New York Knicks are comfortable with all 2019 NBA Draft scenarios

The New York Knicks front office expressed confidence with any draft position they garner in the 2019 selection show.

The draft will soon arrive and provide the New York Knicks a fortune. Who that is, exactly, remains to be seen, but the upcoming lottery process will decide where they select and how many players will leave the board by the time their pick arrives.

New York finished with the NBA’s worst record at 17-65. Normally, this would provide 25 percent odds for the first overall pick. Under the League’s new rules, however, they will share a 14 percent chance with the Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers, the second and third-worst records, respectively.

The lowest the Knicks can all in the lottery is fifth, which has an 86 percent chance to happen. The front office is aware of this “floor,” but they are prepped for wherever they fall in the top five, with the comfort level to select their guy, as general manager Scott Perry told the AP:

"“Our job is to prepare for every possible scenario,” general manager Scott Perry said. “So we know going into this draft we can either end up with 1, best-case scenario, 5, quote-unquote worst-case scenario, and we work all year long to be very prepared to tackle either scenario. And we’ll be comfortable doing so.”"

Via Mark Vaccaro of the New York Post, there was a small tidbit on the draft, but more related to free agency:

"“We’re not going to look at this summer as the end-all-or-be-all, per se,” the Knicks’ GM said. “We’re excited to be in the game. We’re not going to go off the rails if we don’t get [the marquee guys]. We’ll be very comfortable with the draft, and we can still add via trade to be a better basketball team.”"

The “marquee players” refers to free agency, but it can also apply to the draft and Zion Williamson, Duke’s star and the long-perceived first pick of the 2019 NBA Draft. Murray State’s Ja Morant and Duke’s RJ Barrett are other top talents in this class, but a peg below Williamson.

The calls for the 18-year-old phenom have spanned the entire 2018-19 season, whether fans shouting from the back for him in the blue and orange and to “save” the franchise, or those in attendance at Madison Square Garden. There was an audible “We want Zion!” chant near the end of the year.

Knicks fans’ disappointment in no Williamson is likelier than him landing with the team. Barrett, Morant, Jarrett Culver and De’Andre Hunter have a better position for this to happen in June. That might garner the classic jeers from the local fans on draft night. College basketball’s Most Outstanding Player would probably incite a raucous unlike anything seen in New York basketball.

Cleveland and Phoenix are not the only competition, either. The Chicago Bulls have a 12.5 percent chance, the Atlanta Hawks’ 10.5 percent is not far behind and four teams have odds between six and nine after them. It’s a marginal difference, but their odds to fall back in the lottery are also high.

As for the trade aspect, the Knicks can send this pick elsewhere for a veteran or trade down and accumulate more draft selections. They just picked up two, future first-round picks in the Kristaps Porzingis transaction, and acquiring another provides an unprecedented practice for an organization known by its draft-choice trading.

The New York Knicks will learn their fate on Tuesday, May 14, when the lottery process takes place. Patrick Ewing will represent them, as the hope lies ahead for their first top pick since Ewing himself in 1985.