2011 NBA Draft Grades: New York Knicks and 10 Teams Who Didn't Help Themselves

After Thursday's 2011 NBA draft, many teams were able to improve their rosters and patch up any loose ends that may have held them back in the past.

It's the main reason why the draft is held in the first place, to allow teams to secure talent that will help them now or down the road.

But how often do teams fail to address their major needs and draft other options that seem pedestrian?

Believe it or not, it happens quite a lot.

This year was no different.

Here are the top 10 teams that did little to nothing to help their own cause on draft day.

10. Sacramento Kings

Jimmer Fredette may turn into a nice scoring option for the Sacramento Kings, but it seems as if they failed to address their true roster need.

A scoring big man.

Marcus Morris would of been a perfect fit for the Kings at No. 10, after trading for the Milwaukee Bucks' draft pick.

Fredette is going to enter a situation in Sacramento where he'll be coming off the bench behind Tyreke Evans, Marcus Thornton and even John Salmons.

While it's possible that he takes over at point sometime during next year, it hardly seems worth it to draft the BYU product with the intentions of bringing him off the pine.

Fredette will no doubt help the Kings score more often from the outside, but drafting a big man to go along with DeMarcus Cousins would have been the better choice.

9. Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons made a great value pick with Brandon Knight at No. 8.

Knight was originally projected to go in the top five considering his youth, athleticism and true point guard mentality.

However, did the Pistons really need a point guard?

With an aging Richard Hamilton and sometimes stagnant Tayshaun Prince, Detroit should have thought bigger.

Not to mention Rodney Stuckey has shown he's more than capable of handling the point guard role, producing 15.5 PPG and over 5.0 ASP in only his fourth NBA season.

For Detroit, drafting Klay Thompson or Alec Burks would have made more sense.

It seems like they drafted Knight because he fell so far, not because he was a team need.

8. Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors got another scorer, adding to the already crowded backcourt of Monte Ellis and Stephen Curry.

It's hard to believe that drafting a guard to come off the bench warrants such an early round draft choice, see Jimmer Fredette, but Golden State did what they wanted to.

New head coach Mark Jackson and company failed to truly address their biggest need, an inside scoring threat who can match up against some of the West's best big men.

This would have been the perfect place to take either Morris brother or even Nikola Vucevic from USC.

Also considering Jackson is a defense first type of head coach, drafting a defensive sub-par Klay Thompson makes even less sense.

Let's hope his bench scoring can make this pick worthwhile.

7. Phoenix Suns

Not only did the Phoenix Suns fail to draft the better twin brother, taking Markieff Morris over Marcus Morris, but they failed to address their dire need of an immediate scoring option.

With much speculation revolving around Steve Nash and his inevitable departure from the team, drafting a scoring guard on draft day made perfect sense.

Phoenix already has Channing Frye and Marcin Gortat, two good big men who combine for an all-around solid NBA game.

But the Suns are truly lacking at the two and threes spots, employing an ancient Grant Hill, a suspect Jared Dudley, and an aging Vince Carter.

With age, versatility and lack of improvement being a problem for the following players, Phoenix needed youth and a change of pace that's only natural for the quick running Suns.

Names like Tobias Harris, MarShon Brooks, Jordan Hamilton and Nolan Smith come to mind, who are all players that could have helped out the Suns better than Morris will.

6. Washington Wizards

I absolutely love Jan Vesely.

He's versatile, a tremendous drunker and has loads of potential at the NBA level.

With that said, I'm highly skeptical that the Washington Wizards really needed the 6'11" forward.

The Wizards already have JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche as their two-headed backcourt duo, so drafting another big man on top that seems inappropriate. 

Not only will Vesely fight for playing time behind McGee, Blatche and even Rashard Lewis, but he's more of a down-the-line project than an immediate contributor.

While the Wizards did fill a need when they drafted small forward Chris Singleton, it could have played out better if they either traded down and got some proven NBA talent, or drafted an off-the-bench scorer like Jimmer Fredette or Klay Thompson.

Either way, John Wall is still a beast.

5. Los Angeles Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers didn't have much of a choice when they drafted their only picks Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie.

Thompkins is a solid face-up scorer and Leslie looks to be a dunking Blake Griffin packed into a guard's body, but did the Clippers really fulfill some of their biggest needs?

There were two things that Griffin and company really needed.

A center to complement the injury-prone Chris Kaman and a true small forward.

Drafting either Chandler Parsons to play the three or Jeremy Tyler to play center would have been better choices than Thompkins at No. 37.

They could of even drafted point guard Charles Jenkins to spell the aging Baron Davis.

In my eyes, the Clippers didn't do much this draft to help build around their budding stars, Griffin and Eric Gordon.

4. Toronto Raptors

Do you really think Jonas Valanciunas was the best option for the Toronto Raptors.?

I sure don't.

Toronto could have gotten one of the best players in the draft, if not the best, in Kemba Walker, but instead went with another international big man who will try to mesh with Andres Bargnani.

Walker, Jan Vesely, Brandon Knight and Klay Thompson, all would have been better picks for the Raptors that would been more of an immediate help than Valaniunas will.

With the No. 5 overall pick, this kid better play his heart out for the NBA's lone international team.

3. Miami Heat

Let's be honest.

The Miami Heat don't need much.

They were one good player away from beating the Dallas Mavericks in this year's NBA Finals.

With that said, they failed to address that one player in Thursday's draft.

Miami drafted small forward Bojan Bogdanovic with the No. 31 overall pick, sparking interest as to why.

Bogdanovic is not an overly athletic guy, possesses little to no defense.

With Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh in the lineup, he's not going to get a lot of looks to shoot the ball which takes away from his offensive potential.

The Heat needed a lock-down defender and failed to draft one.

2. Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers had a great draft, picking Kawhi Leonard and Davis Bertans with their only two draft picks.

Everything looked good.

They finally got a serious defender in Lenard to complement Danny Granger's offense and Bertans served as an interesting international big man. 

Plus he was only 18 years old.

With that said, the Pacers abandoned ship fairly quickly, trading both of their picks to the San Antonio Spurs for point guard George Hill.

Hill has been a solid guard in the NBA for a few years now, but considering the Pacers recently acquired Darren Collinson no more than a year ago, trading for another scoring point guard seems stupid.

Indiana could have used a youthful defender or an inside threat to help out Roy Hibbert, but instead they got themselves another point guard on top of Collinson and T.J. Ford.

This just didn't make sense.

1. New York Knicks

No, the New York Knicks didn't draft Spike Lee, but maybe they should have.

The Knicks arguably jumped the gun when the drafted shooting guard Iman Shumpert out of Georgia Tech with the No. 17 draft pick.

The bottom line, Shumpert's inconsistent offense and over-hyped defense should have created a different path for New York to take on draft day.

Chris Singleton, Tobias Harris, Nolan Smith and MarShon Brooks were all left and all have better NBA potential than the 20-year-old.

Shumpert is going to playing off the bench behind Landry Fields, so instead of drafting an immediate scoring option, the Knicks got themselves a defensive 2-guard who'll play no more than 20 MPG.

The Knicks fans' silence in the draft room Thursday said it all.

Fail.