Knicks Rumors: NY ‘gathering a lot of information’ on Sharife Cooper

The Knicks are apparently doing their homework on Auburn’s Sharife Cooper in hopes that he could potentially be their point guard of the future.

It may be difficult for them to get their hands on Cooper all the way down at pick 19, but if he slips, there’s heavy speculation that the Knicks are very interested.

Cooper is believed to have all the makings of a top-tier talent in this class…so why is he being projected so low?

The main concerns with Cooper are his height and his shooting from long-range. He shot under 23% on 4.8 3-point attempts per game last season.

Also, Cooper is listed at 6’1, but if you told me he was 5’11, I’d believe you.

Should Sharife Cooper be on the Knicks’ radar during the 2021 NBA Draft?

As many of us know, guys that short are generally defensive liabilities in this league, and unless you possess other-worldly superpowers like Trae Young, or are a Hall of Fame talent like Chris Paul, most guys in that 6-foot range end up fizzling out and being more so Isaiah Thomas than either of the 2 aforementioned superstars.

That being said, Ian Begley of SNY reported that his sources say the Knicks are “gathering a lot of information” about Auburn’s Sharife Cooper and are trying to figure out where he could be picked when July 29th rolls around.

Begley also mentioned that the Knicks are still doing their due diligence on point guard options via free agency and through trades, but are still strongly considering Cooper as their guy.

Sharife has been garnering some high praise around the league as of late.

His former head coach at Auburn, Bruce Pearl, had this to say:

"Offensively, guys like this don’t come around every year, they just don’t.Obviously, you’re taking a chance because of his size and you’re taking a chance because of the body of work. There’s not a ton to look at.He played 12 games in the SEC. But you’ve got to go back to EYBL and understand that most of the guys in the NBA were in the EYBL and they couldn’t stop him there.As a junior, he won a national championship in high school, didn’t lose a game. And he averaged 20 and (8) for me in 12 games. So every level, he’s checked those boxes."

While he’s got some obvious flaws, Cooper checks off a lot of boxes for exactly what the Knicks have been looking for during the better part of the last two decades.

I personally wouldn’t trade up for Cooper, but if he fell to 19, the Knicks would be silly not to take a flier on the shifty facilitator.