As reported here last month, the Knicks have signed N.C. State’s C.J. Leslie and he will play with their summer league team in Las Vegas and go to training camp in the fall.
The 6-foot-9 Leslie was projected as a second-round pick but went undrafted after suffering a hip injury.
Leslie worked out for the Nets June 17 but told SNY.tv then he had a hip issue.
“We shut it down,” he said then.
Leslie averaged 15.1 points and 7.4 rebounds this past season as a junior with the Wolfpack.
“I think they got a steal,” Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried told SNY.tv Monday. “His talent level is lottery pick-level. There’s no doubt in my mind that he can contribute and become a very good player for the New York Knicks.
Gottfried said Leslie was “disappointed” about not getting drafted “but very excited” about the opportunity.
The Knicks saw Rasheed Wallace retire, and then join the Detroit Pistons as an assistant, and also lost Kurt Thomas to retirement and Marcus Camby in the Andrea Bargnani trade.
Amar’e Stoudemire is chronically injured and the Knicks are in desperate need of some youth, toughness and rebounding in the frontcourt.
“I think he’s got a bright future ahead of him,” Gottfried said.
“I think he can contribute right away. I think he’s got all the tools and skillset and the athleticism to be a surprise, a guy who considering he went undrafted, I would be shocked if the New York Knicks don’t fall in love with him.”
