The Knicks met with a wide variety of prospects at the NBA Draft Combine

The Knicks draft process is in full swing and the team was well represented at the NBA Draft Combine this past week. Leon Rose, Tom Thibodeau, Scott Perry, and scouts Walt Perrin and Alex Kline were among the team members in attendance.

It may seem like standard procedure, but it’s nice to know how involved Knicks brass has been in the draft process. It’s a welcome change from Phil Jackson skipping the combine back in 2016. According to Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman, Walt Perrin was the “most popular exec” in attendance on Wednesday. 

The Knicks Interviewed a few prospects, including potential lottery picks

The running draft wish list among Knicks fans and NBA draft prognosticators is that New York is going to be eyeing “scorers”. It’s a pretty vague approach, but it makes sense.

New York is clearly going to want and address their offense and there will plenty of guards and wings who could be available when they select at 19 and 21. There could also be an even higher level of scoring talent available should the team attempt to trade up.

One of the most popular Knicks targets, James Bouknight, interviewed with the team and had sounded giddy (not a draft pun) when speaking about the possibility of playing in New York. Bouknight told the NY Post,

"“Being from New York, playing basketball growing up in New York, playing at the Garden, it would be a dream come true…I don’t even know how to explain that feeling. Going to New York would be fun — hit everyone up I grew up with. That would be like an accomplishment for me. I definitely told them I’m from New York. They kind of already knew.”"

There were a few other high-end prospects New York met with, including Scottie Barnes, who is almost a surefire top-10 selection.

Jalen Johnson, the big wing scorer from Duke, also stated he met with NY and 11 other teams.

Ziaire Williams, one of the most tantalizing wing prospects also met with New York and has had plenty of buzz about being a potential match at pick #19.

It’s hard to gauge the Knicks based on this interview process alone – it was a pretty wide range of prospects from skillsets and their likely draft range.

Some of the guard prospects the team met with included Jaden Springer and Jared Butler. The team also met with probable 2nd round selections Josh Christopher, Luka Garza, and Trey Murphy. The 2021 NBA Draft is July 29th.