SALT LAKE CITY – The Knicks’ current three-game set – in Denver on Thursday, Utah last night and at the Lakers tomorrow – has highlighted how horrifically the club’s management has botched the last three drafts.
If GM Scott Layden and former interim GM Ed Tapscott had played their cards right, the Knicks could have netted from the last three drafts three young big men with lots of upside – James Posey and rebounding specialist Donnell Harvey of the Nuggets and Utah’s starting center, Jarron Collins.
And, if you want to stretch this what-if further, you can add a fourth player, Pacers rookie point guard sensation Jamaal Tinsley. The Knicks could have that vibrant quartet and only be missing Othella Harrington from their roster. At least the Knicks would have had a future.
In the Knicks’ wretched 104-93 loss in Denver, Posey was all over the place, blocking a Latrell Sprewell shot from behind, making 8 of 9 shots for 20 points. The active Harvey, 21, snatched six rebounds and scored five points in 20 minutes. He also jammed home an alley-oop dunk and played fiery defense. Both athletic youngsters sparked Denver’s 13-0 run in the second quarter that, pathetically, knocked the Knicks out for good.
Posey was selected 18th by the Nuggets in the 1999 draft – the same year Tapscott made his notorious selection of the French phantom Frederic Weis at No. 15. Weis is playing in Spain and Layden, who scouted Duke’s Jason Williams yesterday at the ACC Tournament, has no plans of making another trip overseas to watch him.
While Knick fans clamored for Ron Artest, Tapscott actually had Posey rated next on his list after Weis, sources say. You can’t blame that one on Layden, then with the Jazz. Sources say Layden did not have Weis rated as a first-round pick.
However, Layden takes full responsibility for the 2000 and 2001 draft disasters. In 2000, he took Harvey, a power forward out of Florida, with the 21st pick, but dealt him two hours later to Dallas for point guard Erick Strickland. Jeff Van Gundy buried Strickland and Layden shipped him to the Grizzlies along with a first-round pick for the undersized Harrington.
That first-round pick the Knicks dealt had been acquired from the Lakers in the Patrick Ewing blockbuster. It turned into the 27th pick (the Lakers finished with just the third-best record) and Tinsley was tabbed at that slot.
That left the Knicks with no first-round pick last June, but they had two second-rounders – 39 and 43. With either pick, Layden could have taken Collins, whom the team worked out at Purchase. Instead, Layden picked Arizona’s Michael Wright and Kansas center Eric Chenowith. Wright was cut at the end of training camp; Chenowith was released before camp because of a poor summer league.
Last month, Collins abused Clarence Weatherspoon at the Garden for 19 points and nine rebounds. Are you depressed enough yet?
