Knicks' Greek pick part of Felton swap
Marc Berman
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LAS VEGAS — So much for the Knicks' 2012 draft.
The Knicks will give up second-round pick Kostas Papanikolaou in the proposed Raymond Felton sign-and-trade with Portland, The Post has learned. The small forward from Greece was selected 48th overall on June 28.
Papanikolaou will not play in the NBA next season because of a buyout in his contract with Greek club Olympiakos, but was slated to join the Knicks in 2013-14. On draft night, Knicks general manager Glen Grunwald acknowledged Papanikolaou could be used as a trade chip.
Also in the Felton deal will be Greek teammate, Georgios Prentezis, whom the Knicks acquired from Dallas in the Tyson Chandler sign-and-trade. Prentezis' salary at Olympiakos made it impossible for the Knicks to bring him from overseas this season either. Both players were on the Greek national team that failed to qualify for the Olympics two weeks ago.
The Papanikolaou camp was disappointed because he was looking forward to playing in New York.
* Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo said new acquisition Landry Fields probably will start and will be a key piece, even if he had to overpay. Fields received a 3-year, $19 million package the Knicks declined to match. Colangelo acknowledged the offer sheet also was designed to break up the Knicks' sign-and-trade proposal to Phoenix for Steve Nash. Neither team got Nash, who landed with the Lakers.
"We value Landry in a way we thought it was reflected in the offer,'' Colangelo said at the Las Vegas summer league. "We think he'll make a solid contribution. His defensive mentality, his athleticism, he's got a high basketball IQ. All those things add up to something of value to us.
"Obviously in free agency you tend to pay a little more and restricted free agency a little more than that. Regardless, we needed a player who's going to make valuable contributions.''
Asked about blocking the Knicks from Nash, Colangelo said, "I've acknowledged it had a dual purpose. He's definitely one of the players we we targeted and high on our list for the wing position. In some ways, it served two purposes. At the end of the day, it became irrelevant, but we got one of our primary targets in free agency."
* The Knicks met with longtime free-agent target Grant Hill, but they appear longshots to sign him.
* The Post has learned Phil Weber, a former Mike D'Antoni assistant with the Knicks, will interview for the Trail Blazers head-coaching position this week. … Kurt Thomas, set to come to the Knicks in the Felton trade after signing with Portland as a free agent last December, had a down year and was mostly out of the rotation. He is the oldest player in league at 39.
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