NY Knicks: 3 players NY can target with pick #21 in 2021 NBA Draft

Should the NY Knicks target Chris Duarte with pick 21?

Always enjoy being able to bring a New York boy home!

Chris Duarte spent a few years living up in the Troy, New York area to finish out high school.

He’s an older rookie as he just turned 24 years old, so that could deter a lot of rebuilding teams from drafting him, but at pick 21, he’d be a perfect fit.

The quintessential 3-and-D wing standing at 6’6 190lbs, Duarte is a scoring sniper who loves to shoot the 3-ball.

On 5.5 attempts last season, Duarte shot over 42% and scored over 17 points per game.

He’s also a decent playmaker and rebounder averaging 2.7 assists and 4.6 boards.

We compared the Oregon sharpshooter to Evan Fournier, Jeremy Lamb, and Kevin Huerter and if he ends up even 85% of either of those players I’d take it.

Another colleague here at Daily Knicks said that Duarte is a better version of Reggie Bullock and that makes a ton of sense.

Adam Kester wrote:

"While Duarte isn’t a supreme athlete, he’s an intelligent defender. He has good instincts in his positioning and rotating, but he may struggle with the speed of some NBA guards. He may not ever be labeled a “lockdown” defender but Duarte should continue to grow into a competitive defender who can be a 3-and-D wing. Duarte has some point guard passing skills but not enough to project as a starting point guard."

At pick #21, I think Duarte would be an absolute steal.