8. New York Knicks .

Team needs: C, C, C.

Reasons: With a slew of undersized power forwards and no cap room for years to come, Isiah Thomas will look towards this draft and future drafts for help in the front court. Last year, Thomas drafted Trevor Ariza, which turned out to be a steal, and hes only 19 years old. The Knicks still have a little youth, but no cap room to go after a Kwame Brown this summer. It has been rumored that he could be a Knick for Kurt Thomas.

What could make this deal a tough one is that KT has a trade kicker in his contract. Washington may not be willing to pay for that. While everyone in New York will not tolerate a rebuilding project, there arent many ready-now bigmen available. The most ready is Fran Vasquez, but he's only an inch taller than Kurt Thomas, the Knicks' best power forward who was forced to play center after they dealt Nazr to San Antonio for Malik Rose. Chris Taft could be available, but why draft the next Kwame if you can get the actual Kwame in the summer?

They draft: Johan Petro, C, Pau Orthez, 18 yrs.

Reasons: Isiah sees something not many people may see: a bigger Marcus Camby. Petro is still very young, but he is very big for his size. He is very athletic, something very few centers have. He will take some patience, but once he's ready, he'll blossom. He can become a bigger Theo Ratliff, using his long arms to get to balls most centers would have a hard time blocking. He can also run the floor well for a player his size. Some Knick fans may not like this because of the first Frenchman they drafted: Freddy Weis. First off, Petro is a hundred times better at 18 than Weis was. Second, there is no Ron Artest in this draft that the Knicks would be passing up. Third, Petro would never let someone jump over him. The one problem could be that some people will chastise this pick because he is simply not ready right now. He also may have a buyout clause in his contract, as do most European players.

30. New York Knicks (from San Antonio)

Team needs: C, C, C.

Reasons: Knick fan only wish they didn't have to have this pick from San Antonio. They'd rather have this pick from being the best team, not from trading their starting center whose contract expires next season for another undersized power forward, Rose. But if Isiah Thomas can turn this team around through the draft, then it won't be very long until they have this pick without getting it in a trade. The Knicks already addressed this with their lottery pick, but they still need more size to compete in the East. It may not look like it, but the tide is starting to rise in the East.

New York wants to be a part of that. There is still a very good, and tall, player available that can play now while Petro develops.

They draft: Channing Frye, PF/C, Arizona, Se.

Why?: Frye improved his stock with a great NCAA tournament. If it wasn't for the influx of international players and high school players, he would be a lottery pick. 10 years ago, but he would've been drafted in the lottery. Frye possesses a great shooting touch for a 7 footer. He can step out beyond 15 feet and make his shot. Most centers would let him have it. He is very quick, too. He can get to loose balls a lot faster than most centers can. His main weakness is his strength. He has added a lot since his freshman year, but it's not enough for the NBA. The only problem with adding size is it may take away from what makes him stand out. If he adds size, he can body up against other centers, but he would then become one of them. If he can add bulk without losing any of his quickness, then the Knicks would have a very good player at a spot so late.

Posted by Pharzeone:

Posted by gunsnewing:

no way. the guy weighs 230-240 at best and looks more like 6-10. at 19years old and no experience playing in the U.S, against our bigmen [Edited by - gunsnewing on 05/25/2005 21:55:10]

What? How can you tell he is 6 10. He has already been measured. Let me also know how much experience Bynum has, did I miss the time he spent at UCONN.

Frye isnt falling to 30.. but we can get a good guard there.

Posted by diderotn:

To all of you who have been calling to draft a freaking guard or a player shorter than 6'10", even the experts know that it is wise for Isiah to draft at least 2 or 3 centers in this draft...as bad or as short of a team as we are, it would be purely stupid not to go big with all of our picks....I know, you are all saying that Detroit is not that big, but don't forget that Detroit is one of the longest teams in the league...Sheed is not shorter than 6'11", Dyess is at least 6'10", Cambell is a true 7', the young kid Darko is a true 7',and I am not even going to mention Tayshun Prince's length and Ben's.

Look, size does matter in the NBA...We were one of the worst defensive team in the league, and size played at least 70% of that. Now, If Isiah can add 1 or 2 more picks at our disposition, for sure we should consider drafting a guard....But that is not a necessity at the moment....