Saturday, June 7, 2008

With the 6th pick the Knicks select.....


PICK
TEAM
PLAYER
VITALS

New York

D.J. Augustin
 Position: PG
Height: 6-0
Weight: 180
Age: 20
School: Texas
The skinny:The Knicks want a lead guard who can push the ball and hit an open jumper. But if Rose, Mayo and Bayless are off the board, they'll have a tough choice to make.

I had Danilo Gallinari here in the first two versions of this mock draft, thanks to his Italian ties with Mike D'Antoni.

However, a Suns source told me that D'Antoni wasn't a huge fan of Gallinari when he was shown some tape during the season, which has made me seriously reconsider that forecast.
The Knicks could gamble on one of the next two point guards on the board. D.J. Augustin is a great leader, a fantastic playmaker and the closest thing to Steve Nash in this draft. That will be a plus for D'Antoni. Russell Westbrook is also intriguing. He's a top-notch athlete, a tenacious defender and an emerging playmaker.
The other choice might be to go with the best player available. In my mind, that would be Anthony Randolph.

...It may be a little bit of a stretch to take Augustin, but the Knicks really have no choice, but to take a point guard. To me there are only 4 options in this draft.

(1) Find some way no matter what to trade up for Derrick Rose. Don't think they would be able to do so, but you never know.
(2) Trade Jamal Crawford for T.J. Ford and draft OJ Mayo/Eric Gordon/Anyone.
(3) Hope Jerryd Bayless falls to them.
(4) Draft DJ Augustin.

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Posted by Nick Scala at 5:44 PM  

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Friday, May 30, 2008

T.J. Ford Available


According to the New York Post and other sources the Toronto Raptors have been actively shopping point guard T.J. Ford.

Despite his smallish size, give or take 5'11 170 lbs., Ford has blazing speed and is extremely efficient. If you go look at John Hollinger's player efficiency ratings you will see just how efficient. This is how the top 10 plays out:
RNK l Player l PER

1Chris Paul, NOR28.39
2Chauncey Billups, DET23.61
3Steve Nash, PHO21.16
4Deron Williams, UTH20.82
5Jose Calderon, TOR20.51
6T.J. Ford, TOR20.37
7Tony Parker, SAS20.04
8Baron Davis, GSW19.87
9Andre Miller, PHI18.51
10Jason Terry, DAL17.80

Just look at the two names behind him, Tony Parker and Baron Davis, two of the best point guards in the league. Now I am not saying he is better then them by any means, but it just gives you an idea of how he has played.

Andrew Smith of KnicksBlog thinks if the Knicks could do Jamal Crawford for T.J. Ford straight up it would be a 'no-brainer'. Not sure if you would call it a no-brainer, but in the end I would do it and you could use the #6 pick in the draft to select a shooting guard like OJ Mayo or Eric Gordon since the top point guard, Derrick Rose, will be long gone.

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Posted by Nick Scala at 9:40 PM  

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BallHype: hype it up!