There's quite a bit of time until the NBA Draft, but with the Knicks long since out of action there's no reason not to start looking ahead. There's a report on NBADraft.net that says the Knicks promised Stephen Curry they'd pick him with the eighth overall pick, leading Curry to put his name into the draft pool.
Now there's still some hurdles to get over before this rumor can become something more concrete. First among those hurdles is the draft lottery. If Curry was unsure that a team was going to take him in the early part of the first round, why would he accept a promise before the draft order has been set in stone? He hasn't hired an agent yet, so there's still a chance he could back out, and there are still a lot of prospect workouts that need to be done before anyone should be promising anything. And, finally, there's always the chance that the pick gets packaged with the Knicks' Curry of the moment (Eddy) for more cap space.
That said, there are reasons why Curry would be appealing to Mike D'Antoni and Donnie Walsh. He's got excellent court sense, a la D'Antoni favorite Steve Nash, and a killer downtown stroke, a la Walsh favorite Reggie Miller. The Knicks were weak in the backcourt last season, and Curry profiles as a guy who could spend time at both guard spots depending on how the rest of the roster shapes up.
Picking him would also make it a lot easier for the team to thank Nate Robinson for all he's done and send him on his way. It seemed like D'Antoni lost patience with Robinson more and more as the season dragged to its close, but without a strong replacement it would be a risky play to just let Robinson walk away. Curry would give them that replacement, and his slight frame would make it hard to see a future that included two undersized guards on the same club.
Curry's size is a drawback, as is his relative inexperience as a point guard. He may never develop into anything more than a third guard because of his tweener skills, which would be okay on a better team but with the Knicks still needing so much it's hard to say that picking a backup with the eighth pick is enough value.
Plenty of time to discuss those pros and cons, however. We'll leave you with one last nugget of information to chew on for the time being. LeBron James was a big supporter of Curry and Davidson during their 2008 tourney run, something that won't escape anyone's mind during the run-up to the King's decision following the 2010 season.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
