Marc Berman this morning: “The post has learned that Lamelo Ball is “unequivocally” the top rated guard on Knicks draft board”
nypost.com/2020/05/23/knicks-mailbag-talking-...
nypost.comPosted May 23, 2020, 2:55 PM UTC
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nypost.comThis doesn't surprise me. All the prospects in this draft have serious weaknesses but Ball (and Edwards) have the highest ceiling. A team like the Knicks needs to go for the highest ceiling players. We lack talent.
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Lamelo’s their guy
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Wonder if the new scouting team came in and said yep, Ball's our guy
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Since rose has been here the ties to Lamelo have popped up. From stating they are looking for a scoring pg, to all the personal ties they have with the ball family. This says we have him at the top of the board, and we just scouted cole Anthony heavy.. I like what I’m hearing
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Then all aboard the train then, not my preferred PG but I thought Porzingis was a terrible pick at the time so what do I know. He can be their top rated guy but it doesn't matter unless we're in a position to draft him. We could drop as low as 8 or something and he's not falling to there. We have to be prepared to trade up for him then
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They’re gonna gun for him regardless of where we slot
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That's why I said we have to be prepared to trade up for him then
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I wonder what we will have to trade to move up in this Draft. I trust Perin here too if he really believes LaMelo is worth it.
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Our picks this year, probably both Mavs 1sts as well idk depends on the gap between our pick and the pick we're trading for
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“That should hardly be surprising, knowing new president Leon Rose likes to shoot for the stars. Knicks officials believe the 6-foot-7 playmaker/driver has one of the higher upsides in the entire draft despite his lack of a 3-point shot. Rose has already dealt with outspoken father Lavar Ball when his sons were briefly with Creative Artists Agency.”
“The Post already has reported league insiders believe father Lavar Ball will attempt to steer him to the big-market Knicks. What does that entail if the Knicks stay at the sixth spot in the draft? They’d probably have to trade up into the top 3 with a club not so hot on either LaMelo or Lavar. Hopefully that team won’t ask for a king’s ransom.”
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Wouldn’t mind a Trade up for the right price at all they need Lamelo desperately. Is their a possibility he could force his way to our spot, feel like their are plenty of instances in the past where some guys don’t workout/interview with certain teams. Could be wrong but didn’t porzingis choose not to workout with the 76ers.
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Lonzo refused to work out for any other team but the Lakers, KP was steered away from teams, RJ made it known he wanted to be a Knick & then followed by not working out for any other team but us.. we slot 1-4 we get him without a trade up most likely
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Steph Curry also refused to workout with other teams because he wanted to come to the Knicks and look what happened. Just do whatever it takes to get your guy
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I agree. If we didn’t beat Atlanta and Detroit in the week before the season was postponed we’d be at the 4 spot. Hopefully the season starts back up and we have time to slide.
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I think it was the Magic who he refused to work out with. I have to look through but I remember he was trying his hardest to not get drafted by them and had his sites set on NY.
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Nice! Made me happy made me smile nice
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Look at Leon, so inspirational
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Don’t really like how this is leaking already. That is my only complaint here.
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Haha we literally just hired new people in the FO how in the FUCK would anyone know what our thoughts are for the draft. Another media push with this one.
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True it’s all guessing anyway. Gotta write about something to keep their jobs.
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Melo would make life easier for Mitchell Knox the and even frank.. And it would actually be entertaining
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Perrin by accounts from his last stop is draft guru
No other move this front office has made leaked
Somehow the draft board is set AND leaked
Skeptical
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Where did our draft board leak and get set? Lmao all berman said was he is the top pg on our list..I don’t think thats a hard conclusion
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He said unequivocal with no qualifier
That infers a metric fuckton of consensus building to overcome
and
A decision that pre-existed before Perrin had people and process in place
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This makes no fuckin sense, Perrin is not even running the draft lmao he’s in charge of college scouting, he doesn’t make the decisions 😂😂
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You don't think a new guy bought in has any influence on the draft process?
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Like this is kinda the dude’s wheelhouse.
You saying that with an offseason as uncertain as this you bring in a scouting savant and sideline him?
The knicksfilmschool interview with that Jazz NBC affiliate highlighted that organizations relationship building and scouting players fit to the market long term
Why would he get here and not try to establish himself in a similar way as his understood modus operandi; a conditional for taking the job
Further and more directionally; why would you hire him without that being your intent. He’s by all accounts someone who had institutional influence at his last stop. Like that’s the appeal....Why he an Asst GM?
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Skeptical about what?
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anything being stated with so much surety so soon
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It’s 100% true but I understand if you’re still skeptic. Both sides want this to happen & will try to do so
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I didn’t downboat- you sound very certain.
It may be with good reason shrug
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Give me Lamelo, I’m ready
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Slightly worrying that everyone seems to be saying he can't shoot the 3 ball (I've never watched any of his games, all I've ever seen is YouTube highlights). Don't get me wrong, Ball would bring star power to NY no doubt, and the potential connection between Ball/Mitch or Ball/Barrett sounds electric, but we have way too many players, let alone guards, who can't shoot consistently well.
Also having our reportedly "top rated player on the board" released just seems a little too fitting for NYK. I feel like I've seen this story before, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see what pick Silver decides to give us
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Hate this but if we do get him I’ll support him and hope I’m wrong. I just see Lonzo without the great defense and an even worse shot.
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I just hope he has a good head like Lonzo. Despite his dad being nuts seems to have a level head. If we get lamelo, I hope he's the same and can handle the bright lights as well.
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Lucky we ain't getting a top 3 pick then lmao
Maybe they'll be forced to draft someone with average efficiency
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Trade up
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I'm so surprised by how hyped y'all look regarding Lamelo.
He has bust written all over him.
He can not defend, he is a poor shooter (just look at the stats).
As for the other parts of his game : sure he is looking good but do not forget that he played in Lithuania and Australia. There is a galaxy between this and NBA. Plus both times his teams were dead last of their league.
And the perspective of having his father near the Knicks...
Man Id take almost anyone before him.
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Lol I smell a Frank stan^
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I like it but having two guy in the backcourt not being good shooters in Melo and RJ is kinda scary. You’d need lights out shooters at the 3 and 4 or put RJ at the 3 and sign a guy like Bogdanovic from Sac
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The top 4 teams in the lottery (GSW, ATL, Minn, CLE) I wouldn’t expect them to take LaMelo (maybe Cleveland but taking a pg the past two drafts..) They will be able to get Lamelo if they want him, unless Detroit, Hornets, maybe Wizards jump
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Seems like all smoke to me
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We’ll talk when you see it’s not
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At best it's probably our big board before Perrin
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Perrin is not running the draft so this doesn’t mean much. He’s in charge of college scouting
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He has a massive influence over the draft process, and would impact the big board
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Guys keep in mind this is a beat reporter answering Q&As, y’all acting like our entire draft strategy and player evaluations got leaked 😂
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Facts, you know they’ll find anything to complain about though
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He’s going to be a Knick.
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The Melo to Mitch lobs would be crazy
Mitch would look so different with a playmaker like Lamelo...we’d get a crazy pass to a crazy dunk..the garden would be super lit
We haven’t had an elite playmaker in god knows how long.
Since Clyde
The disrespect to Prigioni
Marbury was pretty elite at the time.
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That's why I've never understood the argument of him being a bad fit with RJ and Mitch because none of them can shoot. You're taking an elite lob threat known for running the floor and praying somebody tosses it up, and giving him an elite lob thrower. The pace of the team immediately goes up with Lamelo.
You can find shooting easier than you can find a guy who passes like Lamelo.
I understand that point, but teams will clog the paint and make it hard for Mitch to get those lobs. You can definitely find shooting, but that doesn't mean you can get them to come to the team, or we'd have a good shooter, right? And drafting a good shooter is tough too. Knox was supposed to be a good shooter, and look how that turned out.
Whether we pick Lamelo or not, it's definitely not that simple to just add shooting. That said, this team isn't exactly competing next year, so take whatever you think will work 3+ years from now. Don't worry about team fit.
Can't exactly clog the paint on a fast break.
Devil's advocate: You need stops to get fast breaks
We can always just sign someone like Gallinari or Fournier, it's not a big deal to find shooters... or draft shooters with our late first and second rounders. It's much harder to find potentially transcendent talents like LaMelo
You say that, but we can't just sign them. We're a bad organization that has a bad reputation. You have to overpay to sign players like that, and then their value lowers relative to their paycheck. As for the draft, projecting shooting is really hard. It's not as simple as just saying "well this is a good shooter." If it was that easy, everyone would have good shooter filling out their rosters.
But why not get a player with both passing and shooting?
The fact you’re discounting floor spacing in favor of fast break opportunities suggests you don’t understand the value of shooting in the first place. RJ and lamelo would immediately become the worst shooting backcourt in the NBA and I can guarantee no amount of easy transition buckets would make up for that.
The main reason I think people should be more worried about lamelo is that his mechanics are so inherently broken it’ll take years for him to fix his shot. The Knicks also have some of the worst development in the league, so it’s not like we have the infrastructure in place to deal with that aspect of his game.
I think we’re in a really tough position this year. You obviously go BPA with our current roster, and lamelo could very well be that if we get like the 4th pick. However, I have no problem passing on him. He has a high ceiling but also massive bust potential. And trading up for him (which some people in here seem to want to do) would be a horrible use of resources. We cannot give up future assets to get someone in one of the worst drafts in recent memory
I'm half annoyed every time someone calls him Melo. like cmon the real Melo is still here