2006 NBA Draft Preview: The Perimeter Players

GREENBURGH, New York, June 26, 2006 -- The Knicks may very well take a good hard look at some of the perimeter players available in this draft at their 20 and 29th picks. The Knicks do have Jamal Crawford, Quentin Richardson, and Steve Francis on the roster but may look to add a pure shooter. This class of perimeter players features National Players of the year Adam Morrison and J. J. Redick, the highly talented Rudy Gay and local New Jersey native and All-American Randy Foye.

Heres how the group stacks up:

	Player	Career Summary
1.	Rudy Gay (6-9, Conneticut)	A mystifying super-talent who’s got it all -- but displays his frightening array of skills only sporadically. Extra-athletic flier with feathery shooting-touch and parking lot range, he must lose his tendency to float, and increase determination and focus, to become a NBA superstar. PROBABLE DRAFT SPOT: Top three.
2.	Adam Morrison (6-8, Gonzaga)	Nation’s top scorer (28.1 ppg.) is a perpetual motion-machine on offense, finding and exploiting defensive seams and holes with unrelenting energy. The purest of long-range shooters, and an outstanding team leader, he must work on elevating his defensive game and beating the inevitable double teams by better creating for others. PROBABLE DRAFT SPOT: 1-5
3.	Brandon Roy (6-5, Washington)	Forever underrated Pac 10 Player of the Year is the complete package and then some. Roy, the absolute definition of “all-around talent” who simply exploded in the NCAA Tournament, can play -- and defend -- four positions with impressive elan. Does it all, does all it well, has the game down to a science. Should become a major coach’s dream-type team-first contributor in the pros. PROBABLE DRAFT SPOT: 5-10
4.	4. Randy Foye (6-4, Villanova.)	Strong, solid, scary nasty, and wonderfully versatile, Newark-ian Foye couples a New Jersey edge with Smith-sonian smarts. Polished guard with a tremendous first step to the hoop can go as far as he wants to in the NBA. PROBABLE DRAFT SPOT: 6-13
5.	J. J. Redick (6-4, Duke)	No one has sunk more threes over his career -- yet no other highly regarded player should generate more discussion in this draft. A superb standstill jump shooter who has the use of screens down to a science, Redick’s off-dribble game is barely a threat and he plays minimum defense. PROBABLE DRAFT SPOT: 3-10
6.	Rodney Carney (6-7, Memphis)	Long-limbed, extra-athletic jump-genius is an improving shooter and a lockdown defender. Yet his NCAA Tournament implosion was less than shocking as the mechanical Carney is still more of an athlete than a basketball player at this point. Could eventually become a James Posey-type role-playing contributor in the pros. PROBABLE DRAFT SPOT: 6-13
7.	Shawne Williams (6-9, Memphis)	Barely 20-years young, Williams is already a Magic-Johnson type all-around court contributor who can play four positions. Shoots, drives, distributes, and rebounds with extreme ease, blocks shots in the open floor. Though still raw -- Little Magic spent just one year in college -- he owns virtually unlimited down-the-road potential. PROBABLE DRAFT SPOT: 11-20
8.	Shannon Brown (6-4, Michigan State)	A prototypical Spartan guard of recent vintage, in that he is a superior athlete with a fabulous outside touch who somehow still emanates a “falls short of NBA superstar-dom” feeling. PROBABLE DRAFT SPOT: 15-20
9.	Ronnie Brewer (6-7, Arkansas)	An unusual player: he combines good athleticism with fine court vision and an active defensive attitude. Yet he feels a bit mechanical and has sporadic troubles hitting the jump shot under pressure. PROBABLE DRAFT SPOT: 13-20
10.	Hassan Adams (6-5, Arizona)	For whatever reason this guy is not a lottery grab, he should be. Super-sleeper is a beyond explosive, Latrell Sprewell-type uber-athlete who jumps over tall buildings, has led the Pac 10 in steals, and owns nasties to spare. A scorer, rather than a shooter, at this point, if Adams ever manages to purify that “J” he’s a stone cold NBA All-Star. PROBABLE DRAFT SPOT: Second round

NEXT BEST: Maurice Ager (6-5 SG, Michigan State), Quincy Douby (6-3 SG, Rutgers), Allan Ray (6-2 SG, Villanova), Justin Gray (6-2 SG, Wake Forest), Mike Gansey (6-4 SG, West Virginia), Thabo Sefolosha (6-6 SG, Switzerland), Louis Admunson (6-8 SF, UNLV), Steve Novak (6-10 SF, Marquette), Nik Caner-Medley (6-8 SF, Maryland)