The Knicks spent most of the week checking out high-scoring combo guards, but ended it by working out a pure point guard and high-profile power forward.
Texas’ D.J. Augustin and UCLA’s Kevin Love headlined a group of six players that took part in the Knicks’ pre-draft group workout in Greenburgh on Friday. The Knicks also held a solo session with 19-year-old Italian forward Danilo Gallinari to end the day.
Friday’s workouts marked a stark contrast to the Knicks’ draft approach earlier in the week, when they held three separate sessions for combo guards. The Knicks evaluated Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless and Indiana’s Eric Gordon on Tuesday, before taking a look at O.J. Mayo on Thursday.
Augustin is not a combo guard and has no ambition of becoming one, if chosen by the Knicks with the No. 6 pick in June 26th's NBA Draft.
“I’m just a point guard,”
said Augustin, who averaged 19.2 points and 5.8 assists per game as a sophomore at Texas. “I know what I can do as a point - I could lead a team and get everybody in the right position to score and be effective on the court. That’s all I know. They may need a point guard and hopefully I showed them I can be that guy.”
Meanwhile, the 6-10 Love, who's heard the criticism about his fundamentally-sound game not translating to the NBA level, tried to show the Knicks that he’s athletic enough to run in Mike D’Antoni’s system.
“I definitely run the floor,"
Love said. "I showed that I am faster than people peg me as. I’ll probably have to step out and maybe play a little of a point forward kind of role if I’m going to play in D’Antoni’s offense. Defensively, I feel like I’m strong enough to guard the five, but I’ll mostly be guarding the four."
The other four players involved in the group workout included Syracuse’s Donte Greene, Ohio State’s Kosta Koufos, LSU’s Anthony Randolph and Davidson’s Jason Richards. The Knicks have no workouts scheduled from Saturday-Monday.
Gallinari, who worked out with the Nets on Thursday, once again repeated that he’s mainly interested and comfortable with playing for the metropolitan-area teams. When asked what he’d do if another team drafted him, the 19-year-old Italian forward said, “We’ll see.”
