I took that with a grain of salt when I saw it, but Dieng is a pretty nice young player and they have a couple pf prospects (Bennett and Payne) who I honestly still think have potential. If they did such an insane thing, it probably would mean selecting Townes #1 and then trading down with the Knicks... that's my guess at least. If I'm the knicks, I gladly give up #4 and additional assets to get Townes.
What would Knicks give up in addition to #4 to get #1 in this scenario?
They also have Ricky Rubio and Z Levine
Read a rumor they were trying to trade Rubio.
Just saying, if they are actually crazy enough to pass on the bigs to take Mudiay, they should at least get something out of it. Take Townes, and then make the Knicks bend over.
If I'm the Knicks in that situation, I cash in Melo for a buttload of picks and prospects from a desperate team like the Celtics (Something like Wallace + Smart + Bradley + Sully + Oly + #16 + #28 for Melo) ... Just as an example... if Boston thinks landing Melo will help them lure another star like Kevin Love, it makes some sense for them to go all-in for a guy like Melo (similiar to when they landed Ray Allen as a precursor to Garnett)... then with New York's newfound assets they can offer #4 + a couple of the Boston chips to get up to #1. Gives the Knicks a nice young foundation and a franchise building block in Townes. They can go all-in on the youth thing. Minny gets their guy (in this insane hypothetical where they want Mudiay at #1), Knicks get their franchise building block in Townes... Boston gets a star to attract a second star in free agency.
Lol... yeah, probably not.