New York Knicks: Eight players to consider early in 2020 NBA Draft

8. Wendell Moore (Shooting Guard/Small Forward)

Wendell Moore is the perfect, modern-day 3-and-D prospect and has been really underrated coming into this draft. He is a versatile wing who has great lateral ability on defense as shown by his 2.5 steals and insane 1.5 blocks per game as a guard, in high school.

Moore is a great shooter and passer, as well, which he has shown by having above 80 percent free-throw shooting, and while he is not much of a playmaker, he certainly is a quick decision-maker with the ball in his hands and collects more hockey assists than almost anybody in this draft who isn’t a point guard.

Moore is very much so a low usage player as well, which is perfect for the New York Knicks as a wing who can be a cheap defensive role player that can make three-pointers should be exactly what they want.

While Moore is not the greatest ball-handler, he can certainly drive to the rim and finish well on closeouts, as shown by a lot of his high school tapes. When describing Moore’s game, it’s kind of like describing a Robert Covington, Danny Green, or Josh Richardson’s games. While they may not all have superstar upside, they are high-level role players who can help a championship-caliber team get over the hump.

With Moore’s combination of being someone who has a winning mentality and, being someone who understands his limitations, he should be in this league for a long time.

Not only that, but Moore is also someone who has proven to be an incredibly strong and durable athlete as well, and he has shown that by missing very limited games, getting a high amount of rebounds per game for a guard (8.2 rebounds), while also having high steals and blocks rates. Really, the only minus to taking him No. 9 is his scoring and playmaking upside but if the Knicks really want a safe 3-and-D-type pick, then Wendell Moore should be their guy at No. 8.

With such a deep draft class of young guards, if things go wrong with Dennis Smith Jr, or RJ Barrett, the New York Knicks have a chance to select either their guard of our future, or if things go right, select a high-caliber 3-and-D role player that can help the Knicks ball dominate young core get even better at playing winning basketball.

While the Knicks front office does want to start winning now, next year’s season also has to be an evaluation year, to see who moves forward with the team into 2020-21. The draft helps push that forward.