The New York Knicks have already started the offseason on the losing end with more off-court drama and officially losing ground in the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery.
The regular season finale victory over the Philadelphia 76ers at home was thrilling for the many that were in attendance, but costly in the New York Knicks' rebuilding plans.
The Knickerbockers gave away a legit shot at the sixth pick in the 2017 NBA Draft with the victory, finishing in a tie with the Minnesota Timberwolves at 31-51. Both teams had an 18.3 percent chance of owning a top-3 pick and a 5.3 percent chance of getting No. 1.
To determine the tie breaker, the league held a special lottery between the two teams with ping pong balls. The entire event was streamed online and the Timberwolves emerged victorious, officially garnering the advantage over New York in this year's draft lottery. The Knicks now have an 80 percent chance of picking in the seventh or eighth position.
#Knicks lose #NBADraft tiebreaker pic.twitter.com/QHlEnETqZE
— Ed Easton Jr. (@EdEastonJr) April 18, 2017
Knicks team president Phil Jackson spoke about the possibility of this during his controversial news conference last Friday. The embattled executive was optimistic of New York's chances to secure a top pick in the lottery, comparing this year to that of the 2015 NBA Draft Lottery that secured Kristaps Porzingis.
"It's one of the years we have a draft pick, so we're looking forward to that, of course. We'll have a coin flip this next week to determine what position we actually will end with. Our balls will be split in half I think between Minnesota and ourselves. So there'll be a sharing of that. But it's a lottery, so whenever there's a lottery there's always a chance we'll move up or we could move back, as we found out a couple of years ago.'
"Our draft pick in KP turned out to be a pretty good deal, We're hoping this draft pick will be a player of some talent. We understand a lot of these are young people, that it's going to take three or four years for them to develop."
Jackson has continued to hear the criticism from around the sports media world in regards to his performance thus far as team president. Stephen A. Smith of from ESPN's "First Take" gave a very emotional rant attacking Jackson blatantly.
Stephen A. Smith tell us how you really feel about Phil Jackson with the #Knicks ???? via @FirstTake pic.twitter.com/OyTTrevmPr
— Ed Easton Jr. (@EdEastonJr) April 17, 2017
A few of Jackson's young acquisitions will be busy this summer playing in the European championships representing their native countries. Willy Hernangomez will play for Spain and Mindaugas Kuzminskas for Lithuania, while there is a strong possibility Porzingis could play for Latvia (although he has yet to confirm). In an interview with FIBA, Porzingis expressed his thoughts in representing his country at the tournament.
"I would like to help the team get to the second round and have a great campaign, We have good potential and we can have a very competitive national team. Basketball has been growing a lot in my country, and I enjoy witnessing it. Some guys are having great seasons, and we have some great veterans that can still have a great impact on the national team."
It would probably do Porzingis well to leave the Knicks chaos for a while and get back to focusing on his development. The Carmelo Anthony drama has, however, taken another twisted turn with his personal life in the spotlight, fueling more Knicks talk throughout the summer. Stay tuned, fans.
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