2002 NBA Draft: Knicks could have drafted Amare

By Andrew Feingold on May 27th, 2009 9:58 AM
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 at 9:58 am and is filed under Basketball, Knicks Rumors & News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

11372002 NBA Draft

Knicks select Nene at 7

Suns select Amare Stoudemire at 9

Honorable mention: Wizards select Caron Butler at 10

Nene turned out to become one of the better players the Knicks drafted in the first round but he did not play one game for the franchise. His draft rights were traded along with Marcus Camby to the Denver Nuggets for Antonio McDyess and the draft rights to Frank Williams. Acquiring McDyess was risky because he suffered a severe knee injury forced him to miss 72 games during the 01-02 season. However in a three year span before that he averaged 20.4 points, 10.6 rebounds in 67 games per season.

McDyess did not start his Knicks tenure on a high note as he  injured that same knee in a preseason game. He appeared in only 18 games before he was involved in a eight-player trade with that Phoenix suns that brought in Stephon Marbury. McDyess has battled back through injuries and over the past five years has appeared in 76 games per season. His 9.8 rebounds per game this season were his highest amount since the 00-01 campaign.

Frank Williams lasted two seasons with the Knicks as he started just three games. He averaged 2.6 points and 1.9 assists in 77 games. He was involved in a six-player deal with the Chicago Bulls that brought in Jamal Crawford and Jerome Williams. Williams appeared in just nine games with the Bulls during the 03-04 season and has not played another NBA game since.

Amare has become one of the best and versatile players at his position. Stoudemire won the NBA Rookie of the Year award becoming the first player drafted out of high school to accomplish this feat. In his third season he averaged 26 points per game (fifth in the NBA). While he has battled his own knee injuries and underwent micro fracture surgery he is still a four time all-star. Amare injured his knee and appeared in three games during the 05-06 season but did miss a game a season later. Amare will be turning 29 years old in November and his career averages are 21.1 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game.

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