With injury-plagued Michael Porter Jr. dropping like a rock and still available at No. 9, the Knicks wouldn’t take the chance on the Missouri forward, but still wound up taking something of a chance on draft night.
Kentucky 6-foot-9 freshman forward Kevin Knox, like a late-closing thoroughbred from his home state, beat out the more established Mikal Bridges of Villanova. The Knicks selected the second-youngest player in the draft — he is 18 — who experienced a modest freshman year.
“Kentucky is basically the New York Knicks of college basketball,” Knox said Wednesday.
Bridges was considered the safer pick, a much better defender and proven winner, but Knox’s spectacular group workout against Miles Bridges nearly two weeks ago saw Knox rise on the Knicks’ draft board, and he won over coach David Fizdale with a potential upside that Bridges may not possess.