The New York Knicks were godawful this year and finished with 17 wins for their worst season in almost 70 years. With two games left in the season, they somehow managed to fuck up their chances of stacking the deck in the lottery by beating the Atlanta Hawks 112-108. That gave them exactly one more win than the Minnesota Timberwolves, who just so happened to win the lottery tonight.When the top 14 picks were announced tonight in New York, the room was deathly silent until the fourth pick was announced. When the crowd heard it was the Knicks pick, there was an audible, collective groan and Knicks general manager Steve Mills, actually hung his head.The fourth pick is not bad, generally speaking, but Karl-Anthony Townes and Jahlil Okafor are the consensus best players in this draft, and there are only two of them. Maybe the Knicks wouldn't have gotten into the top two with a loss to Atlanta, but it couldn't have hurt. The Lakers, by the way got the second pick, and Byron Scott is feeling pretty good about that.
[ESPN]