March Madness: 3 Kentucky Wildcats Knicks fans should keep an eye on
1. Oscar Tshiebwe
As it stands today, the Knicks would have to do a bit of maneuvering if they had any interest in Oscar Tshiebwe because he’s projected to go in the late first or very early second round. I’ve actually seen mock drafts with him being selected in the early 20s, but I doubt he goes that high.
They’d certainly not use their first-round pick on him but maybe, JUST maybe, he could fall to them with their second-round pick. But in all likelihood, they’d probably have to package that pick with another if they were enamored by the Kentucky big man.
He’s is a bit undersized for a center but he makes up for his lack of height with wingspan and playing hard-nosed basketball.
He’s 6-foot-9 and 252 pounds with a 7-foot-4 wingspan to be exact … and he’s been having an outstanding season, looking like one of the better players in all of college basketball. He finished the regular season averaging 17 points and 15.2 rebounds per game.
He also runs the floor pretty well for his size, and kind of reminds me of Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart or a very poor man’s Bam Adebayo in that regard.
Tshiebwe is more of your traditional old school big where he’s not going to get you many buckets outside of the painted area, but on the right team, that really won’t matter.
If the Knicks do in fact lose Mitch, whether it be outright via free agency or by a sign-and-trade, pairing Tshiebwe with Jericho Sims next year would create a really fun one-two punch at the 5 spot.