2020 NBA Draft: LaMelo Ball, and Jalen Smith

The New York Knicks have been in DIRE need of a Point Guard since the departure of Raymond Felton in the summer of 2014, so it’s no surprise that in my dream scenario I would have the Knicks selecting LaMelo Ball the consensus best Point Guard in this years draft class and arguably the best player in the entire draft. LaMelo Ball is a 6’8 Point Guard with incredible vision, unlimited range, and confidence if he can develop a consistent 3PT in the NBA he will be a force in the league. Not only does LaMelo possess an incredibly high offensive ceiling but also a good defensive ceiling as well with his 6’10 wingspan and his subpar lateral movement. Along with LaMelo, I would want the Knicks to select Jalen Smith with their second first-round pick. Jalen Smith is a tall and lanky Power Forward out of Maryland, Jalen Smith is an incredible shot-blocker, a great lob threat in the PnR, and a solid 3-POINT shooter shooting 37% from deep last year in his sophomore season. If the New York Knicks were to select Jalen Smith and give him the nod to start immediately the Knicks would have arguably the best shot-blocking frontcourt in the NBA.

Coaching search: Kenny Atkinson

After firing former Head Coach David Fizdale in early December the New York Knicks are once again in the market for a New Head Coach to lead the team into the future. Since the Knicks announced that they would begin coaching interviews last week there have been many reports on who the frontrunners for the job are. Those being former Minnesota Timberwolves Head Coach Tom Thibodeau, last year’s interim head coach Mike Miller and recently fired Kenny Atkinson. Tom Thibodeau is a coach renowned for his “defense-first” philosophy with his strong side defense being nearly unstoppable if done correctly, however, Thibodeau is not perfect being known for overplaying his players and budding heads with players. The second frontrunner for the head coaching job is Mike Miller and unlike the previously mentioned Tom Thibodeau, Mike Miller has a more recent tie with the New York Knicks organization being that he was the interim head coach last year after David Fizdale was fired. Now Mike Miller isn’t exactly known for much, being that up until last December he was only the coach of the Knicks G-League affiliate the Westchester Knicks, however, in that short time he has shown that he can find ways to win even with less talent on his roster than the majority of teams he faced going 17-27 as the Knicks head coach. Last but certainly not least former Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson. Atkinson is known for his superb player development, developing the likes of D’Angelo Russell and Caris Levert to all-star caliber players, however, like his counterpart Tom Thibodeau he is not a perfect coach often being too reliant on his game plan and unwilling to move away from it.

Free agency: Christian Wood, Carmelo Anthony, Joe Harris 

• Christian Wood: The New York Knicks are in DIRE need of a stretch big to pair alongside RJ Barrett and Mitchell Robinson who both lack any form of shooting as of right now, enter Detroit Pistons Power Forward Christian Wood. Christian Wood is a 6’10 Power Forward with a great motor that seemingly never runs out he’s also a great shooter from deep shooting 38.6% from behind the arc lastly the New York Knicks have been linked with him since the end of the trade deadline.

• Carmelo Anthony: I have the Knicks targeting Carmelo “Melo” Anthony for a multitude of reasons but the main reasons are; He will help fix the culture, we owe him, and lastly he can still flat out play. The reason why I believe Carmelo Anthony can help fix the culture of the New York Knicks is that he is widely respected in the league and if we can fix our relationship with him and treat him better than we did last time this may (emphasis on the “may”) help put us back in the good graces with stars all around the league. I feel as if we owe Melo because when he was here last time we just blamed him for everything wrong with the team and he took all the criticism in stride while keeping his head up. Lastly, i’m not saying if sign Melo he should start I think it would be best for him to be put on the second unit and build it around him in 2019 he more than proved he had something still left in the tank putting up 15.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG while shooting a solid 37.1% from deep. 

• Joe Harris: Joe Harris could be the spot of shooter the Knicks have always been looking for, someone that RJ and Mitch to hit the long ball. The Knicks ranked 27th in the league in 3pt% at 33%. Joe Harris is a career 41% from 3. He could help the spacing issue the Knicks have by being the number 1 shooter on the team.

Additional moves: Trade Julius Randle, Trade Dennis Smith Jr, Promote Kenny Wooten, resign Moe Harkless, more

It’s no secret that most of the fanbase has already turned on Julius Randle with most fans calling for him to be traded, in this scenario of him getting traded I would package both him and DSJ and hopefully get a second-round pick and some cap filler in return. Another move I would make is promoting Kenny Wooten to the main roster. Wooten has shown his skills in the G-League becoming a highlight-reel machine with his insane block and his incredible dunks that simply most humans on this earth could never dream of doing. The last move I’d want to happen is switching Frank Ntilikina to the shooting guard position allowing him to be more versatile and put him in a position to shoot more 3’s which he is surprisingly good at.

Roster/Depth

PG: LaMelo Ball, Jared Harper
SG: Joe Harris, Frank Ntilikina
SF: RJ Barrett, Moe Harkless
PF: Christian Wood, Carmelo Anthony
C: Mitchell Robinson, Kenny Wooten

Win Prediction: 39 (9th in the EAST)

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