We need D'Angelo Russell

The thing is that Okafor would be great for a team that's already great. He should be able to translate his ability to score at well reasonably well since he's got great footwork, is well built and is generally pretty polished offensively - there's a reason why he's been projected as first since he was 15. But he's not a 2 way player and may never be one. He's a liability on defense and ultimately doesn't have the all time great potential people are saying he has. Phil May like him though since the attention he may draw could open things up on but I think that's misleading as he doesn't show the elite difference in offensive rating minus defensive rating seen in Towns and Frank (not that I'd want him this early in the draft). Towns could be interesting cause he seems good in college but he needs to but on a lot of pounds to get position the way he does in college. To me that's more reasonable than saying okafor has to improve his athleticism. Towns is already a shooter and that's not compromised by gaining weight. Okafor offense could suffer if he slims down to be more nimble on D as he's not nearly the shooter that Towns is. Now turning to Russel, he could be perfect at this stage for the Knicks. They're not getting Gasol Aldridge or another top name guy after being the worst team in the league. They should focus on mid tier guys, I hope they pry Tobias Harris away from the magic (he's an RFA). I agree with you on Russel's potential, no need to add anything just that if he's not nba ready year 1 that's fine. We could use another year of tanking, I mean rebuilding. Hopefully we get bargain on a bargain then Harris and Russell. No big names to pointlessly push us back to average. We can gauge Russell's ability at PG and if he's got it, draft a top center with a good pick next year. If not try to get center in free agency and draft a PG and move russel to SG. But I know he's got it at PG just look at his passes and vision he looks like Magic in those highlights. Doubters of his PG skills should read the article by the supersonics analytics guy as he was assessing Westbrook at PG. Other than my d'angelo russel plan I'd be happy with drafting towns as we can develop him (mostly in the weight room). I rather not take Okafor, but if were screwed and get 4th pick I would like trading it to philly for embiid. He's sure fire much better than okafor probably towns too it's just injury risk so talk to doctors etc. Mudiay's shooting concerns me but I don't know much about him maybe I'll change my mind. Basically I think they should draft a guy who can reasonably be expected to do it all. New York is too big of a stage for a system team like Atlanta or the spurs. We're gonna end up getting another max player so let's embrace that and draft to try and have one of the best starting 5s. I don't think okafor fits that and possibly not Mudiay's either. Russel, Towns and Embiid all do and I would be pumped to have any of them (assuming doctors OK embiid).

/r/NYKnicks Thread Parent