WASHINGTON, D.C. – No highly-touted player slid. No sleeper woke up to find himself taken in the Top 10. No blockbuster deals went down, although the SuperSonics and Magic pulled the trigger on an intriguing trade while the Raptors and Pacers have an impending deal on the table that will impact the Eastern Conference. No pathetic scenes of an ill-advised underclassmen sitting forlornly in the Green Room after not being picked in the first round.
A draft lacking any one spectacular player turned out to be a rather unspectacular affair. But the draft could just be the start of things. There may be a changing of the guard, make that point guard, on several teams, which could benefit the Knicks.
The Grizzlies used the second pick on Maryland’s Steve Francis. But the Grizzlies already have point guard Mike Bibby. The Cavaliers used the 8th pick on Utah’s Andre Miller. They already have Brevin Knight. The Timberwolves, picking just prior to the Knicks at No. 14, took William Avery. They already have Terrell Brandon, who becomes a free agent after the season.
The question that could come back to haunt the Knicks is what can they offer any of those teams? They wasted the 15th pick on 7-foot-2 French project Frederic Weis, even though Ron Artest of St. John’s, who was coveted by several teams, still was on the board.
“I understand what the Knicks did, because you can’t coach seven feet, but I think they would have had more options had they drafted the St. John’s kid,” said one NBA executive who wished to remain anonymous. “I don’t think anyone cried when the Knicks took Weis.”
The Bulls might have shed a tear of joy. When the Knicks took Weis, Chicago used the 16th pick to snatch up Artest, reuniting him with his former Riverside Church teammate, Duke’s Elton Brand of Peekskill, the first player chosen.
The Bulls then made two solid second-round picks in Tulsa’s Michael Ruffin, a rugged rebounder, and UMass’s Lari Ketner, who had a poor senior season but at 6-foot-10, 285 pounds was worth the 49th pick.
“They got four big, physical guys with strong athletic ability,” said former Knick coach and TNT analyst Hubie Brown. “It will be interesting to see what style of play they go to.”
First the Bulls must decide which of their free agents they keep and which they sign, but by setting the tone of the draft by taking Brand, Chicago was one of the four big winners along with the Timberwolves, Magic and Pacers.
The Timberwolves entered the draft needing a small forward, to complement Kevin Garnett, and a point guard in case they opt to move Brandon before losing him to free agency. Minnesota took Wally Szczerbiak of Cold Spring Harbor, the best shooting forward in the draft, and then broke the Knicks’ hearts by taking Avery at No.14.
Orlando entered the draft without a first-round pick and came away with Corey Maggette, who could be a superstar if he develops a consistent jumper. The Magic paid the meager price of aging forward Horace Grant and two second-round picks for Maggette.
Larry Bird got rid of a player he didn’t want – forward Antonio Davis – for a player every team wanted, 6-11 forward Jonathan Bender, the high school phenom from Mississippi. The cost? Davis, who disappeared against the Knicks, while Bender was emerging as a Garnett clone in personal workouts.
“The first thing I would say to rookies at the first camp is, I can’t read your heart,” said Brown. “We picked you because we wanted you but I don’t know what’s in your heart.”
We don’t know what was in the minds of these teams’ not-so-braintrusts: The Knicks, Sonics, Raptors and Mavericks suffered brain spasms.
The Knicks used the 15th pick on a player coming off back surgery. The Sonics traded a potential superstar for a 34-year-old power forward. The Raptors desperately needed a point guard and had their choice with the fifth pick only to draft Bender and then trade him. The Mavs, led by NBA’s foremost authority on how to dismantle a team – Don Nelson – used a second-round pick this year on center Wang Zhi Zhi and a second round pick in next year’s draft on high school senior Leon Smith.
“I never get excited about a draft,” said Brown. “Players go to teams and they have to adjust to the styles of those teams. They have to learn how to handle the demands of the NBA. Three years from now you can evaluate a draft. By then you know which kids couldn’t handle the physical punishment of the NBA game and the lifestyle and which kids could.”
