ESPN draft expert Fran Fraschilla has a message for the Knicks: Take the best player available with your lottery pick and save the late first-rounder for a point guard. “Here’s what I would tell the Knicks: I think it’s a bad year to target one position,’’ Fraschilla said as reported by New York Post. “If I’m the Knicks and I’m picking sixth, I’m absolutely taking the best player available — regardless of position. If you reach to take a point guard you’re unsure of, you’re better off zeroing on whoever is the best player left on the board.’’
A point guard is the Knicks’ greatest need. Fraschilla believes Lewis, 19, is attractive at the end of the first round. The Knicks got choice no. 1 of Clippers in the Marcus Morris agreement on February 6. If the regular season never restarts due to the global pandemic, the Clippers would select the 27th.
“He is still one of the youngest children in the draft,” said Fraschilla of Lewis. “He’s probably the fastest player in this draft. The crazy thing is that he played two full seasons in the SEC and won’t turn 20 until next April.”
“If they take Toppin or James Wiseman in the lottery and are trying to take a guard, the first guy I would watch is Lewis. He is Ja Morant Lite and started his SEC career as a seventeen year old.”
Known more as an pentratoe, Lewis averaged 18.5 points, 5.2 assists and 4.8 rebounds in his second season. He fired 45.9 percent and 36.6 percent from 3. Without the planned pre-draft workouts, Lewis will probably not be able to climb the scoreboards.