As a Knicks fan, the unfortunate truth of our season is that I have little desire to even consider the possibility of the team being outside the lottery. Luckily for us, this prospect class seems to be loaded with potential NBA stars that fit into positions of need for my team. I’m not going to rank the players just based on their fit with the Knicks however, I’ll give a little information on how each player could work with us since it’s the situation I’m most familiar with. I’m going to rank them, give a little insight as to the kind of player they are, the best situations for them to land in and how I project them to fit into the NBA landscape.

When I’m talking about potential in this article, I’m talking about where I can see these players at their maximum ceiling. Of course I’m not predicting all of them to be top players in the league but based off what they’ve shown, I believe they have the potential to be highly dominant.

Luka Doncic, Real Madrid

I’d say the top 4 are all capable of being deserving of the number 1 selection, but the guy that has shown the most thus far is Doncic. His play in the European basketball championship showed just how ready he is to compete against high level competition. During the event, he averaged 14.3 ppg, 8.1 rpg and 3.9 apg on 29.1 mpg. He was one of the main contributors for his team during the tournament, which ended up winning the championship. He is currently playing for Real Madrid, which is considered by most to be the best non-NBA team in the world and he’s their best player. Per 36 min, Doncic is averaging 24.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg and 6 apg while shooting 51.8% from the field. His playstyle can be compared to something like a Lebron James. Now I’m not saying he’s at great as the king, but I think he has an insanely high bbiq for his age, is a great passer, and also has the ability to fill it up. He differs from Lebron in that he hasn’t shown to be a great defender and his scoring comes more from his shooting touch and creativeness than just the sheer power that Lebron has. He has the ability to play anywhere between the 1 and the 3 but this will be dependent on how he defends at each position in the NBA.

I think he fits perfectly with the Knicks if they believe Frank Ntilikina is not capable of facilitating their offense consistently. They may see him as more of a defensive stopper who can be asked to orchestrate the offense for parts of a game but not full-time the way Doncic has shown the ability to. On top of that, the Knicks are missing a secondary scoring option, which Doncic is more than capable to provide.

Other situations I can see him fitting into that actually have a chance at him are with the Suns, Cavs(If Lebron leaves), and Bulls.

Overall, with his skillset, I believe he has the potential to become a top 10 or maybe even top 5 player in the NBA eventually. This will all depend on how his speed translates to the NBA, but I think he’s young enough and has such a high bbiq that even if his speed doesn’t develop he will be at the very least a solid starter or even fringe all star.

2. Michael Porter Jr., Freshman, Missouri

Porter is another guy that has future NBA superstar potential. Coming off winning Gatorade National Player of the Year honors his senior season at Nathan Hale, Porter will continue his basketball journey at the University of Missouri. Missouri has been pretty terrible last few years, however, the last 2 NBA Draft number 1 overall picks have come from teams that didn’t even qualify for the NCAA tournament so it doesn’t look like Porter’s teams success with have any bearing on his draft position. The program should be somewhat competitive in the SEC as well because they were able to grab 5 commits from the Rival’s top 150 recruit rankings for the class of 2017, including 3 in the top 50.

Michael Porter Jr. seems to have molded his game from watching Kevin Durant. He’s at least 6'9 with a great shooting touch and guard-like ball-handling skills. He doesn’t seem to quite have the bbiq yet of a Luka Doncic, but it’s hard to tell just based on the little amount of tape against high level competition. That’s not to say he isn’t deserving of a number 1 overall selection. He’s a guy that can create a shot from anything and get you a bucket in any situation. A scorer in every sense of the word. In order to jump Doncic in my eyes, he’s going to need to prove just how elite his scoring is and/or show an ability to elevate his teammates around him.

Now I think the selection between him, Doncic and possibly Bagley or Ayton at the number 1 spot could come down to what a team is looking for because they all possess NBA superstar potential. Teams like the Kings, Hawks, Mavericks, Cavs(if Lebron stays) and 76ers/Celtics(Lakers pick) who will be near the top of the draft who already have a ballhandler in place will be looking to add elite scoring options so just based on scoring, I think Porter is going to give you more than Doncic would.

If the Knicks believe Ntilikina can be a great facilitator and want more scoring, I think Porter is the perfect fit into their situation. Him and Porzingis would create a dynamic offense of potentially devastating matchups for other teams for years to come.

This is another guy who has future top 10 player potential just based off of how dominant he was in high school along with how skillful he is on the offensive side. He’s going to need to demonstrate this ability at an elite level in the college game in order to continue to get number 1 overall looks and should have every opportunity to do so on this Missouri team. Porter looks to be a guy that can come into the league and average 18–20 ppg right off the bat and down the road I can see him being one of the premier scoring threats in the game.

3. DeAndre Ayton, Freshman, Arizona

This might be a bit surprising to some people as Bagley seems to currently be widely considered a top 3 pick but personally I think Ayton is more polished at this stage. There are questions about his motor and if he’s is actually passionate about the game but I think with solid coaching those issues can become a non-factor. He’s in a great situation at Arizona where they look to be loaded for the upcoming year and he seems to be their clear-cut best player. Plus Sean Miller is a great coach and should help correct some of the mental issues discussed earlier.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much tape available on him so really this is being based off team situation, what I’ve read about him and some highlight videos I’ve seen, so this ranking may be undeserving but from what I’ve seen, the guy seems to be very skilled for his age and size, and just looks like a freak of nature. In these preseason games he looks like a man amongst boys. I don’t want to get too caught up in his big man skills from watching him play against much smaller defenders but what I did see in his game was pretty great passing skills, some ability to put the ball on the floor, and he looks to have a useable shot. Against the teams Arizona has played thus far, he dominates the glass and can just bully smaller defenders in the paint, but again I’m not putting too much stock in that as the teams were pretty bad.

Again, this guy would fit very well with what the Knicks have going on. Ayton looks to be a guy that can fill some of the holes in KP’s game by being large enough to grab a ton of boards and he looks like he can grow into a great complementary scoring role for the Knicks. I’ll need to wait for more games to evaluate his defense but his size and athleticism are usually good indicators for being a capable guy on that side of the floor.

He would also fit very well with teams like the Mavs, Bulls, Suns, and Hawks who are looking for a skillful big and a true center.

Ayton’s combination of size, athleticism, and overall power are reminiscent of the Dwight Howard’s and DeAndre Jordan’s of the world, but he looks to have much more skill than those guys had at his age. Eventually, I can see him becoming one of the top big men in this league.

4. Marvin Bagley III, Freshman, Duke

Bagley is a surprise addition to the 2018 draft class as he didn’t reclassify or even commit to Duke until near the end of summer. Still, Bagley was ranked at the top recruit for the high school class of 2018. Honestly with this class, I believe 1–4 are really 1 a.,b.,c., and d. From what I’ve seen thus far, I think Bagley has the most work to do, but he has just as much potential as the rest of them. Unfortunately for him, he’ll be sharing the spotlight with a plethora of potential first round picks on an extremely loaded Duke team. Still he will be getting coached up by one of the all time greats in Coach K so I think this won’t hurt him too much.

Bagley has been getting a lot of comparisons to Chris Bosh on the offensive side and I can definitely see some resemblance. He has a nice shooting touch from the mid-range and can step out every so often and knock down an open 3. He’s huge just like Ayton and has shown a lot of potential on the defensive side of the ball. Bagley has athleticism off the charts and will meet anyone above the rim. What’s most intriguing about him beyond the measurables is that he plays with an extremely high motor. He’s a guy that’ll just keep grinding on both sides of the court, which is highly important for a guy that you want to draft to be a leader on your team.

What puts him behind Ayton in my opinion is that his skills are still a little bit raw. If he can show improvement on some of his skills and not rely solely on his size and athleticism, he can shoot up to the number 1 spot easily.

As of now, he is listed at PF so his fit on the Knicks is a bit questionable. If the Knicks believe KP can slide over to the 5 or if Bagley can play the 5 then this would be a great fit for the Knicks in the same way that Ayton is.

Bagley would fit with similar teams to Ayton(Bulls, Hawks, Mavs,Suns). The only questionable one in that bunch is the Suns but if Bagley shows he can play a true center role then I think he will fit perfectly with what they have going on.

Bagley is another guy who has the potential to be one of the top big men in the league if he works hard to improve on the skills to match his athleticism.