Alex Wolfe's Knicks SI 2K Team: An Underdog Story
Look, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it: the Knicks do not have a vast talent pool to draw from, all-time or otherwise. So when given the No. 7 pick out of eight in the Knicks SI draft, I knew this wasn't going to be easy.
I think I did alright, though. My plan was simple: play the numbers well enough. I play enough NBA 2K (read: entirely too much 2K) to know that when it comes to the simulation algorithm, those individual player overall ratings matter a lot. So I took that philosophy and tried to build the best-balanced team I could that also featured the most 2020-friendly skillsets.
My first pick was No. 7 overall... again, the talent pool is not great, even on the All-Time Knicks team. Clyde, Ewing, Melo, Reed... all gone, obviously. Then Dave Debusschere and Bernard King go right before me as well. That made my decision pretty easy. His career with the Knicks was absolutely imperfect, but Allan Houston (89 overall) is a player much better suited for 2020 than the era he came from. At his peak, he scored 22.5 points and shot almost 40% from deep. No-brainer in the pace-and-space game of NBA 2K20.
Now, I actually went against my strategy of selecting the best overall rating here, passing on Richie Guerin and his 92 overall. But Guerin shot 41.6% for his entire career, and the 3-ball didn't even exist when he played. That's not gonna fly for a shooting guard in 2020.
In the snake draft format, I was up quickly again with the No. 10 overall pick. Guerin was gone... fine, no big deal. But Michael Ray Richardson, an 89 overall 6-foot-5 point guard, went with the ninth pick. That sucked. He was my guy that I was hoping to get with that second pick, considering the point guard pool for the Knicks all-time is horrific. So I went to the backup plan... Amar'e Stoudemire. At his best, STAT played at close to MVP levels for the 2010-11 Knicks, which led to his All-Time self to be rated 88 overall. He's also a pick-and-roll demon and has a money elbow jumper. Still perfectly suited for the modern game, since he was part of the 2000s Suns that literally shaped the NBA today.
Then, I waited. And waited. And waited. I had really hoped to snag Mitchell Robinson or Latrell Sprewell with my next pick, but regrettably they were taken from me by my enemies in this league, my formerly old friends Chris Molicki and Jon Macri. Starved for a point guard and absolutely refusing to take Elfrid Payton, I went with Derek Harper in his 1994-95 form, rated at 77 overall. Truly not ideal, but again, the talent pool kinda sucked. But Harper was actually a pretty great 3-point shooter and defender, and he dished 5.7 assists per game in '94-95, his best passing year with the Knicks. He and Amar'e should do nicely.
Then came the fourth round... Jackie made her two picks (RJ Barrett and Steve Novak, both heartbreaking since I had planned on taking one of them) and I was in a bind. Then I clicked on the '98-99 roster again and... Oh! What a stroke of luck. Larry Johnson is still available? I checked the draft three times to be certain and then ran my pick up to the podium. An 80 overall this late is a positive steal, and while '98-99 wasn't one of LJ's more spectacular statistical seasons, he was still a leader on both ends of the court. Plus, getting another player with a rating over 80 helps me with the algorithm.
Then I waited a while and watched as any player worth taking was, well, taken. My choices for my last spot were basically Kevin Knox or Allonzo Trier, because I needed a wing. I made the ratings play and took the 75 overall Trier. I don't feel great about it, but my lineup is now as follows:
PG: '94-95 Derek Harper, 77 overall
SG: '19-20 Allonzo Trier, 75 overall
SF: All-Time Allan Houston, 89 overall
PF: '98-99 Larry Johnson, 80 overall
C: All-Time Amar'e Stoudemire, 88 overall
Is this team gonna win the whole thing? Probably not. But I think I can at least get out of the first round. Every single person on the team can shoot the triple, which should be valuable in the 2020 NBA. Amar'e can get guys in foul trouble. LJ can digitally knock someone out. Houston can find his second coming as Klay Thompson. Not bad for the No. 7 pick in an extremely top-heavy draft.
