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The 2012 NBA Draft will be held Thursday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. This will be a night of intrigue, excitement, optimism and maybe even disappointment for fans of NBA teams around the country. Unfortunately, for fans of the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets the night means virtually nothing.
Neither New York team has a pick in Thursday's first round. The Knicks dealt their first-round pick away years ago for Tracy McGrady, and will not select until the second round, 48th overall. The Nets dealt a top three protected pick to the Portland Trail Blazers for Gerald Wallace last season. When Brooklyn landed No. 6 in the NBA Draft Lottery, the pick went to Portland. The Nets pick 57th overall.
So, unless New York or Brooklyn is able to pull off a trade to get into the first round there won't anything for Knicks or Nets fans to get excited about. What, then, are Knicks and Nets fans supposed to do while watching the first round -- and most of the second -- before their teams actually get to do anything?
Well, SB Nation New York has some ideas for you. Some of these will involve imbibing, but not all. We do want you to behave responsibly.
1. The Gerald Wallace Memorial Drinking Game [Nets fans only] -- Take a shot when the Blazers use the sixth pick overall (that you traded them for Wallace) to take a player who could end up being better than Wallace.
2. Boo The Houston Rockets 16th pick [Knicks Fans Only] -- This is the pick the Rockets acquired from the Knicks in the McGrady deal. Thus, you are required to boo your television screen lustily, even if the pick turns out to be a local player like Moe Harkless of St. John's.
3. Play The Dion Waiters Guessing Game -- Recent projections show Waiters going anywhere from No. 7 to the Golden State Warriors or as late as No. 13 to the Phoenix Suns. Someone has reportedly promised Waiters they will draft him. So, get your buddies and start a pool on which team takes the Syracuse guard. Winner, of course, gets the pot. And a shot, if you must.
4. The Frederic Weis Drinking Game -- I know Knicks fans remember Weis. He is the French big man (7-foot-2) the Knicks drafted 15th overall in 1999. The Knicks passed on St. John's star Ron Artest to take Weis, who never played an NBA game. So, the Weis Drinking Game goes like this. Simply take a shot every time a most likely useless European big man is selected in the draft, which tends to happen in the latter part of the first round.
5. Play The Green Room Guessing Game -- There are 14 players who have been invited by the NBA to attend the draft. You can either start a pool based on which player or players fall out of the first. More fun, and more challenging, might be to start a pool on which of the 14 honored guests is the last one sitting in the Green Room waiting to hear his name called. And, of course, take a shot if you must.
Hopefully, these ideas help you while away the time until the Knicks or Nets finally get to pick a player. Whereupon they will most likely take someone you have never heard of and who probably won't help the team, anyway. Meaning that, no matter how many games you play you will have wasted your evening. But you will have had fun doing so.