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The New York Knicks may have caught some bum luck in the lottery, but they might still make out just fine in Thursday's NBA Draft.
While sliding out of the top three almost certainly took the Knicks out of the running for both Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor, the closest this draft class has to consensus can't-miss prospects, there will still be some tantalizing talent available to them at No. 4, including, potentially, D'Angelo Russell.
Russell - a shifty, sweet-shooting, slick-passing combo guard who's drawn comparisons to James Harden - has long been considered a top-three pick, but the latest reports have the Philadelphia 76ers leaning instead towards Latvian big man Kristaps Porzingis at No. 3.
Of course, that all could change between now and Thursday (or it could all be a smokescreen to begin with), but the Knicks have to be salivating at the prospect of landing Russell. And in the event he is still on the board at No. 4, they can take comfort in knowing he believes he can succeed in the triangle offense.
"Now that I look at it, Kobe (Bryant) had great success in it," Russell told ESPN's Ian Begley in an interview Friday. "The shots that he took, the shots that he made were in the same areas, all from the offense. So I think I can definitely thrive there."
That ought to warm Phil Jackson's heart. The Knicks president of basketball operations brought the triangle with him when he took over control of the team's front office last year, and has doubled down on his insistence about the system after a season that produced a franchise-worst 17-65 record.
"I don’t think the offensive system has to take a back seat to anything we do," Jackson said in the New York Times on Friday.
"Players who are resistant to it shouldn’t be here."
Thankfully for Knicks fans, in the event that Russell falls into New York's lap, Jackson won't have to choose between the player and the system.
