06/24/26 09:19:00
Printable Page
06/24 21:17 CDT NBA draft finishes up in New York, where some second-round
picks are revered
NBA draft finishes up in New York, where some second-round picks are revered
By BRIAN MAHONEY
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --- Some of New York's biggest basketball heroes were
second-round draft picks.
Like Jalen Brunson, the guy marching through Manhattan with the Larry O'Brien
Trophy in his arms last week during a joyous championship parade celebration.
And Willis Reed, the guy who limped onto the floor before and during the early
minutes of Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals to lift the Knicks to their first
championship.
So when the NBA draft resumed on Wednesday night in Brooklyn with the Knicks on
the clock with the No. 31 pick, every team had hope of finding someone who can
be a key piece of a title team.
They drafted Ohio State guard Bruce Thornton, but had already agreed to trade
the rights to the pick to Houston by the time NBA deputy commissioner Mark
Tatum announced the selection.
Thornton was given a Knicks hat when his name was announced. He was wearing a
Rockets one by the time he arrived for his interviews and said he was just
happy to get to the NBA, even if it was in Texas and not with the new champions.
"Somebody said I got the wrong hat. I'm like, ?What do you mean?'" Thornton
said. "Then I heard it's the Houston Rockets. I'm like, no state tax, so that's
even better."
The first round, which began with Washington selecting AJ Dybantsa, finished
late Tuesday night.
The end of it and the second round has become a process of wheeling and
dealing, with teams like the Knicks, who traded back from the No. 24 spot and
eventually out of the first round entirely, sometimes moving multiple times.
That was part of the reason teams wanted to stop doing the entire draft in one
night and break it into two, given them more time for evaluation.
That makes things hard for players like Duke's Isaiah Evans, who was in the
green room at Barclays Center on Tuesday but wasn't selected. He didn't return
Wednesday to hear his name called with the No. 33 pick that is owned by
Minnesota after a trade with Brooklyn.
It's not as bad for players who weren't expecting to be selected on the first
night or understood patience, something Meleek Thomas said he learned playing
for John Calipari at Arkansas.
"The most important lesson I learned from Coach Cal this year was: Your time is
coming. Don't worry about when. Don't worry about how," said Thomas, who was
selected by Sacramento and dealt to Cleveland.
In a much different NBA with a different draft format, Reed was the No. 8 pick
in the 1964 draft, which made him the first pick of the second round. The Hall
of Famer went on to lead the Knicks to championships in 1970 and 1973 and was
the NBA Finals MVP both times.
Brunson was the No. 33 pick in the 2018 draft, taken early in the second round
by the Dallas Mavericks. The Knicks signed him as a free agent in 2022 and the
franchise has been on the rise ever since, culminating with their five-game
victory over the San Antonio Spurs earlier this month when Brunson was MVP of
the series.
German guard Jack Kayil, whose rights were acquired by the Knicks with the No.
39 pick, not surprisingly named Brunson as the player he was hoping to learn
from.
"We play kind of in a similar position," Kayil said. "We are also in kind of
the same position of the draft. He was also second round. So I think I can
learn a lot of stuff, how he started getting into the NBA, into the league,
getting in touch with that."
The Knicks also acquired the rights to Tyler Nickel, the No. 47 pick from
Vanderbilt, with their moves.
Among the other well-known names taken in the second round Wednesday were
Richie Saunders, Dybantsa's BYU teammate who was selected at No. 32 by Memphis;
Purdue's Braden Smith, the NCAA's career assists leader who was taken at No. 38
with a pick belonging to Indiana; Kentucky's Otega Oweh, with the No. 41 pick
acquired by Oklahoma City; and Emanuel Sharp from Houston at No. 45 to
Sacramento.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
|
