We’re a few weeks away from the 2017 NBA Draft. The New York Knicks have the eighth pick and the feeling is that they will probably lead towards point guard. They do have a few options to go that include Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox, Dennis Smith Jr of NC State, or Frank Ntilikina of France. Any of these would be viable options and could help this team as they go further.
However, the question being brought up is what happens if none of them are there when the Knicks go at No.8, what should they do? It could lead Phil Jackson to possibly go after a wing or big man. But that would still leave the point guard position open and that is a crucial spot for the Knicks to fix in the offseason. It’s being reported by Ian Begaly of ESPN New York, the Knicks could still trade for Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio.
Begaly isn’t sure if there is still interest between the two parties, but the Knicks will have roughly $19 million in cap space to spend this offseason. So I feel it wouldn’t hurt to try to see about getting the Timberwolves point guard. It seems that the Knicks haven’t had a “Floor General” for some time that has been decent. Yes, they did have Jason Kidd, Raymond Felton, and Stephon Marbury over the years, but none of them panned out well at all. Ricky Rubio is only 26 years old and is still young.
As far as how this goes with the Knicks current point guard of Derrick Rose, it makes things rather interesting. Bringing in Rubio may allow the Knicks to sit Rose once in a while. However, it may also lead to the Knicks not bringing Rose back. For starters, Rubio is a lot younger than Rose happens to be. Also, if the Knicks bring in Rubio, it would end up helping build Porzingis up going further. They need to be more concerned with their future than the present. By bringing in Rubio, they could go for that. Derrick Rose should not be in the Knicks future plans at all.
The Knicks have a lot of holes that need to be filled over the offseason and if they can either grab Rubio in a trade or pick up one of the guys in the draft, there may be some hope after all for this team.