Leon Rose, Scott Perry, Walt Perrin, and Frank Zanin have a lot of big decisions to make. Despite the reputation of the Knicks franchise, the four men are actually in a strong position with a lot of assets to build the team as they see fit. Even with their mismanagement and poor roster decisions, Steve Mills left the new group (who retained Perry) seven draft picks in the next two seasons and 12 in the next four.
Acquiring future draft picks was important for the Knicks to set themselves up for a bright future, but there is one catch: the Knicks won't be able to use all their picks. The simple mathematics of fitting seven new players onto the roster over the next two off-seasons or twelve in the next four are impossible, assuming the Knicks are not going to run out a roster full of players 22 years or younger.
Here are some of their options:
1. Draft and StashThe Knicks can actually make all their picks, if some of the players they select won't show up in the United States for a few years. One potential draft and stash target in 2020 is flashy Argentinian point guard Leandro Bolmaro, who played mostly for Barcelona's second team this season. He is 6'7" and not the best athlete, but has Ricky Rubio level passing ability.
The second potential foreign born player the Knicks could select and keep in Europe a couple of years is Aleksej Pokusevski. He is 7' with a great skill set, but weighs only 195 pounds and hasn't found his shot yet. It will be years before his body is NBA ready. He could be available at the end of the first round, but Bolmaro will likely be someone the Knicks might have to trade up to draft.
2. Trade Up To The Top Of This Year's DraftThe Knicks have the future draft capital to move up into the top couple of picks in this year's draft. There is a 63 percent chance the Knicks will pick sixth or later in this year's draft, and if they select in that range, it will require significant capital to move into the top two to select one of the top players in the draft.
Moving into the top two positions of the draft by leapfrogging more than a few other teams will require a lot more than late-first or early-second-round picks. Even if the Knicks packaged three picks between the 25th and 40th overall picks in the 2020 and 2021 drafts, it wouldn't likely move the needle enough to get near the top of the draft.
The Knicks would probably have to offer their own 2021 first-round pick in any such trade, and the protections on that pick would be the deciding factor as to whether a trade like that would make sense. The Knicks cannot afford to lose another shot at finding a potential franchise player next season just so they can move up a few spots in the draft and modestly improve their chances of landing one this season.
If the Knicks can protect their 2021 pick up to somewhere between the 12th and 15th picks, a trade like that might make sense. The chances another team agrees to such a trade with those type of protections is a coin toss, at best. With the right protections, and if the Knicks brass really believes in a player at the top of the draft, a move like this could make sense. Making a deal like this with the right protections on future draft picks is exactly why Leon Rose brought someone like Brock Aller, who is an expert in fields like this, on board.
3. Trade Up Into The Middle Rounds Of This Year's DraftThis is a far more realistic proposition and one the Knicks should be willing to pursue. The Knicks are in dire need of a point guard in the draft but there is a real chance one will not be available that will be good enough to select late in the Top 10 in the draft. They might want to select one later in the draft.
If the Clippers' pick the Knicks acquired in the Marcus Morris trade ends up landing at 27th overall, the Knicks would have to move 12-15 spots back into the late lottery to try to select a point guard, such as Kira Lewis Jr. from Alabama or Cole Anthony from North Carolina. Moving a dozen spots into the mid-first round is a lot easier to do than to move into the top of the draft.
A move like that could probably be made by offering the Mavericks' 2021 first-round pick (with high lottery protection) with a potential combination of early second round assets. With the 2021 draft considered to be much stronger than the 2020 one, however, moving too many picks from next year's class to jump up this year might not be the best thing to do.
4. Trade For Later PicksMore picks? This takes a page out of the Boston Celtics book. The Knicks can always trade their excess picks in current draft years for picks in future years when they don't have as much of an excess. Right now, the Knicks have an extra pick in 2020, two extra picks (one first, one second) in 2021, no extra picks in 2022 and one extra pick in 2023.
Acquiring an extra selection or two in the 2022 draft, which could be the much ballyhooed "double draft" where both first-year college players and high school graduates might be coming out in the same year, would be a good idea. The Knicks could also acquire an extra pick in the 2022 draft by trading down.
If a good opportunity never presents itself for the Knicks to cash in their excess picks in a draft night trade, pushing them further down the road is a viable option. It gives them the opportunity to move up and down every draft year, or continue to stockpile selections for a potential blockbuster non-draft night trade.
5. Trade For A StarAt some point? Maybe. Now? No. In order to even obtain a Bradley Beal-level star, the Knicks would have to liquidate at least three of their draft picks, even if they were willing to include their own with no lottery protection. If the Knicks wanted protection on their picks, the volume of picks would increase very quickly, or a trade wouldn't be able to get completed at all.
A player like Beal would help the Knicks improve, but if they liquidated their high draft picks and filled their cap space, the franchise would be left with few options to build around a player like that to form a sustained winner. A trade like this makes more sense once the team either drafts or signs a free agent that can be a potential franchise player.
Don't forget to check out my most recent episode of The Bank Shot, my Knicks podcast, with Corey Tulaba from Hardwood Herald. You can also subscribe to the Bank Shot on most podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts.
Follow John Schmeelk on Twitter: @Schmeelk
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