The 32nd, and last, pick in the 1995 Usenet draft belongs to
the New York Knicks.  They traded their first round pick to
Dallas in 1992 for Rolando Blackman.  In reality, the Knicks
do not have any picks at all.  Their GM is:

  Alan Sepinwall .

Alan selects:

  Jerome Allen, PG, 6-4.  Pennsylvania.

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Well, so much for the Knicks "window of opportunity." It got 
slammed shut when Patrick Ewing's layup went in and out in the 
final seconds of Game 7 against the Pacers. 

Now the questions start. Are the Knicks going to try to stay with the 
players they have, realizing that even if they're no longer really title 
contenders, they're still in the upper echelon of Eastern Conference 
teams? Are they going to attempt to rebuild? Can they?

The biggest issue, by far, is Pat Riley's status. Will he agree to a 
contract extension or will he try to find a team that will give him 
GM's duties and/or a piece of the club in addition to his coaching 
duties? 

I think Riley's out of here. He knows he's not going to win a title 
here, and there's no way he'll damage his coaching record by running 
a rebuilding team. And, as much as it pains me to admit it, I think 
that's for the best. Riley is quite possibly the greatest motivator in 
the history of the NBA - how many times during his reign did he 
keep the Knicks from folding against incredible odds? - but his 
tactical decisions really leave something to be desired. He plays 
favorites - streaky John Starks has carte blanche to jack up ugly 
looking shots all night, while sweet-shooting Hubert Davis gets 
yanked if he misses a single jumper. He keeps the rotation too short, 
despite the fact that the Knicks have excellent role players like 
Anthony Bonner and Herb Williams and a promising rookie like 
Monty Williams who could be a great help when the team is 
struggling. His offensive schemes are woefully simple - a fact 
covered up all those years in LA thanks to some guy named Earvin. 

In addition, he's kind of worn out his welcome among the players - 
and reportedly scared away a potential free-agent signee or two this 
past offseason after hearing horror stories about Riley from some of 
the Knicks. Anthony Mason, who is probably the Knicks second-best 
player after Patrick Ewing, has fought with Riley so much in the last 
two years that there is no way, IMHO, that Mase will stay if Riley 
does. And considering how many other problems I have with Riley, I 
honestly feel that Mason is the more valuable guy in this situation.

Anyways, here goes with the position by position analysis. I'll talk 
more about any potential rebuilding process here and in the "other 
moves the team should make" section.

CENTER
This past season, the general consensus was that Patrick Ewing had 
slipped to the fourth-best at his position, after the Admiral, Hakeem, 
and Shaq. If you consider the season overall, including Ewing's 
mediocre and injury-plagued start, I'll concede that point. But when 
Ewing's knees got healthy, he was as good as any of those other guys, 
and sometimes better. 

His offensive arsenal is varied and lethal - he's one of the best jump-
shooting big men in the history of the game. He doesn't go to the hole 
as often as you'd like, though, but that's largely to save wear and 
tear on his knees. Despite being a middling rebounder for his size 
most of his career (the small hands that make him such a great 
shooter also make it harder to pull a ball out of a crowd), he picked 
up big-time rebounding slack when Charles Oakley was gone for the 
entire middle of the season. He'll only block a couple of shots a game, 
but is still a very good defender defender (unless your name 
happens to be Rik Smits and you have 4 additional inches with which 
to shoot over Patrick). Unfortunately, unless a miracle and/or a trade 
occurs, Ewing will probably never get the championship ring he 
deserves.

The real concern about Ewing stems from his knees, which are about 
ten years older than the rest of him. At some point or other, the 
Knicks need to find a talented young big man to caddy for and learn 
>from Patrick for a few years in preparation for the eventual 
retirement of The Franchise. One problem: good centers don't grow 
on trees, and they especially don't grow outside of the lottery, a place 
the Knicks don't figure to visit for several more years (at the 
earliest). 

There's no immediate need for a backup for Ewing, though, as Herb 
Williams is on hand to provide a few minutes a night of heady, 
veteran play. Charles Smith also gets a few minutes spotting Ewing, 
and actually plays his best at the 5, since he's a natural post player.

POWER FORWARD:
Like Ewing, Charles Oakley's season was tainted somewhat by injury. 
He was ineffective the first two dozen games of the season as he 
struggled with a toe injury that he was reluctant to have surgery on. 
When he realized that he wouldn't be The Oak again until he had the 
operation, Charles went under the knife and missed several months. 
His return was unimpressive, though that was largely due to the 
tremendous play of Anthony Mason in Oakley's absence - Mase was 
so hot that Pat Riley found it hard to give Oak long minutes, and thus 
give him a chance to find a groove again. 

He finally found that groove late in the season and into the playoffs, 
and was playing like the Oak of old - diving for loose balls, setting 
vicious picks, and wreaking havoc on the offensive boards. Oakley 
doesn't have a great vertical but is very strong and great at getting 
position for rebounds. He is also practically automatic when shooting 
>from 15 feet - a fact that every power forward in the league seems 
to forget when he's guarding Oakley. He also seems to possess some 
kind of psychic link with Ewing - their no-look passes to each other 
are reminiscent of Magic-to-Worthy. With the kind of shape he keeps 
himself in, only another major injury would cause any kind of 
deterioration in Oak's game for the next few years. There's already 
been talk about putting Oakley on the block (for someone like Latrell 
Sprewell, for example), but I'm not sure that's feasible - his trade 
value isn't very high considering his injury-plagued year and the 
upcoming balloon payment on his contract.

His backups are both named Anthony and are both unrestricted free 
agents with gripes against Riley. Let's take Anthony Mason first. The 
NBA's Sixth Man of the Year played like a house on fire in his walk 
year, despite all the bickering with Riley. At 6'7" and a very 
muscular 260 lbs., Mason is a devastating combination of strength 
and speed, who can rebound like a power forward and handle the 
ball like a point guard. He's probably best suited to his sixth man 
role, as his play suffers when he's asked to start against guys who 
are 3-4 inches taller than him. If Riley stays, Mason is gone - there 
are several teams hot to sign him. But if Riley's gone, I think Mase 
will find it hard to leave his native New York and the team for which 
he has becoming the defining symbol. Then again, he may not want 
to be part of a rebuilding process, either.

Anthony Bonner has a lot of the same skills as Mason, though none 
are as impressively honed as Mase's. However, Bonner is a great 
leaper (which Mason isn't) and the Knicks best finisher. He's better 
suited for the open court than the halfcourt, and would probably 
make a good sixth man for some Western conference team in need of 
extra defense and rebounding. Bonner's been very unhappy with the 
paltry minutes Riley's given him, and will bolt unless a new coach 
comes in who promises him more time.

Charles Smith occasionally plays power forward when Riley wants 
more scoring, and so does Herb Williams when Riley wants to go big.

SMALL FORWARD:
Every Knick fan I talk to is wishing desperately that one of the 
expansion teams takes Charles Smith's erratic play and huge contract 
off our hands in the expansion draft, so that we can use his salary 
slot to sign a true small forward. I'm not as optimistic on either front. 
While Smith has a lot of talent and could be a big-time scorer on an 
expansion team, his contract is just far too big for any of them to 
take him (although he was the first pick in the Usenet expansion 
draft). More important, however, is the fact that due to the base year 
salary rule, while Smith makes nearly $3M a year, if he was taken in 
the expansion draft, the Knicks would only have a slot of about $1M 
with which to sign a new player (one mil was the size of Smith's 
previous contract before the Knicks used the "re-sign your own 
player at any amount" clause to go over the salary cap to keep him). 

Given the fact that we probably wouldn't get the small forward we 
need with only $1M to play with, I think we're better off sticking 
with Smith. He does have his good qualities. For starters, his 6'10" 
size can give opposing teams matchup fits, provided he's allowed to 
post up on small defenders (something Riley didn't do nearly enough 
of). He's the only Knick other than Ewing who can block shots. He'll 
give you 12-15 points a night and will break out and have a big 
game every now and then. And though he's being forced to play out 
of position at small forward, his good low post skills make the Knicks 
respectable when the Knicks lose Ewing for a game or two. Smith is 
probably best suited to a sixth man role, backing up all three 
frontcourt positions (the way the Cavs used to use Hot Rod Williams). 
If Oakley is dealt, Smith would move over to power forward, where 
he would be a lot more comfortable.

As for the problem of finding a "true", creative, slashing small 
forward, the Knicks may already have one. Monty Williams, who fell 
to the Knicks at 24 in last year's draft only because of unwarranted 
concerns about his easily-treatable heart condition, would appear to 
have all the skills we're looking for in a 3. Unfortunately, we never 
got a chance to find out this year, mostly thanks to Riley. Monty 
stayed chained to the bench for the bulk of the season, even when 
the Knicks were desperate for some scoring. And when Riley did 
relent and let Monty start for a couple of weeks (due to all of the 
inuries), he essentially put a leash on him - Monty was under orders 
to pass at every opportunity and not try to score unless no other 
Knick was open for a pass. One of the main reasons I think I'm 
looking forward to the prospect of a new coach is that I hope he'll 
give Monty free rein to show his stuff - and the few flashes he 
provided were very impressive. 

Mason and Bonner both spent time backing up Smith. Doug Christie 
(if he's not plucked in the expansion draft, as he'll definitely be 
exposed), might get time at 3 if there's a new coach, but I think he's too 
small to adequately defend the position or drive on opposing small 
forwards.

SHOOTING GUARD:
This position is the first one that I think any new coach will need to 
address. I think the time has come for John Starks to move back to 
the bench and let Hubert Davis start. Starks is the epitome of the 
streak shooter, and it's that very nature that makes him much more 
suited to come off the bench and provide a change of pace. Pat Riley 
fell in love with Starks' fire and intensity early in his Knick coaching 
career, and it blinded him to any of Starks' weaknesses - like the fact 
that he chains himself to the three point line too often, despite the 
fact that he has one of the league's quickest first steps and should 
take it to the basket more often (remember The Dunk?). When he 
heats up, he's unstoppable, but when he's cold, I could guard him. 
Making him come off the bench would hopefully be the kick in the 
ass that gets him to improve the holes in his game.

Davis will never be confused with a defensive stopper, which is why 
he has trouble getting a lot of minutes in the Riley system, but his 
jump shot is picture perfect (I once heard an opposing coach say that 
the only NBA player with a better shot than Hubert was Dell Curry), 
and he's got a decent array of moves when he goes to penetrate. His 
defense is average at best, but he never dogs it - if a guy beats 
Hubert, it's not for lack of effort, it's for lack of strength and speed. 
Critics accuse him of disappearing in the playoffs, but that's not his 
fault - Riley barely plays him (choosing instead to stick with the 
"clutch" Starks), which makes it tough to get into a shooting groove in 
the few minutes he's on the floor.

Doug Christie could have provided a slashing complement to the 
outside shooting of Starks and Davis this year, but his defense was 
reportedly so atrocious that Pat Riley refused to put him in any game 
whose outcome wasn't already decided. He has little to no trade 
value at the moment, and will likely be exposed in the expansion 
draft.

POINT GUARD:
The Knicks have a dilemma here, in that they have three players 
who are all good, but none are great. Derek Harper has continued to 
defy age (unlike, say, Rolando Blackman) and will drive to the hoop 
endlessly on smaller, weaker players (which constitutes most of the 
league's point guards), then dish to an open man or bank it off the 
glass. And contrary to popular belief, the handcheck rules didn't hurt 
his defense in the slightest. He's a streak shooter, but has three-point 
range when he's hitting. Unfortunately, despite his age, he may well 
be the most immature member of the team - some say his flagrant 
foul against the Pacers late in Game 7 cost us the series.

Greg Anthony matured this season and began to resemble the 
fearless leader he was at UNLV - the only problem was, just as Greg 
was coming into his own, Riley inexplicably chose to go with a three-
guard rotation that didn't include him. That didn't matter - Greg 
played the good soldier, and still came up big when called upon. His 
shot is still the ugliest-looking thing this side of Bill Cartwright, but 
the thing is, it goes in now - even from downtown. He's also an 
incredibly quick defender, which often gets overlooked since he 
doesn't like to gamble (and thus show up in the stat column with a 
lot of steals). His playmaking skills are nothing to write home about, 
but the threat of his improved shot enables him to make the entry 
pass to Ewing a lot easier. Rumor has it he will be exposed in the 
expansion draft (along with Christie and Herb Williams), and he's the 
most likely to be taken (Herb's too old and guys like Christie are a dime 
a dozen).

Charlie Ward is another player who may bail out at the end of the 
season. After showing a lot of promise during summer league and 
preseason games, the Heisman Trophy winner discovered that he 
was the Knicks 13th man, owing largely to the presence of Harper 
and Anthony. Charlie is already probably the Knicks' best playmaker 
(he and Monty Williams play a great two-man game), and could work 
wonders in the right system. Then again, since he's had little actual 
game action, it's hard to tell - Greg Anthony was a great pre-season 
player his first few years, but never put it together in real games 
until this year. But if either Harper or Anthony aren't moved (or 
Anthony gets drafted to Canada), Ward may decide to abandon 
basketball and head up north to the CFL.

AND MY SELECTION IS:

JEROME ALLEN
I realize I may be flamed for being a major-league homer, but I pick 
Jerome Allen. Quite frankly, this is not as deep a draft as people 
make it out to be (deep is when you can still get a halfway-decent 
player when picking in the 20s, and the talent pool drops off after 
about 18 this year), and rather than take a chance on a player who I 
don't know much about, I'll go with 'Rome, who I've watched for the 
past three years. Contrary to popular belief, he played just as much 
point guard as he did shooting guard (in the Penn offense, he and 
Matt Maloney were interchangeable), and his playmaking skills are 
better than any of the Knick guards - Patrick Ewing would love to 
have Jerome getting him the ball. He's not the stone scorer the Knicks 
need, but there's nobody who fits that description at this point in the 
draft, so I went for the next best thing: a player who makes those 
around him into better scorers. I realize that this will exacerbate the 
already huge glut at point guard the Knicks have, but Greg Anthony 
is a good bet to be starting for an expansion team next season, and 
Charlie Ward could be packaged with Hubert Davis (instant 
backcourt) for a player or draft pick if need be.

OTHERS CONSIDERED:
It's hard to say. I wrote all of this right after the Pacers made their 
pick, as I'm going away for the weekend, and came up with a list of nine 
players (since there were nine picks left, including mine) in order of 
preference. Most of these guys have already been taken by the time this 
pick has been made, but here's what the list was, including whoever got 
picked.

Jerome Allen - already a better playmaker than any Knicks guard
Lou Roe - a 'tweener, but could be a good scorer
Larence Moten - too skinny, but could score
Eric Williams - best true small forward available
Junior Burrough - possible replacement for Mason and/or Bonner
Kurt Thomas - see above
Cory Alexander - if he recovers from injuries, potential is great
Scotty Thurman - frees up Hubert Davis as trade bait
Donald Williams - see above

WHO THEY'LL PROBABLY TAKE:
Nobody. Their first round pick was traded away in 1992 for Rolando 
Blackman, in a deal that was termed a "steal" for the Knicks at the 
time. Blackman was pretty much a non-factor in his two years in 
New York, and though the Knicks pick is low this year, it's a fairly 
deep draft, so the Mavs probably came out ahead in the deal. Their 
second-round pick is also gone, to Minnesota in the deal for Tony 
Campbell. (Which makes me feel a bit silly for taking all the time
to make this pick. )

OTHER MOVES THEY SHOULD MAKE:
The Knicks have two priorities this offseason: Riley and Mason. Dave 
Checketts and Ernie Grunfeld need a decision from Riley fast on 
whether he wants to stay or be let out of his contract - if they wait 
too long, they may lose Mason to a Western Conference team, and 
they may miss out on some of the top coaching candidates.

If Riley stays, the first priority is to get him an assistant who can do 
for the offense what Dick Harter did for the defense. As I mentioned 
above, Riley's offensive schemes are stuck in the stone age, and 
assistant coach Jeff VanGundy is more of a tutor than anything else; 
he helps guys work on their shooting and ballhandling, but probably 
wouldn't be great if asked to devise an offense.

If Riley goes, I'm not sure whether the Knicks should go the "talented 
assistant" route or dip into the college ranks. VanGundy isn't nearly 
ready to take over the reins. Paul Silas, who was a Knick assistant 
until Chuck Daly stole him for the Nets, is probably the assistant 
coach in the league most deserving of a shot at a head coaching job, 
but if Butch Beard gets canned, Silas is probably the first candidate 
for the New Jersey job. 

What the Knicks really need, IMHO, is a Rick Pitino-type, who has a 
good tactical mind, and can keep the team motivated while keeping 
the games fun. Ideally, Pitino could be enticed to come back to New 
York now that his nemesis Al Bianchi is gone, but he probably won't 
leave Kentucky unless he's also given the GM's job, and Grunfeld is in 
no danger of being replaced. Whoever Checketts and Grunfeld choose, 
he has to be able to command the respect of the players - Beard and 
Randy Pfund need not apply.

As for Mason, the Knicks should try to re-sign him at any cost. If he 
chooses to leave, their bench will have taken a major blow. Bonner, if 
re-signed, could provide some of Mase's strength and speed, but is 
really only a poor man's Mason. 

If they lose both of their Anthony forwards, the Knicks top offseason 
priority has to be to find some muscle on the frontline to replace 
them with. The Knicks could conceivably go with a three-man 
forward rotation of Oakley, Monty Williams, and Smith and be 
effective, but the lack of depth could be very dangerous (especially 
considering Smith's history of knee problems).

As for rebuilding, I'm not sure its possible at this point. We don't 
have a draft pick in two of the next three drafts (including this one). 
We really only have one player we could get equal value for - Hubert 
Davis. Everyone else either has a huge contract (Oakley, Smith), is 
coming off a bad year (Starks, Oakley), is old (Harper, Herb) or hasn't 
played enough to get anything of real value (Monty, Ward, Christie). 
Because of Ewing's balloon payment this year, we have no chance of 
getting under the salary cap, and the two slots that will be opened if 
Mason and Bonner leave are both under a million dollars (and, 
because we're over the cap, can't be combined). 

Unlike the Lakers after Magic retired or the Blazers after they lost 
for the second time in the Finals - two teams that could've started 
rebuilding much sooner because they had some individual talent to 
trade (like Worthy and Clyde) - the Knicks really don't have many 
marketable players. Quite frankly, I think the best course of action at 
this point is to bring in a new coach and see what he can do with the 
hand he's been dealt. Maybe some of the players will respond to him 
enough that their trade value will increase - or even to the point 
where a prolonged rebuilding process won't be needed.

If the Knicks are really trying to improve themselves for next season, 
they could probably finagle a mid-first-rounder for Davis or Starks 
(hell, the Nets would probably be stupid enough to give up the #9 
pick for Davis), but unless the new Collective Bargaining Agreement 
makes trades a lot easier (by getting rid of the "matching salaries" 
rule), there's not much else the Knicks will be able to do right away.

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