The 18th pick belongs to the New York Knicks.  New York received this
pick from San Antonio along with J.R. Reid and Brad Lohuas for Charles
Smith and Monty Williams.  San Antonio swapped picks with Detroit in
the Dennis Rodman-Sean Elliott Deal.  The Knics GM is:

  Joshua Sher

The 18th selection is:

  Priest Lauderdale, C, 7-2, Greece  

===========================================================================
General comments on draft: The knicks would like to package all 3 picks and
perhaps some thing more to trade up to get Wallace, Marbury (or whoever is 
available at pick 5).

Selection:

Priest Lauderdale (Its worth while for the knicks to get a backup center
with some potential.)

Others considered:

Jermaine O'Neal (An athletic forward who will need a few years to develop.
We have the time and need the athletism.)

Ryan Minor (The best small forward available since I am not high on
Dontae Jones. Unfortuently, he will probably play baseball instead of
basketball. Its worth while to take risks at this slot.)


New York Knicks:

Overview: The Knicks are a team in transition. They built a championship
contender out of hard work, defense, and Ewing's 15 footer but came up
perrenially short. This past season internal strife and a 
mid-season slump culminated in Nelson's dissmissal, but the team rebounded
slightly and made a pretty good post-season showing (they played the Bulls
better than anyone else did!).

Strengths: Quality players at all five starting positions and good depth.
Defense remains strong although not what it used to be. They also have
a large amount of money under the cap to get a free agent.

Weaknesses: The Knicks are a horrible passing team. Ewing fumbles the ball
often and makes poor passes out of double teams. Neither Ewing nor Oakley
makes good outlet passes (which is one of the reasons the Knicks are such
a poor transition team). Harper is more of a combination guard than a true
point guard so he can score and provide leadership but his passing leaves
much to be desired. 

           The Knicks' offense struggles when Ewing is not on.
Both Starks and Mason still make many poor decisions (although Mason 
is getting more aggresive which is good). It would be nice if Mason could
hit an outside shot next season.

Remedies: I would like to see the Knicks get a good offensive SF (like a
Glen Rice) and move Mason to PF. That would help our transition game and
our half court game a lot. Unfortuently, I don't see any Glen Rice's
available. Otherwise, the Knicks can hope that they can get a top flight
free agent (Morning, Howard, Miller, etc.) and hope talent alone can make
up for their transition/passing failings.

Position by Position:
Center: Ewing is still a great player but his poor hands prevent him from
being the dominant player he otherwise could be. Herb Williams is an able
back up if they keep him. The Knicks should consider taking one of the
European centers to be Ewings backup.

Forward: Oakley had a very subpar season. His defense and rebounding are not
what they used to be (although they are still very good)
and the Knicks did not run plays for him to take his
18 footer. Mason continued to improve but not as fast as many expected. He
is an excellent rebounder and helps the transition game (although he 
would help even more if he was at the PF spot). He need to develop 
an outside shot! Willie Anderson and J.R. Reid are adequite backups although
its not clear if they will be back.

Guard:  
The Starks/ Davis 2-guard slot is inconsistant but acceptible. Harper is  a
great leader and classy guy as well as a great defender but is old and is 
not a great distributor. Ward really improved in the second half of the 
season.