Knicks Draft Grade: A

Yesterday's NBA draft held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, received the loudest response when the hometown New York Knicks came up to make their selection at number 17.

Commissioner David Stern announced Georgia Tech guard Iman Shumpert for the Knicks and New York fans gave a resounding Boooooo to the pick.

Fortunately, Shumpert was nowhere to be found, a good thing, or he may have had things thrown at him going up to see the commissioner on stage.

Presumably, the biggest complaint was that there were available players that Knicks fans felt were better like Donatas Motiejunas and Chris Singleton.

But Shumpert might just be the player that the Knicks and coach Mike D'Antoni need in his wide open scoring offense.

Despite being a playoff team last year, the Knicks ranked 28th on defense, and their lack of defense showed in the series sweep against the Boston Celtics.

In addition, if the Knicks want to get past the second round in the playoffs, they will need to have a more complete team with depth at all the positions.

The positions with the least amount of depth are the center and shooting guard positions, despite the promise that shooting guard Landry Fields showed last year.

Shumpert gives both defense and depth at the shooting guard position.

At the combine, Shumpert was the star of the show and shot his way up GM's draft boards by showing his athleticism. He is large for a guard at 6'6, 220 lbs, has a great vertical leap and range, but limited shooting ability.

He should be a nice piece in D'Antoni's offense who already has plenty of shooters.

The Knicks' other draft pick is Kentucky center Josh Harrellson, who they picked up from the New Orleans Hornets, and is admittedly a second round project. He is large at 6'10 275 lbs, but will need to improve his athleticism. Still, he has potential and gives the Knicks a big body inside and depth at center.

Like the Dallas Mavericks, the Knicks appear to be realizing what it takes to get to the next level and be a championship team - depth, defense, and role players who complement your stars.

The Knicks have two stars in Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire. They still might go after another one in next year's free agent class with Dwight Howard, Deron Williams, and Chris Paul possibly available.

So for addressing defense and depth, the Knicks get an A in this year's draft.