This week we continue our NBA draft previews, and we still need bloggers for over a dozen teams. If you’d like to contribute, feel free to contact Daily Basketball. Today, the New York Knicks, as previewed by Stop Mike Lupica.

previous season record: 33-49

picks held by the team: #23

position needs: Shot-blocking Power Forward, outside shooting SG/SF

The Knicks struggled to open the season last year, starting off 4-9 before turning the corner and going 22-22 over the next three months.  After having positioned themselves in the race for the Eastern Conference’s #8 playoff seed, the Knicks were decimated by injuries to key players - first Jamal Crawford and David Lee went down, and soon after Quentin Richardson joined them on the bench, and finally Stephon Marbury and Renaldo Balkman also got injured, leaving the Knicks crawling to a 7-18 finish.

Having established that, when healthy, this team can be .500, the Knicks will likely look to address one of their two prime needs in the draft - either a shot-blocking/rebounding power forward to play alongside center Eddy Curry, or a deadly outside shooting swingman.  Of course, the Knicks might try to address the latter need via a trade with Seattle Sonics for Rashard Lewis, but for now the players the Knicks have been working out seem to fit the two categories.  The Knicks have worked out shooters Demetris Nichols, Derrick Byars, Morris Almond, Daequan Cook, and Nick Young.  They have also looked at power forwards like Curtis Sumpter, Stephane Lasme, and have talked about bringing in Sean Williams for a workout.  They have not looked at any centers, and have only looked at very few point guards.

Most mock drafts have the Knicks taking Marcus WIlliams at the #23 spot, a SG from Arizona with good fundamentals, a nice mid-range game, passing and ball handling skills (a need on the Knicks), but who is a weak defender and has to work on his range, as he shoots poorly from behind the arc.  It would be a surprise to see the Knicks go this route, especially if deadlier shooters such as Demetris Nichols or Morris Almond are still on the board.

Most Knicks fans would like to see Isiah Thomas address the shot-blocker need at the draft, and have been getting excited over the potential of Sean Williams, who averaged 5 bpg and was a good rebounder at Boston College before being suspended for failing a drug test.  He comes with a bit of a risk, since the NBA conducts five drug tests a year.  Also, he seems to have no interest in working out for the Knicks, perhaps because a higher-drafting team has already “promised” to pick him.  However, if he is on the board when the Knicks pick, expect Knicks fans at Madison Square Garden to start chanting for him.  Similarly, one mock draft I saw has Rodney Stuckey going to the Knicks, even though reports are that the Pistons might take him at #15.

Italian player Marco Belinelli, another deadly shooter with range, has been mentioned as a possible choice by the Knicks.  It’s worth mentioning that in their history, the Knicks have yet to have a foreign-born player of any significance.  Only Frederic Weis and Maciel Lampe come to mind, and neither played significant minutes for the Knicks.  Isiah Thomas, in fact, hasn’t had too much experience in drafting foreign players (in Toronto or NY), or coaching them (Indiana or NY).  He and the organization might be xenophobic.

However, Isiah has said that he might “take a flier” and gamble with this pick, since the Knicks consider it their “second pick” in this draft, having already scored with the clever signing of a lottery-level talent in Randolph Morris at the end of last season, thanks to a loophole that allowed him to play college basketball for the University of Kentucky while being eligible to be signed as a NBA free agent.

“I feel it’s my second pick in the draft,” Thomas said last week at Orlando’s pre-draft camp. “Having [claimed] one pick in this draft, I could be more riskier with the second pick. I’m could take some chances, take a flier on maybe somebody people aren’t expecting you to pick.”

“The guy we pick at 23, I’d be surprised if he cracked the playing rotation next year,” Thomas added. “We can afford to draft a guy and maybe look at a two-year window and wait on him.”

And with that it has been suggested that Thomas might roll the dice and take a guy like 6′11 Spaniard Tiago Splitter, whose contract may need to be bought out, and whom the Knicks may let play overseas for a year before bringing him into camp the following season.

Whoever he picks, Knicks fans would be smart to keep an open mind about it, as all of Thomas’ previous picks - David Lee, Renaldo Balkman, Channing Frye, and even Nate Robinson - have all turned out to be productive players in the NBA who were really good picks for where they were drafted.

If you hope to avoid the dullest sportswriting, visit Stop Mike Lupica for all your Knicks news.