The New York Knicks made a lot of moves during the 2021 NBA Draft night. Here’s a summary of what went down.
The second draft of the Leon Rose era New York Knicks has come and gone and it’s time to take a look at how it fared for them. The Knicks entered the draft with the 19th, 21st, 32nd and 58th picks. There were rumors during the week that the front office had made calls to teams selecting in the late lottery trying to move up but this never came to fruition.
When it finally came time for the Knicks to pick at 19 it was announced that they had proposed a trade with the Charlotte Hornets that would see their heavily protected, first-round pick next year be sent to New York, and the 19th pick would be heading to Charlotte who would pick up Texas forward Kai Jones. This would seem to indicate that whoever the Knicks were targeting with the 19th pick was off the board at this stage, possibly Florida guard Tre Mann who went one place before at 18 to the Oklahoma City Thunder. It could also mean that the Knicks are stockpiling assets for a yet unforeseen trade.
The wait for the next Knicks selection wasn’t as long but when the 21st pick, who was Keon Johnson, was announced it was alongside another trade: the Knicks were sending the 21st pick to the Clippers for the 25th pick and a future second-round pick. It was shown again that the Knicks were in asset acquisition mode and believed that they could pick up their players later in the draft while stockpiling future selections.
Pick 25 was the first selection that the Knicks would keep. They selected Houston guard Quentin Grimes. The 6’5” guard shot 40.3% from three last season and averaged 17.8 ppg, 5.7 rebounds and 1.4 steals over 30 games. Grimes fits what coach Thibodeau was looking for: a three-point shooter that plays defense. Grimes could turn out to be a great fit for the Knicks’ system and a great pickup at 25.
Knicks were to select at 32 and when the pick came Villanova’s Jeremiah Robinson-Earl was selected and traded to the Thunder for picks 34 and 36. The Knicks would select Rokas Jokubaitis, a Lithuanian guard from the Euroleague and Miles McBride from West Virginia with the 34 and 36th picks respectively.
Jokubaitis is a 20-year-old guard who averaged 7 ppg and 2.5 ast per game for Zalgiris of the Euroleague last year. Rokas was also voted the 2020-21 EuroLeague Best Young Player by the EuroLeague Players Association and signed a four-year deal with Barcelona earlier this year meaning that Rokas could decide to stay in Europe next season to continue his development.
McBride averaged 15.9ppg while shooting 41.4% from three and 4.8asts along with 1.9 steals through 29 games for West Virginia last season. Marc Berman of the New York Post had also reported on Tuesday that Tom Thibodeau was pushing for the Knicks to draft McBride after being impressed with his pre-draft workout. McBride again fits the mold of a defensive wing that can shoot.
Pick 58 was the only pick that the Knicks didn’t move and they decided to take a chance on Texas big man Jericho Sims. Sims will have to sit behind Mitchell Robinson for the center spot and Obi Toppin and Julius Randle for the forward’s spots. This may give him some much-needed time to develop while running with the second unit. He averaged 9.2 ppg and 7.2 rebounds for Texas last season but impressed many scouts at the draft combine when he equaled the second-highest vertical in combine history with a 44.5-inch max vertical.
Time will tell how the second draft of Leon Rose’s tenure will fair but it seems like they successfully picked up players that fit their wants while also adding more assets for any future trades. Free Agency also kicks off on August 2nd and the Knicks will be looking to strengthen at the point guard spot, and other areas so the next couple of weeks will be busy ones for the Knicks. What would you grade this year’s draft? Let us know in the comments below.
Check out the KFTV Reaction to the draft in the NBA Draft watch-along party which features some special guests below!
