post draft review

The NBA draft has concluded, and it was loaded with action last night…MY GOODNESS! Much respect to all the guys that got drafted last night! It was great seeing all the families celebrating with the draftees which was a beautiful thing! Folks were there from all over the world and it was cool seeing a lot of the families celebrating with no shortage of fly attire!!

Going into the night the Knicks held the 8^th, 27^th and 38^th picks in the draft. An overview of the wheeling and dealing that followed is as follows:

1. Before the draft started, the Knicks traded UP by dealing the 27^th and 38^th picks to Utah for the 23^rd pick.
2. With the 8^th pick, the Knicks selected Obi Toppin (Power forward from Dayton).
3. The Knicks selected Leandro Bolmaro with the 23^rd pick then shortly after traded it to Minnesota for the 25^th and 33^rd picks. The 25^th pick acquired was Immanuel Quickley (Shooting Guard from Kentucky).
4. With the 33^rd pick, the Knicks selected Daniel Oturu (Center from Minnesota).
5. To cap it off, the Knicks traded Oturu to the Clippers for a 2023 second rounder (…yawn 😊).

Now as you fine folks saw in my earlier BLOG ENTRY, I was a fan of taking Devin Vassel and Casius Winston. Our Knick… took another route!

With the number 8 pick in the draft, the Knicks drafted Obadiah “Obi” Toppin from Dayton. He’s an athletic 6’9 power forward who is a freak athlete who averaged 20 points and 7.5 rebounds a game this past season. The guy added a lot of hardware to his mantle after this past season. Toppin was a consensus first team All-American selection. He won the Karl Malone Award as the nation’s top power forward and was the consensus National Player of the Year after being named the Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year, National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Player of the Year, Naismith College Player of the Year, and awarded the Oscar Robertson Trophy and the John R. Wooden Award. His highlights are GREAT and he is a local area kid (Born and raised in Brooklyn before moving to Florida).

The 25th pick was Immanel Quickley who is a talented guard from Kentucky. Quickley was the SEC Player of The Year. He averaged 16.1 points and shot 42.8 percent from 3-point range. His college coach John Calipari raved about him on Twitter. Here are some highlights of him doing his thing this past year!

Overall, this draft was a B+ to me. Would have been nice to get a point guard in this draft but at this point I like the fact that we increased the talent level with people that were valued at their positions.

Post draft, the Knicks have been busy this evening clearing out the deck waiving Elfrid Payton, Taj Gibson, Wayne Ellington, and Bobby Portis. Leon Rose is FULLY FOCUSED. There is a fresh vibe in NY folks.

The resurgence in NYC Basketball is in FULL EFFECT!!! Let’s see what free agency has in store!