go, he didnt.

we'll see, the workout is coming up in 10 days and we should hear all about it