Perry's 11: Ranking the Knicks' Draft Picks of the Scott Perry Era
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One of the longest-tenured New York Knicks is moving on.
Reports have indicated that the Knicks are parting ways with general manager Scott Perry, ending his six-year hold on the title. While Perry's reign perhaps perfectly fit in with the mediocrity and frustration that has been Knicks basketball in the new century, he was able to partake in some victorious transactions, such as the $104 million deal to Jalen Brunson and the Kristaps Porzingis trade where the Knicks came out relatively clean on the other side.
Perry's transactions also included the arrival of 11 metropolitan draft picks. All Knicks looks back on those selections in a ranked format, judging the draft night arrivals by their metropolitan value and impact ...
Noah K. Murray, USA TODAY SPORTS
11. Kevin Knox
2018 1st Round, 9th overall
It's bad enough that the first pick of the Perry era was Knox, a one-and-done project out of Kentucky, but the names chosen immediately after him (Mikal Bridges, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) make his arrival especially damning.
Knox was given permission to run amok during the lost 2018-19 season, granted just under 29 minutes a game during the 17-win slog overseen by David Fizdale (second-highest on the Knicks behind only Tim Hardaway Jr.). He averaged over 12 points a game in that span but the heavy volume made his advanced statistics all the more damning: a PER of 8.7 was the worst among rookies playing at least 20 minutes a game and his offensive win shares were not only in the red (-2.2) but second-worst in the Association entirely.
Those rookie woes could be excused as a combo of negligent coaching from David Fizdale and the genuine nerves of a newly-minted 19-year-old millionaire, but the Knicks more or less gave up on Knox after that. He started only four games in blue and orange after that and by the time his fourth season rolled around, he was averaging just eight minutes a contest under new management. The Knicks admitted defeat in January 2022, dealing Knox to Atlanta in a trade that primarily yielded fellow first-round washout Cam Reddish.
Perhaps the best thing that can be said about the Knox error is that not only does it seem like the Knicks weren't fully responsible for his shortcoming: Knox has been on three different teams over the past 17 months, joining Reddish (who was traded for Josh Hart) in Portland in February. That's hardly any consolation to New York knowing what might've been in the immediate draft aftermath.
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10. Ignas Brazdeikis
2019 2nd Round, 47th overall (via trade with Sacramento)
Nothing showcases the pain of the Knox era than the idea that Brazdeikis' metropolitan career could probably be looked back upon more fondly.
The All-American out of Michigan came over in a draft night trade with the Sacramento Kings after the Knicks originally procured Final Four hero Kyle Guy eight picks after Brazdeikis' original arrival. He racked up a considerable amount of miles between Manhattan and Westchester, his greatest New York impact coming in the G League (at least 20 points in consecutive seasons).
Brazdeikis appeared in 13 NBA games in two years on the Knicks' ledgers before he was dealt to Philadelphia. He later briefly caught on with the Orlando Magic, playing 42 games during the 2021-22 season.
Brad Penner, USA TODAY SPORTS
9. Trevor Keels
2022 2nd Round, 42nd overall
Keels has played only three games in New York to date but gets a bit of a boost if only because of the inconsequential nature of his selection and the fact he's still on the active New York ledger.
The Knicks knew from the get-go that Keels, well-regarded for his passing work in the perimeter at Duke, was going to be a project. He came to the Knicks as an 18-year-old freshman and played exactly like that when granted an extended opportunity during Summer League action (5.5 points, 2.2 turnovers, 26 percent from the field in New York's runner-up effort).
Any immediate impact Keels is going to make will likely come with Westchester, though it'd hardly be a surprise to see him make another trip out to Las Vegas this coming summer.
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8. Rokas Jokubaitis
2021 2nd Round, 34th overall (via trade with Oklahoma City)
Knicks fans are used to getting bamboozled by the supposed charm and potential of international talents (Frédéric Weis, anyone?). Jokubaitis may very well end up being one of the foreign names dangled in front of Knicks fans without actually playing a game for the franchise, but there's no doubt that he has rightfully amassed a solid following thanks primarily to a strong outside game.
The Lithuanian-born Jokubaitis has spent his most recent seasons in Spain's Liga ACB and EuroLeague, notably shooting a jaw-dropping 56 percent from three-point range with Barcelona during the 2021-22 affairs in the latter league. Last year saw him guide the team to the Spanish Cup and he also won the EuroLeague's Rising Star title previously earned by Andrea Bargnani, Rudy Fernandez, Danilo Gallinari, Ricky Rubio, and Bogdan Bogdanović.
Time will tell if Jokubaitis stands as either a diamond in the rough that helps solves the Knicks' outside issues or if his rights are used as trade bait. But his potential alone made it feel far too cruel to bury him at the very bottom of the Perry picks.
Kyle Terada, USA TODAY SPORTS
7. Jericho Sims
2021 2nd Round, 58th overall
Considering where he was selected, Sims has done rather well for himself since coming out of Texas. At 93 appearances, only 10 other men chosen at 58th overall have played more NBA games than Sims, who placed an infamous entry into Slam Dunk Contest lore last winter.
Impressive as it has been to see Sims carve out a role for himself despite being one of the final picks of the draft, his metropolitan role has been made somewhat redundant, especially with veteran breakout Isaiah Hartenstein brought in from Los Angeles to be Mitchell Robinson's top spell option. He'll continue to be redundant as long as Tom Thibodeau's rotation requires only two big men.
Sims signed a three-year deal with the Knicks last summer, one that includes a club option for the 2024-25 season. While it's increasingly apparent that Sims has a future as a depth star in the Association, it may not be with New York.
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6. Miles McBride
2021 2nd Round, 36th overall (via trade with Oklahoma City)
Villanova University's takeover of Knicks basketball could've begun a few years earlier had they kept Jeremiah Robinson-Earl at 32nd overall. Instead, they bartered with the Thunder and landed the draft rights to Jokubaitis and McBride, the latter of whom has carved a slight role for himself over two seasons in New York.
McBride's defense has been his defining trait, one that allowed him to secure a fleeting role in Thibodeau's ironclad nine-man set. He likewise has faced redundancy since Josh Hart arrived: in the 25 regular season games that saw Hart don a New York jersey, McBride averaged only nine minutes a game and was subjected to four contests with the dreaded "DNP-CD" initials in that span.
His evolving defensive game (progress best showcased by the fact that those covered McBride shot 44.3 percent from the field this season per 48 minutes, tied for third-best with Milwaukee veteran Brook Lopez among those who partook in at least 60 games) is a growing hint that "Deuce" is capable of a lasting prescience in the NBA. But, like Sims, it's hard to determine if those future endeavors are set to be staged in New York, especially if they fulfill Hart's apparent wishes and bring him back on a new deal.
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5. Obi Toppin
2020 1st Round, 8th overall
Toppin is far and away the hardest to grade and rank among Perry's 11. Like Knox, he has struggled to live up to his lottery pick billing and it doesn't help that future All-Star Tyrese Haliburton made his Association arrival four picks later. He has yet to average 10 points in any of his three seasons and his most recent outing saw dips in almost every major traditional statistical category.
Is Toppin, however, truly to blame for that?
Toppin's Knicks career is perhaps keeping the legend of Tom Thibodeau's supposed reluctance to play youngsters in favor of experienced depth. He has yet to average more than 17 minutes in any of his three seasons and has been in the starting lineup for only 15 games, most of which have come when the Knicks have had nothing to lose (i.e. elimination, locked into a playoff seed). Advanced stats hint at Toppin's value and upside: he ranks 10th in VORP (Value Over Replacement) among 2020 draftees, for example.
The healthy thing for all sides might've been to trade Toppin at the last trade deadline, but he admittedly ended his third season style: thrust into the starting lineup thanks to late ailments for Julius Randle, Toppin came up big as the Knicks locked up the fifth seed on the Eastern Conference playoff bracket and later served as a valuable contributor off the bench during the playoff run. The fact that Toppin can realistically be viewed as either prime trade bait (potentially in a deal for a star or to get the Knicks back into 2023's first round?) or an affordable fill-in for Randle makes the middle-of-the-road perfect for Toppin and his unfulfilled potential on a list like this.
Brad Penner, USA TODAY SPORTS
4. Quentin Grimes
2021 1st Round, 25th overall (via trade with LA Clippers)
Had Perry moved on a year ago, Grimes would've appeared on this countdown much earlier. A year of struggling to wrangle minutes away from Alec Burks and Evan Fournier had many convinced that he was a primary cog in the metropolitan trade machine, included in nearly every hypothetical deal for Donovan Mitchell made by both amateur and professional observers alike.
Instead, he goes down as one of the more impactful draft choices in recent memory.
Grimes is the antithesis of the idea that Thibodeau holsters his young guns. His sophomore season began on a painful note, as he missed a majority of training camp with a foot injury. That gave Fournier the early edge on the primary shooting guard role but it turned over to Grimes by Thanksgiving and he never let go. Averaging 11.9 points in 66 starts and establishing himself as a credible three-point threat, Grimes' insertion into the starting five served as one of the turning points of the Knicks season, as they went 40-26 when he was announced during pregame intros.
The value of Grimes only increases when one looks deeper at the 2021 draft: his VORP is fourth-best among picks beyond the lottery and the pick swap with the Clippers (which sent current Trail Blazer and 21st overall pick Keon Johnson out west) is perhaps among Perry's finer, if not unsung, transactions.
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3. RJ Barrett
2019 1st Round, 3rd overall
Two words define Barrett's career thus far: consolation prize.
When ping-pong balls bounced the Knicks out of the Zion Williamson/Ja Morant sweepstakes, the promise and potential of a teenaged Barrett arrived from Duke. When the Knicks put up a disappointing follow-up to their playoff cameo from 2021, Barrett was the silver lining as the youngest New Yorker to average 20 points in a season. When the Mitchell deal fell through, the Knicks broke open the vault for Barrett's $120 million extension instead.
Barrett's certainly had his share of metropolitan moments: his game-winning triple against Boston from January 2022 against Boston gave the Knicks' marketing department material for years and he was one of the major contributors behind the Knicks' recent playoff run. He still has plenty of upside and room for further growth at his age (set to turn 23 next week) and the lack of established talent in the 2019 draft's opening stages (Williamson, Morant, and Darius Garland are the only draftees to earn All-Star invites so far) makes the project nature of Barrett somewhat easier to bear.
There's no denying, however, that Barrett has struggled to live up to the billing of a third overall pick, a slot that launched the careers of Luka Dončić, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown immediately before (also, some guy named Michael Jordan went third overall in 1984). His fourth season and last before the massive extension kicks was a rollercoaster affair, as his major stats lagged at certain points, and even the redemptive playoff run ended in heartbreak (1-of-10 in the Game 6 loss to Miami).
Perhaps a victim of circumstance... his career would perhaps be more appreciated if he played anywhere but Manhattan and wasn't meant to pacify New Yorkers going full Warden Norton on the draft lottery process ... Barrett's worst-case scenario despite his struggles is perhaps inclusion in a trade that lands the Knicks another bona fide superstar.
Brad Penner, USA TODAY SPORTS
2. Mitchell Robinson
2018 2nd Round, 36th overall
For his story and value at his pick position alone, Robinson stands as one of the most valuable second-round choices not just in the annals of Knicks history, but perhaps the NBA as a whole.
Administrative issues denied Robinson a chance at both college hoops and G League participation before he stepped onto NBA hardwood, but he has lived up to high school hype and then some. It took Robinson only three years to turn himself into a starting five staple. One could argue that one of the Knicks' finest choices in recent memory playing the increasingly obsolete center spot is perhaps the most New York thing imaginable, but Robinson's prowess in both the offensive rebounding and blocking departments has proven invaluable.
One of the last true "big men" of the NBA ... showing no interest in hoisting up triples and being more than content to swat and haul in his colored domain in the paint ... Robinson knows his strengths, which have proven downright historic: not only his .742 shot percentage from the shortened 2019-20 season lead the Association but broke a long-standing record held by Wilt Chamberlain. Robinson would've broken his own record two seasons later (.761) but didn't put up enough shots to qualify.
If the biggest knock on Robinson is that he doesn't want to put up hard shots and that he's a dominant relic of a bygone era, the Knicks could do far worse. Again, it's a question of whether those talents are more appreciated in New York or beyond, but it's hard to truly knock what he's accomplished considering where he came from.
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1. Immanuel Quickley
2020 1st Round, 25th overall (via trade with Oklahoma City)
NBA Draft traditions will come and go ... last month's lottery was left without a seat for Sacramento for the first time in 16 years ... but the ritual of Knicks fans detesting the name attached to their first-round choice will perhaps never vanish. Quickley, however, has defied draft night expectations and then some in his three seasons in Manhattan.
Knicks fans weren't allowed to offer their instant review of Quickley thanks to pandemic restrictions but professional critics were more than happy to pile on: CBS Sports went down in infamy for bestowing the Knicks a draft grade of "D+" for landing Quickley via a deal with Thunder where the primary departure was 23rd choice Leandro Balmoro. Quickley took his critics to school and then some by averaging 11.9 off the bench in his rookie season, showing he was capable of hitting shots all over the floor.
Quickley was no stranger to the cesspool that swallowed up the Knicks' 2021-22 season but he recovered and then some in year three. While he struggled to rediscover his scoring touch in the early going, Quickley nonetheless honed his playmaking prowess through assists and rebounds, Once the shots began to fall, he took full advantage of the return of his stroke, averaging 21.6 points over the final 19 games in March and April as the Knicks locked up their playoff post. Quickley also came up big when Barrett and Brunson missed time due to injury. Defensively, Quickley was second in the NBA (min. 60 games) to only Jaren Jackson by allowing opponents to shoot only 44 percent from the field.
Upon his arrival, it was easy to view Quickley as another false prophet in the Knicks' search for a point guard. That role has since been filled by Brunson but Quickley has nonetheless revealed himself to be one of the diamonds in the rough hidden on NBA benches, one that many felt outshined Sixth Man of the Year winner Malcolm Brogdon (Quickley finished second in voting to the Bostonian).
The irony of surviving in basketball's so-called "superteam" era is that those teams in question only go as far as their role players take them. Quickley has helped keep the Knicks afloat as they explore a brave new world in that role ... and he might even be beyond it at this point.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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