This was one time the Knicks were happy to lose this season.
Phil Jackson and Co. undoubtedly breathed a huge sigh of relief Tuesday night when the Knicks didn’t move up in this year’s NBA Draft, as they remained in the 12th slot in the draft lottery — meaning their pick went to the Nuggets as the final piece of the 2011 Carmelo Anthony trade.
Denver, in turn, shipped the pick to Orlando as part of the Dwight Howard trade to Los Angeles in 2012.
The big winners, however, were the Cavaliers, who moved up from the ninth spot in the lottery to claim the top pick for the second year in a row, and for the third time in four years. Since the NBA switched to the lottery system in 1985, this was just the second time a team has won the first pick in two consecutive seasons. Orlando was the other in 1992-93.
“It was incredible,” said Cleveland general manager David Griffin, who was on hand representing the Cavaliers. “When Cleveland didn’t pop up at nine, I knew obviously we had moved up and I had to gather myself for a second.
“Just a remarkable feeling.”
Now Griffin, who only had the interim tag removed from his title last week and is in the midst of a coaching search, has another huge decision in front of him. Not only is this one of the deepest drafts in recent memory — led by Kansas stars Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid and Duke’s Jabari Parker — but there’s also the possibility Timberwolves star Kevin Love could be had in a trade.
Griffin didn’t exactly shy away from the notion the Cavaliers could try to improve quickly via the trade route, after owner Dan Gilbert famously said a year ago Cleveland wouldn’t be back in the lottery this year.
“I think we’re very open-minded,” Griffin said. “We will try to get radically better much quicker.
“We really feel like there’s a sense of urgency in improving our team as a whole and we’re going to look for the right fit and we’re very open-minded to what that really means.”
Shaw not interested in Knicks job
Nuggets coach Brian Shaw, who played and then was an assistant coach under Knicks team president Phil Jackson in Los Angeles, said he wouldn’t leave Denver to come coach Jackson’s Knicks.
“I’m happy where I am,” said Shaw, who just completed his first year on the bench with the Nuggets. “I have a job here, so all the speculation that’s out there, that’s just speculation.”
However, Shaw did endorse the potential candidacy of another Knick coaching target, Derek Fisher — whom he spent several years playing alongside, as well as coaching, with the Lakers.
“I think, if that’s what he decided to do, he’d do great,” said Shaw, who was on the dais for the lottery where the Nuggets wound up with the 10th pick. “I think it’d be a seamless transition for him.
“He’d be a natural leader, as he showed throughout his career and being the head of the union, when he was president of the players association, so I don’t think it’d be a problem for him at all if that’s what he decided to do.”