With the 48th pick in Thursday night's 2012 NBA Draft, the New York Knicks selected Kostas Papanikolaou of Greece.
The Knicks are expected to let him develop in Greece before luring him to the NBA a year or two (or three?) down the road. That technique has worked at the back end of the second round before (think Manu Ginobili), but Seth Rosenthal of Posting and Toasting isn't thrilled by the Knicks' decision.
The kid sounds pretty great, actually, and all the draft experts like him, but he won't have a buyout for a couple of years, so this qualifies as a "draft and stash" pick. Considering that the Knicks really need some actual human beings to flesh out the backcourt in particular, such a selection surprises and disappoints me. Guys like Darius Johnson-Odom, Scott Machado, and Hollis Thompson were all still on the board and could have helped more immediately. Then again, there are always undrafted guys to be signed and tested in Summer League, so perhaps the Knicks felt they'd be able to build the roster that way.
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