Kris Pursiainen's Knicks SI 2K Fantasy Team
If you missed the initial piece on the Knicks SI 2K Fantasy Tournament, check here.
Now, let me get right to it. My team? Earl Monroe, Damyean Dotson, Bernard King, Julius Randle, and Marcus Camby.
I don't think any pick I made in this draft requires a ridiculous amount of justification, but I'll take you through my process anyway.
The first pick I made was the sixth overall pick in the draft, which I used on Bernard King. There were players available with higher overalls, such as Richie Guerin, but I decided due to the depth at Point Guard and Shooting Guard (in comparison to the depth, or lack thereof, at Small Forward) that I would be better off grabbing King at that spot.
With the 11th overall pick, I took Earl Monroe. Ewing, Reed, and DeBusschere were off the board - but I liked the remaining player pools at Power Forward and Center. Out of the available Point Guards and Shooting Guards, I took the best player available based on 2K overall, which was Earl the Pearl.
My next pick was #22. I was targeting Mitchell Robinson here, but my now-least-favorite Knicks SI co-worker Chris Molicki grabbed him with the 21st pick. I needed someone to either play SG, PF, or C; I went once again with the highest overall player that was available. By adding Julius Randle to my squad, I got Monroe a scoring weapon (at the cost of turnovers: specifically spinning-into-the-paint ones).
With the 27th pick in the draft, I needed either a Shooting Guard or Center. The remaining options at SG all had similar overalls (in the 73 to 75 range), but the options at C fell off quickly. I opted for the option that took away the chance that Bobby Portis would have to be on my team. At this point, it was down to Taj Gibson and Marcus Camby. I decided that besides shooting, Camby was essentially the Anti-Randle: good defense, rebounding, and IQ. A front-court duo that complements each other sounded good to me.
With my final pick, I needed to grab a Shooting Guard. It was down to Damyean Dotson and Allonzo Trier. For nostalgia reasons, I was hoping to grab Iman Shumpert here, but he had been taken two picks before by my now-second-least-favorite Knicks SI co-worker David Vertsberger. The choice was easy for me between Dotson and Trier. I took a good look at each player's stats to make sure I was making the right pick, but this deeper dive only gave me more reason to go with my heart. As a proud member of Team #FreeDot Forever, founded by Jonathan Macri, I couldn't resist. Nothing could keep me away from the shooting, defense, and speed that combine to create my beloved 73 overall 2K player. Dotson would serve as a good complement to probably most Point Guards - Earl Monroe included.
I like the diversity in abilities of my team. Earl the Pearl's offensive (especially playmaking) skills, Dotson's 3&D contributions, King's pure scoring, Randle's ability to put the ball in the bucket, and Camby's defensive talent should hopefully be able to best at least most of the other teams that were drafted.
I'm excited to see how my team does, especially in potential matchups in which I am able to exact my revenge upon those who drafted players I wanted.
