The second round was unusually deep. Ruben Patterson and Rashard Lewis were both second round picks in this draft.
1999
The Knicks had the 15th pick and drafted a French center named Fredric Weis. Weis chose not to even try the NBA, and his decision was reaffirmed in the 2000 Olympics when Vince Carter cemented his legacy.
The Bulls had the 16th pick. They took Ron Artest. Denver took James Posey with the 18th pick.
The Knicks took J.R. Koch in the second round. No one taken around that point really panned out in the league. For once, the Knicks get a pass.
Notes
With the second to last pick in the draft, the Spurs took some guy out of Argentina.
Charles Barkley: “Gi-NOOO-Bi-li”
2000
The Knicks didn’t get it all wrong here. They came in with the 22nd pick in the draft and took Donnell Harvey. However, they traded him and former bust John Wallace to the Mavericks for a second round pick and Erick Strickland. It could’ve been worse.
The Knicks used their own second round pick at number 39 on Lavor Postell. Milwaukee had the 43rd pick. They took Michael Redd. Dallas traded the final pick in this draft in the Strickland deal. Pete Mickeal never worked out for the Knicks or anybody else.
Notes
The top 15 in this draft might go down as one of the weakest classes in history. Kenyon Martin, Mike Miller, and Jamal Crawford are the only players in that group to have all-star caliber seasons.
Stromile Swift, Darius Miles, Marcus Fizer, DerMarr Johnson, Chris Mihm, and Joel Przybilla were all top ten picks.
2001
The Knicks were left with two more second rounders and made nothing of them. They took Michael Wright with the 39th pick. This proved to be a bit of misfortune for the Knicks.
Mehmet Okur was taken before him and Earl Watson right after him.
With the 43rd pick, the Knicks took Eric Chenowith. He is the ultimate proof that if you are seven feet tall you will crack an NBA roster no matter how pathetic you are.
Notes
There were two pretty significant trades in this draft. The Bulls traded Elton Brand to the Clippers for Tyson Chandler and Brian Skinner. The Bulls banked on their new pick, Eddy Curry. Not a good decision.
The Nets made away with robbery when they acquired the rights to the Rockets three first round selections for their 7th pick, Eddie Griffin. Richard Jefferson and Jason Collins were two of those picks.
MJ shot a brick with Kwame Brown. Meanwhile, the Spurs were at the bottom the first round and found another international sensation in Tony Parker.
The Knicks went through a terrible stretch of evaluating talent. That has been their Achilles heel for some time. And now comes word of the arrival of the worst international pick since Weis in Darko Milicic.
The Knicks are discussing a Zach Randolph for Darko deal. The move would save the Knicks $16.1 million over the next two years and more than twice that amount overall.
Milicic is the worst $7 million dollar investment you can find but his contract comes off the books before LeBron hits the open market.
If the Knicks don’t land LeBron, they are just trading away their only proven low-post scorer (when he wants to be) for a big man rotation of Eddy Curry, Milicic, and Jerome James.
On the bright side, the move would signal Wilson Chandler’s arrival into the starting lineup. He is our Shawn Marion. Now if we could just find our Steve Nash.
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