Demetris Nichols will play next season in Europe.  Nichols will likely get more playing time and money than he would have gotten with the Knicks who will hold onto his rights for a while.  This is acutally a win-win situation for the Knicks as Nichols will get a lot of playing time to hone his game before he comes stateside to play with the Knicks in the future.

The Knicks acquired small forward Demetris Nichols from the Blazers for a 2nd round pick in 2009.  Nichols played his college ball at Syracuse so he’s played a lot of games at Madison Square Garden already.  Nichols led the Orange in scoring last season and he’s gotten better every season at Syracuse so the Knicks might have stole him from Portland.  Nichols played in 123 games at Syracuse and he averaged 10.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.0 steal and 0.8 blocks per game.  He also is a decent shooter despite what the numbers said in college as he shot 42.3% from the floor, 35.8% from the three point line and 75.2% from the free throw line.

The Knicks wanted to get tougher during this year’s draft and Wilson Chandler definately qualifies there.  The 6’8″, 230 pound power forward from DePaul is a banger inside.  Chandler played in 59 games at DePaul and he averaged 12.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.7 steals and 1.5 blocks per game.  Chandler isn’t much of a shooter though as he has hit 44.5% from the floor, 30.3% from three point range and 65.9% from the free throw line.  Look for Chandler to be a backup as a rookie but he could develop into a starter down the road.