How Drafting Karl Towns or Jahlil Okafor Changes NY Knicks' Offseason Plan
By the time the sun sets over Barclays Center on June 25, the New York Knicks will have finally bestowed their blue-and-orange cap of love and acceptance upon some young big man named Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor. Then what?
Of course, if the Knicks were really smart, they'd have drafted a point guard instead.
Yet let's assume they go for a big. Towns and Okafor are both around the 7-footer range, but, aside from that, are quite different. When signing new frontcourt players this offseason, the Knicks will need to tweak their plans to suit whichever young man they bring home from Brooklyn on draft night.
The key differences between a Towns Knicks and an Okafor Knicks come down to spacing and defense.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Greg Monroe
Karl-Anthony Towns is an athletic center-forward who can stretch the floor—thriving in the high post, dropping in hook shots off the dribble and occasionally knocking down three-pointers.
Plus, he's a good defender. He ranks fifth in shot blocking on Draft Express' top 100 prospects list. "It's not rare to see him take charges, close out effectively on shooters on the perimeter or even switch out onto guards in pick-and-roll situations," Draft Express says of Towns.
With Towns at the 4 spot and Carmelo Anthony at the 3, it makes sense to sign Greg Monroe.
Rumors have been flying all year that the Detroit Pistons center-forward might sign with New York when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer. In April, one unnamed league executive said it's "about as close to a done deal as you can get," per Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.
Monroe's agent dismissed that report, per the New York Post's Marc Berman, but did indicate that Madison Square Garden is on the list of places Monroe could, maybe, possibly, perhaps land.
While Towns and Melo stretch the floor, Monroe does all his work down low. Of the shots he hit this season, 71 percent were made in the restricted area; only 7 percent were from mid-range. He has never made a three-pointer in his NBA career.
And that's OK. In fact, that's divine. The Knicks have desperately needed a low-post presence, points in the paint and rebounds, which Monroe (who averages 15.9 points and 10.2 boards per game) can deliver.
A Carmelo-Towns-Monroe frontcourt could be a winning trio in 2015-16.
Jahlil Okafor and a couple of Atlanta Hawks
On the other hand, a Carmelo-Okafor-Monroe trio would be too cluttered and clunky.
That's not a knock on Jahlil Okafor. He's downright graceful. Yet both Okafor and Monroe do most of their scoring in the post, and neither have much to brag about in the hops department. Instead of complementing each other, they'd be more likely to get in one another's way.
So to pair with Okafor, the Knicks need to sign a more nimble forward with a strong mid-range jump shot.
It's also imperative they get one who defends well, because defense is where Okafor's game really falls short. There are two gentlemen in Atlanta who might fit the description.
Hawks small forward DeMarre Carroll and power forward Paul Millsap both become unrestricted free agents at the end of this season.
Carroll refers to himself as a "junkyard dog" doing the "gritty work on defense," per Berman, and earned the 11th-best defensive rating of small forwards in the league. As Bleacher Report's Alec Nathan describes it, he's been "scorching" on offense in the playoffs, stringing together six 20-plus-point games and raising his free-agency price tag. He made $2.44 million this season.
Millsap is a 6'8", 253-pound bruiser who scores his 16.7 points per game from all over the court and is far more agile than he appears. He's one of the top 10 in the league overall in defensive rating and defensive win percentage.
Considering the team's success this year, it's likely that Atlanta will try to re-sign both Carroll and Millsap. Yet the Knicks may be able to tempt one of them away by promising the possibility of playing for a fanbase that actually fills the seats.
Carroll already provided New York fans a slim tendril of hope, saying the Knicks would "most definitely" be a high consideration this summer, per Berman: "When guys talk about playing in certain places—they talk about Madison Square Garden and Staples Center."
He even has the same agent who represents Lou Amundson and Jason Smith, two other frontcourt options the Knicks should consider bringing back.
If neither Carroll nor Millsap work out, New York could make a play for some lower-level restricted free agents: Milwaukee Bucks small forward Khris Middleton or Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Tristan Thompson. They could try to persuade Al-Farouq Aminu to opt out of the rest of his contract with the Dallas Mavericks.
There are a variety of options, as long as Anthony is open to playing at the 4 spot again.
Towns or Okafor, Okafor or Towns, it's a victory for the Blue and Orange either way. So, rejoice, Knicks fans. As long as Phil Jackson and Co. don't clog the paint with free agents who can't jump, there are better times to come.
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