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Eight “Great” Moments in Knicks Draft History

Eight “Great” Moments in Knicks Draft History

Tonight the NBA Draft will take place, one of the more interesting spectacles in professional sports.  The surprises, last minute deals, and, most of all, the suits, allow for a draft day that only the NFL can eclipse.  Some might say the NBA is more fun.

The Knicks have had a rocky history in the NBA Draft in its current format.  From day one of the lottery’s existence, the Knicks have been embroiled in controversy.  They’ve had ups (Patrick Ewing, Mark Jackson, David Lee) and downs (I’m not allowed to make a parenthetical sentence that long).  While their success in the draft has been volatile at best, they’ve usually been entertaining.

Here, in order of ridiculousness, are Eight *ahem* “Great” Moments in Knicks Draft History

8. Kenny “Sky” Walker – 1986 NBA Draft

I’m not going to rip on Kenny Walker too much.  Drafted 5th overall, he could jump out of the gym and had showmanship in spades, evidenced by his electrifying performance in winning the 1989 Dunk Contest.

Walker also rocked a high top fade like few in history and beat a horse in a race.

Anyway, he makes this list because like many other lottery picks in 1986, his career didn’t pan out the way many had hoped.  Knee injuries forced him out of the league after 7 underwhelming seasons.  In a draft featuring tragic substance-abuse plagued players Chris Washburn, Roy Tarpley, and Len Bias, He could have done a lot worse.  This draft is fascinating because its the only year that the top 5 picks from the second round could beat the top 5 from the first.  Who would you take: Brad Daugherty, Arvydas Sabonis, Chuck Person, Dell Curry, and Ron Harper or Kevin Duckworth, Dennis Rodman, Johnny Newman, Jeff Hornacek, and Mark Price? If you count round 3, you can throw Drazen Petrovic in at small forward…

7. The Draft Day Deal That Never Was

In 2009, Blake Griffin was the only sure thing at #1 overall.  Everything else was a question mark, and you’d be hard pressed to find a mock draft that was even remotely accurate.  The Knicks owned the 8th pick and were in desperate need of a point guard because, literally, they didn’t have one (Chris Duhon doesn’t count).

They wanted Ricky Rubio or Steph Curry, and didn’t think they’d get them at number 8.  For weeks, we heard they were on the cusp of snagging the 5th pick from the Wizards in a deal involving Larry Hughes, Jared Jeffries, or maybe Wilson Chandler.  Welp, there never was a deal as the Knicks didn’t want to take on salary or part with Wilson Chandler.  The Wolves sweep in with Randy Foye and Mike Miller, get the deal done, and get their man in Ricky Rubio.  Steph Curry, is chosen 2 picks later by the Warriors. So, with Jrue Holiday, Brandon Jennings, Ty Lawson, Darren Collison, Jeff Teague, and Eric Maynor on the board, you’d imagine the Knicks would manage to shore up their situation at the point.

No.

They select Jordan Hill, whose career highlights involve being traded for Tracy McGrady and Derek Fisher, tearing the cartilage in his hip, and being mentioned by Kobe Bryant in an interview.

Ricky Rubio is on his way to being a premier point guard in the NBA and Steph Curry is a living NBA Jam cheat code.

6. Wait, he plays basketball?

Hook and Ladder, Pick and Roll, same thing.

Charlie Ward won the Heisman Trophy in 1993 by the second largest margin in history (behind only O.J. Simpson).  He led Florida State to a National Championship with 27 TDs and over 3,000 passing yards.  So it makes perfect sense that he wound up on the Knicks.

Ward also played basketball for 4 years at FSU and said he would not enter the NFL unless he was chosen in the 1st round.  When informed that probably wouldn’t happen, he decided to stick with the NBA.  The Knicks took him 26th overall and declared him “point guard of the future.” He lingered around for almost ten years, providing solid defense, a total and complete inability to finish at the rim, and shooting that would occasionally fool you into thinking he knew how to do it.  He wasn’t terrible and was a fan favorite, but the Knicks were always searching for the guy that he could back up.

 

5. Oliver Miller Part II

The 2003 draft was all about LeBron, Melo, D-Wade, and Bosh.  There were lots of other very solid players to be had too, and this draft is considered one of the biggest in replenishing talent in the NBA.  Unfortunately, the Knicks wanted none of it.  At number 9, they drafted Mike Sweetney out of Georgetown.  At the time, Sweetney was considered undersized but tough and smart with good hands and a knack for scoring underneath.

He also had a knack for buffet tables.

Here he is accepting a trophy for a pie eating contest while wearing the tarp from Yankee Stadium.

In one of the better eating-his-way-out-of-the-league tales, Sweetney was traded to Chicago for Eddy Curry, in what is now known at AFR Sports as the “Here, See If You Can Get Him To Jump” trade.  He lasted 2 years there before being forced out.  Maybe he shouldn’t have played in two cities with such great pizza.

4. The Trifecta

Kobe Bryant.  Steve Nash.  Ray Allen.  Just a few names from the illustrious draft class of 1996.  Known as one of the best classes of all time, you’d think having 3 picks in this draft would be a wonderful thing.

Not quite.

The Knicks had the 18th, and 21st picks in the draft.  Granted, all of the big names were gone at this point. But isn’t it ironic that in a draft that has 4 future Hall-of-Famers, 7 All-Stars, and a dozen more solid players that the Knicks wind up with:

John Wallace – journeyman, who said hello to me at a Knick game once.

Walter McCarty – slightly better journeyman, who did this:

Dontae Jones – he spit on some Miami Heat fans during the brawl in 1997, so he’s probably the greatest Knick draft pick of all time.

3. HE’S STRANGLING ARWIND SANTOS!!!!!

Before the Knicks were desperate for a point guard in 2009, they were desperate for one in 2006.  Unsure of what to do with the fading Stephon Marbury, they were contemplating moving him to the 2 and getting a playmaker.  Isaiah Thomas was running the show at the time, so you never knew what was going to happen next.

The Knicks had the 20th pick in the draft and were looking at Rajon Rondo, Marcus Williams, and Kyle Lowry.  Instead, keeping with his goal of forming a team comprised of small forwards, the Knicks took Renaldo Balkman.  The entire basketball watching populace of New York shouted “WHO?!?!” collectively.  The joke at the time was that Isaiah Thomas thought that Rolando Blackman had become available.  I, watching and screaming “PLEASE TAKE RONDO FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!” just shook my head, turned of the TV, and went to bed.

Today, you may know Balkman as the guy who turned into Michael Douglas in Falling Down on a basketball court:

2. Le Dunk de la Mort

In 1999, with the 15th pick in the first round of the draft, the Knicks selected Frederic Weis of France.  He never played in an NBA game. Here is his only highlight:

1. The Conspiracy

You all know the story.  In 1985, the NBA instituted the lottery process, affording every team that missed the playoff an opportunity to win the first pick in the draft.  That year, Patrick Ewing was coming from Georgetown, as surefire a prospect as you could hope for.  The Knicks were mired in mediocrity, and golly gee whiz, wouldn’t they love a player like Ewing! Well, one weirdly-tossed-so-the-corner-bends-and-David-Stern-can-nervously-pick-it envelope later, the Knicks got their man.  While he never delivered a ring, Ewing kept the Knicks in the hunt for 15 years during his Hall of Fame career.  Here’s a clip so you can see for yourself:

Oops, wait wrong clip.

 

 

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Steve Caronia is a New York City based physical therapist. He hit a free throw on the Garden floor the night Channing Frye, Nate Robinson, and David Lee were drafted.

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