In the upcoming 2017 Draft, there is a dream scenario for the Knicks. In this guard heavy draft, the Knicks would highly benefit from a top notch prospect. To start, the Knicks desperately need a young guard to add to the organization. If the Knicks get the opportunity, it would be a no-brainer to draft young talent Lonzo Ball. Lonzo is being compared to Jason Kidd and seems to be the real deal. It would be very interesting to see Ball leave California because his father has continuously protected him and kept him close to home. Throughout High School, AAU, and even college Ball has been in his home state. Reports are even coming in saying Ball’s father wants him to be drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers. If Ball entered New York, he would also be thrown into the triangle offense, which may limit Ball. But with his pass first mentality, he has the ability to transform the Knicks and potentially take them to the next level. Ball took the Bruins from the 117th ranked offense in the nation to the 1st. He has a 122.5 offense rating and so far has 227 assists and one of the lowest turnover percentages. He is currently of the path to pass Gary Payton for the most number of assists for a Pac-12 freshman in a season (229).
Lonzo is projected to be drafted second by the Lakers behind the stud Markelle Fultz. In order for the Knicks to get in position to draft Ball, the Knicks would have to make some sort of move. As of now, they are projected to have the ninth overall pick. The first thing the Knicks could do is to start tanking their season to get a better draft pick. Although this may help a little bit, it will not be enough. Their second option would be to trade up in the draft, but in reality the Knicks don’t really have anyone valuable enough that another team would trade their pick for. Lastly, the Knicks could get Ball of pure luck. He could either drop in the draft or the Knicks could get a better draft pick than expected.
Overall, the Knicks need a lot of rebuilding to become a championship team. They need new young prospects who will be able to bloom into franchise players. Without starting from scratch and looking for new talent, whether it be Lonzo Ball or any other NBA prospect the team will continuously lose every season to come.