Which NBA Draft sleepers should the New York Knicks be watching and scouting during the Sweet 16 of the 2017 NCAA Tournament?
The 2017 NBA Draft will go a long way towards defining Phil Jackson’s legacy as team president of the New York Knicks. Jackson has found a pair of quality young building blocks in Kristaps Porzingis and Willy Hernangomez, but New York’s perimeter has minimal traces of a youth movement.
Although the first round is where the Knicks will look to find a star to pair with Porzingis and Hernangomez, the second round could be hiding a diamond in the rough.
New York is in possession of two second-round draft picks in 2017. The first was acquired from the Chicago Bulls during the Derrick Rose trade, and the second was secured via the 2015 Pablo Prigioni trade with the Houston Rockets.
With those two picks, which project to be in the mid-40s and late-50s, the Knicks could be the next team to find a steal in the second round of the NBA Draft.
Since 2006 alone, multi-time All-Stars Marc Gasol, Paul Millsap, and Isaiah Thomas have been found in the second round. Quality rotational players such as Will Barton, Allen Crabbe, Jordan Clarkson, Jae Crowder, Patty Mills, and Kyle O’Quinn were also second-round draft picks.
More applicably, Jackson acquired Hernangomez during the second round of the 2015 NBA Draft—the ultimate testament to the value of in-depth scouting.
The question is: which diamonds in the rough should the New York Knicks be turning their attention to during the Sweet 16 of the 2017 NCAA Tournament?