Immediate production or long-term potential?

That's one of the biggest questions facing Phil Jackson as the draft approaches.

Should the New York Knicks' president draft a player who can have the most immediate impact for the franchise? Or should he take the prospect who can develop into a better player in five years?

If the Knicks have the top pick in the draft and want a player who can help them immediately, they'd take Duke's Jahlil Okafor, according to ESPN college basketball and NBA draft analyst Fran Fraschilla.

"Okafor will be more ready to average 18 [points] and nine [rebounds] as a rookie," he said on a conference call Wednesday.

That kind of production could help the Knicks reach Jackson's goal of finishing with a winning record next season.

But there's more to consider than just next season.

"The reality is we want to grow a star through this system that'll be here for 15 years and a career," Jackson said last month.

To that end, Fraschilla believes that Kentucky's Karl-Anthony Towns, when compared to Okafor, has a "chance to be the better player over the next decade."

"Towns has more versatility because he has the ability to play away from the basket," Fraschilla said. "In the triangle [offense] that doesn't hurt, especially in that elbow area. But the triangle also has been made for low post players in the past like [Okafor] so I think the dilemma is going to be, 'Do you want the surer thing early in Okafor versus maybe rolling the dice a little bit and maybe Towns becomes a better player over time?'"

The presence of Carmelo Anthony will play a role in Jackson's thinking. Anthony, 30, is under contract for the next four seasons. He will be coming off the first major knee surgery of his career and he has already played 30,000 career minutes.

Given those factors, it's worth wondering how much longer Anthony can produce at an elite level.

If Jackson has similar concerns, he might take Okafor, given that the Duke center projects as a player ready to contribute in the short term before age starts to catch up with Anthony.

"[He's a] very skilled offensive player at 6-11, who I think in his early 20s is going to be unguardable," Fraschilla said.

If you're a Knicks fan hungry for a quick turnaround, that all sounds great.

But if Jackson's taking a longer view with the pick -- looking for a player to build the franchise around after Anthony leaves -- Fraschilla believes he might be better off taking Towns, who is seen as a stronger defender than Okafor.

"He's not as ready-made as Okafor may be offensively, but he's got tantalizing shot-blocking potential and he's developing into a low-post scorer," Fraschilla said. "... He's the grand slam and Okafor is the home run."

This assumes, of course, that the Knicks land the top pick in the draft and Jackson is forced to choose between the two big men. New York has the second-best odds (19.9 percent) of landing the No. 1 pick. The club will find out where it picks on Tuesday when the NBA holds its draft lottery.

This week, Knicks executives are in Chicago for the NBA draft combine. Towns, Okafor and Emmanuel Mudiay are not in Chicago for workouts. D'Angelo Russell, Justise Winslow and Kentucky's Willie Cauley-Stein -- all potential Knicks targets -- are in the Windy City. Click here for the three prospects' measurements from the camp.