After such an impressive 2020-21 campaign, the NY Knicks head into the offseason with plenty of momentum and a high-end drive to continue building something special.
Though the bulk of attention will be focused on their free agency efforts and potential summer blockbusters, first up on the docket, the front office will have to go through July 29th’s NBA Draft where they’ll find themselves holding the rights to four selections, two of which that will find themselves falling in the first round at 19 and 21st overall.
Over the past few months, we at DK have gone about and shared our opinions about who we believe to be quality prospects that the franchise should look into acquiring.
Recently, Bleacher Report threw their two cents in and shared 3 players that they think should be considered with their 19th pick.
With this piece, it got our creative juices flowing and sparked a desire for us to push out a new game we like to call “Draft or Pass,” where we’ll be discussing some of B/R’s proposed draft targets from their article and state whether we believe it makes sense or not for the Knicks to pursue them.
So, without further adieu, let’s get started:
NY Knicks draft target No. 1) Trey Murphy III, SF/PF, Virginia
First up on the docket, we find Virginia forward, Trey Murphy III, who, though his Junior year at the collegiate level may not have been all that impressive on paper (11.3 points and 3.4 rebounds per game), writer, Zach Buckley, believes his, size, specific skill set, and overall intangibles may be too great for the NY Knicks to pass up on.
"Murphy is a 6’9″ combo forward who offers both long-range sniping and defensive versatility. Importantly, he has also already shown a willingness to stay within his role as evidenced by his impressive 50.3/43.3/92.7 shooting slash."
Now, Buckley is absolutely correct with his stance on how impressive Murphy’s 50/40/90 club inclusion is and, frankly, a team like New York could certainly use for such efficiency coming off the pine (their bench ranked just 20th in field goal percentage this past season).
That said, it is the belief of us at DK as well as many across the media landscape that the former Cavalier could be available at their second selection in the first round, with a recent mock by NBC Sports seeing him drop to as far as 28th on the board.
With this in mind, though we’re not opposed to seeing the Knicks nabbing Trey Murphy III in this year’s draft, we believe he’d be a solid fit at 21st on the night and arguably somewhat of a reach at 19.