Yall make it out like buying a pick is much easier than it really is. This is a very deep draft, and there are a lot of bottom dwelling teams in the early 2nd rounds who could use all the help they can get.
Guys like Chris McCullough Rashad Vaughn (both of whom were freshman this season, and McCullough was in the top 10 discussion before his ACL injury and is a multi talented athletic 6'10 player), Cliff Alexander (another player with NBA tools and was in lotto discussion before an underwhelming season but we have seen players like that translate better into the NBA than college, especially the athletic players who's skillsets are better suited for the fast paced NBA like Alexander), both Harrison twins, Dakari Johnson, Terry Rozier, Jarell Martin, Rakeem Christmas, Ryan Boatright, Norman Powell, etc. as well as a HANDFUL of foreigners with legitimate NBA potential.
Many, if not all, of these players would probably be first round picks in a lesser draft and these teams holding 2nd round picks know this. They know that they could take a gamble on a consensus first round potential talen like Chris McCullough and not even give him a guaranteed contract. This isnt the normal "oh lets just give Minnesota a million dollars cash and then we can get an early 2nd round pick" kind of year." IMO its going to be a little bit tougher to trade into that 2nd round area this year, especially early in the 2nd. Maybe you would be able to do that in the late 40s or 50s, but who even cares at that point?
This is a major reason why, despite the **** the NY media would make of it at the time, I think it might actually turn out to be a forward-thinking savvy move to trade for Gerald Wallace and the 28th pick. The Cs, with all of their picks, would be more than willing to give up that pick as a means to shed Wallace's unwanted contract similar to how we included Shump to get rid of JR. Especially if they plan on making a serious run at an a--star talent or 2 like Kevin Love, like Danny Ainge has hinted at throughout the season and postseason.
I think that this would pay off for us because we need as many assets as we could get our hands on at this point. That 28th overall draft pick could easily be equivalent to a lottery pick in a normal draft. And remember, we don't have our first round pick next year.
I'm a Syracuse guy so I might be biased here but I follow Chris McCullough very closely and I would LOVE to see him on the Knicks roster. I Loved what I saw out of "Brisk" in the beginning of the season. Here we had an 18 year old 6'10 athletic forward who basically didall that you wanted from an 18 year old PF. Sure he was raw as ****, but he really didn't do anything poorly. There was not one single aspect of his game where you thought "Wow, this could really come back to hurt him later on in the NBA."
He is a legit 6'10, athletic, can put the ball on the ground, block shots, rebound, and had a nice silky mid range stroke that was only improving and he was very solid from the line. Sure, if you want to be picky I guess he could have bulked up a little bit and developed a post game but the kid is 18 ******* years old and the NBA has been moving further and further away from that ****. Long, lanky, and athletic is the way to go nowadays and that is what Chris McCullough is.
Needless to say, I was very excited to see what McCullough had in store for his sophomore season. Then, in an unexpected turn, like a ******* moron, he decided to declare for the draft after his freshman year. This seemed like it would be a given in the beginning of the season when he was playing himself into premature top 10 consideration but his play had dipped off a bit during the start of conference play and then he tore his ACL. This was unfortunate, but I figured that if there was one positive to take away from his ACL injury it was that we would get to see him at Cuse as a Sophomore. **** he probably would have been preseason 1st team all ACC..
But then like a ******* idiot, he declared. And I am not the one to ever get on these kids cases for declaring early. I know how thngs are and I know how difficult it is to say no when the $ is staring at you directly in the face. But with McCullough, this was probably the ONLY case where I full on think he is an absolute ****** for declaring. And not just as a Cuse fan.
For beginners, NBADRAFT.net had him projected to be the 5th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. Now a lot can happenbetween now and then obviously but there is a good chance he could have played himself into the top 10 of next years draft if he had a solid bounce back season. Instead, this fool puts himself into one of the deepest draft classes in years coming off a torn ACL which will keep him from proving himself to teams during the combine and workouts. By declaring this year, he basically put himself in position to be a 2nd round pick with a non guaranteed contract as opposed to a lottery pick aking millions of dollars right away + insurance for his knee injuries. Just moronic.
But regardless, I still love this kid's potential and somebody will obviousy take aq chance on him. If we traded for that 28th pick and drafted McCullough and he rehabs from his surgery well, that could potentially be the lottery pick that we will miss out from having our pick traded next season. I LOVE the idea of that. Maybe his stupidity will ome out to help us. He is a Bronx kid who played at Cuse also, so you know it would be extra motivation for him to make it big with the Knicks.
As for Gerakd "Crash" Wallace, this is a player I have always had a thing for. As much as I hated him on Brooklyn I have always known I would love him on my team. This dude has floated around the league for years and I feel like because of the grit and energy he brings to the court every single game, he deserves to end his career as a vluable role player playing in front of fans who appreiate what he does. I think that could be us. I could see "Crash" ending his career in NY. I know that $10 million is unappealing, but if we do this and get that 28th pick in the process, we could resign him for the minimum or colse to it in 2016, get ourselves a valuable role player/fan favorite, and a potential major piece/starter with that draft pick.
I know that trade doesnt sound that appealing right now, but if you look at it in the long run and what could potentially happen, it could work out GREAT for us down the road.
I would definitely at least make a phone call to Danny Ainge if I am Phil Jackson... If you could convince Ainge to take on Calderon so that he could use the stretch provision on him and save him $7-8 million in cap space (which is what he is looking for from the trade) than I make that deal without even having to think twice about it,