Knicks Draft Profile: Washington State forward CJ Elleby

CJ Elleby: Fit with the Knicks

Depending on the mock draft, Elleby may be ranked anywhere from a late second-round pick to outside of the top 60. In the Athletic’s Sam Vecenie’s most recent big board, Elleby was ranked 83rd out of 100 players, and the odds are that he will spend some time in the G-league. USA today’s big board had Elleby ranked as the 65th best prospect.

Buying Elleby as a catch-and-shoot threat or secondary scoring threat means that you believe in his shot. A 39% field-goal percentage and 33% three-point percentage might be enough to scare off most GM’s, but improvement is possible. Wing players like Trevor Ariza, Al-Faroq Aminu, and Khris Middleton all struggled with some aspects of shooting in college, but Elleby’s improvement in free-throw shooting and overall career three-point shooting should provide hope for a positive development.

Despite this, I think there are better fits for the Knicks in the second-round. I’m not even sure I would sign Elleby to a two-way contract, which isn’t due to lack of talent, but rather the upside of current two-way placeholders Jared Harper and Kenny Wooten Jr. It might even be better to package the 38th pick to obtain another first-round pick or consider a draft-and-stash option.

In the end, Elleby’s talent and skillset aren’t polished enough to invest development capital amidst the forwards already on the roster.