However the same can’t be said about the class of restricted free agents available as there is a very nice crop of young players that have the ability to sign an offer sheet with a new team. That crop of players include: Jeremy Lin, Roy Hibbert, Brook Lopez, JaVale McGee, Nicolas Batum, Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon, Michael Beasley and O.J. Mayo.

Mar 7, 2012; Milwaukee, WI, USA; New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin (17) during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center. The Bulls defeated the Bucks 106-104. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

Almost all of the RFA’s available will be in for a nice hike in pay, but their current teams have the right to match any offer, so very few restricted free agents often switch teams.

But if they do, there’s a another entire crop of under-the-radar restricted free agents that could make an impact for a new team if their current team should elect not to match any offer.

While the Knicks likely won’t be a major player in free agency, here’s a look at 10 under-the-radar free agents that could make an impact in the NBA in 2013.

Aaron Brooks, Phoenix Suns

Brooks missed the 2011-12 NBA season, electing to play in China during the NBA lockout, but he is a guy who’s averaged 12.5 points and 3.6 assists per game throughout his career.

He may not be an NBA starter, but he could be an asset to add a scoring punch off of someone’s bench.

George Hill, Indiana Pacers

Hill was impressive at times during the postseason, eventually becoming the Pacers starting point guard. He’s averaged 9.8 points per game throughout his career and looked more comfortable running the Indiana offense as the season progressed.

He’s a guy that the Pacers should look to bring back, but if not he can add valuable backcourt depth to any team.

Jerryd Bayless, Toronto Raptors

Any team that needs a quality backup point guard, Bayless can solve that problem.

He’s a decent scorer, averaging 11.8 points per game on the season and takes pretty good care of the ball, which is an asset coming off the bench.

Courtney Lee, Houston Rockets

Lee averaged 11.4 points per game and is a good shooter who can get to the rim. His real asset though is as a very athletic perimeter defender.

He can defend any 2 and some of the smaller 3s in the league and is a player that coaches love.

Brandon Rush, Golden State Warriors

Apr 22, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Golden State Warriors shooting guard Brandon Rush (4) during the third quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. Warriors won 93-88. Mandatory Credit: Greg Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Rush had a nice season in Golden State, setting career highs in mostly every category.

He’s a guy that can really shoot the ball, knocking down 45 percent of his attempts from behind the arc and is also a very good defender. He will be a target for teams that need shooting off the bench.

Jason Thompson, Sacramento Kings

Thompson averaged a solid 9.1 points and 6.9 rebounds on the year and while he’s not great at any one thing, he’s decent at just about everything.

He’s a guy that doesn’t kill a team at either end of the floor and can play for extended stretches if he has to.

Marreese Speights, Memphis Grizzlies

After being acquired by Memphis, Speights had a decent season averaging 8.8 points and 6.2 rebounds and filled in nicely while Zach Randolph was injured.

He’s a decent rebounder and has a solid mid-range game. While you really don’t want him as a starter, he’s a nice option as the first big man coming off the bench.

D.J. Augustin, Charlotte Bobcats

Augustin could be a steal for some team as it really doesn’t make much sense for the Bobcats to match an offer. They need to rebuild and turning the offense over to Kemba Walker makes more sense.

The former Texas Longhorn averaged a solid 11.1 points and 6.4 assists on the season and would fit in well on a lot of NBA teams.

He’s not a good defender, but he’s quick and has become a much improved distributor.

Landry Fields, New York Knicks

May 9, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; New York Knicks guard Landry Fields (2) dunks past Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade (3) during the first half of game five in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals of the 2012 NBA Playoffs at the American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Fields is technically a restricted free agent

Fields is eligible for the “Early Bird Exception.” As an Early Bird player, Fields can be offered a contract that starts at 175% of his current salary or anything up to the average NBA salary (which is roughly $5 million)

Other teams can still try to snatch Fields away from the Knicks, though. Both Fields and Lin are technically restricted free agents. However,  under the “Gilbert Arenas provision,” other teams are limited in what they can offer Fields and Lin. They can only offer them up to the full mid-level. So the Knicks would be able to match any offers for Fields without touching their mid-level exception.

Fields regressed a little during his second season in the Big Apple and had a miserable season shooting the ball. He dropped to 46 percent from the floor (50 percent as a rookie) and 26 percent from behind the arc (39 percent as a rookie).

Yet, he’s a guy that if he regains his touch can do a lot of things well, especially at the defensive end of the floor.

Alonzo Gee, Cleveland Cavaliers

Gee had a solid season, averaging 10.8 points and 5.1 rebounds while getting a career-high 29 minutes per game.

He was a 10-day guy early in his career, but has made strides in almost every area of his game. Gee still has a ways to go, but he’s got some talent that may be worth taking a shot on.

As always, I do not support or stand by Shai in any way, so any issues you have with his choices should be completely directed at him.

#	Team	Player	Pos.	School
1	New Jersey	John Wall	PG	Kentucky
2	Minnesota	Evan Turner	SG	Ohio State
3	Sacramento	DeMarcus Cousins	C	Kentucky
4	Golden St.	Derrick Favors	PF	Georgia Tech
5	Washington	Wesley Johnson	SF	Syracuse
6	Philadelphia	Greg Monroe	PF/C	Georgetown
7	Detroit	Al-Farouq Aminu	SF	Wake Forest
8	LA Clippers	Patrick Patterson	PF	Kentucky
9	*Utah	Cole Aldrich	C	Kansas
10	Indiana	Ed Davis	PF	North Carolina
11	New Orleans	James Anderson	SG	Oklahoma State
12	Memphis	Xavier Henry	SG	Kansas
13	Toronto	Damion Jones	F	Texas
14	Houston	Ekpe Udoh	PF/C	Baylor
15	Milwaukee	Gordon Hayward	F	Butler
16	*Minnesota	Avery Bradley	PG	Texas
17	*Chicago	Quincy Pondexter	SF	Washington
18	Miami	Solomon Alabi	C	Florida State
19	Boston	Willie Warren	SG	Oklahoma
20	San Antonio	Lance Stephenson	SG	Cincinnati
21	Oklahoma Cty	Daniel Orton	C	Kentucky
22	Portland	Hassan Whiteside	PF/C	Marshall
23	*Minnesota	Donatas Motiejunas	PF	Lithuania
24	Atlanta	Eric Bledsoe	PG	Kentucky
25	Memphis	Larry Sanders	PF/C	VCU
26	Oklahoma Cty	Stanley Robinson	F	UConn
27	New Jersey	Paul George	F	Fresno State
28	Memphis	Gani Lawal	PF	Georgia Tech
29	Orlando	Elliot Williams	SG	Memphis
30	Washington	Luke Babbit	SF	Nevada

Shai’s Thoughts/Explanations:

I realized that if I just wrote a phrase or two about everyone projected for the first round, it wouldn’t be very interesting, and the non-top-10 picks I don’t know intimately (Editor’s note: I assume by “intimately,” Shai didn’t mean in the sexual sense, but who knows?). Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton from Kentucky, for example, didn’t get much pub last year because John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins were so ridiculous. Bledsoe is like Jrue Holiday at UCLA, pure potential (but more of a classic PG), no one really knows what he’ll do. I don’t even know what Orton looks like, but he’s a #10-#20 projected pick based just on flashes. He averaged 3.5 points and 3.5 rebs in 13 minutes a game. Who knows?

It’s an interesting year for the draft. Last year everyone agreed Blake Griffin was #1, but they also agreed that the rest of the draft was quite weak. Instead, a number of rookies played major roles on their teams. Tyreke Evans averaged 20, 5, and 5, which only three guys did their rookie year: Jordan, LeBron, and Oscar. Nice company. Stephen Curry broke the record for threes made by a rookie while shooting 43% from there. Brandon Jennings, as I write, is the starting PG for a team that is ahead of the Hawks 3-2 in the playoffs, after losing their best player to injury. Darren Collison, Thornton, Lawson, Taj Gibson…they are not stars, but they are certainly contributors. A lot of people would love to have DeJuan Blair on their bench right now. I thought Blair was too undersized and raw to do much in the League, but he’s doing a lot of the things he did at Pitt, all on offensive rebounds and putbacks. (In Game 4 against the Mavs, Blair had 7 and 7 in 11 minutes. Not bad.) Also, I have learned that energy is a talent. Lackadaisical college players are likely to be lazy pros. Someone with a bounce and a nose for the ball, like Blair, will show up in the League. Looking back, last year’s draft looks pretty solid, and that’s with the top guy not playing. So I think a lot of GM’s are wondering if their outlook and selection strategy is accurate.

So this year, there is a clear-cut one and two, and I will argue no different. The only way you pass up John Wall is if you have a proven top shelf PG. The comparisons to Derrick Rose are fair. Wall is a better shooter and better defender, but Rose is more powerful and a better finisher. Wall’s ceiling is in the Dwayne Wade range, though I think he will continue to play point, with all these new super-athletic PG’s in the league.

#2 is Evan Turner. This season, he came back from a broken back early and immediately started playing out of his mind. Triple-double machine. 6’7″, solid athlete, excellent rebounder, good passer, good defender. Has ‘star’ written on him too. At that height, their team had him at the point. He’s getting fair comparisons to Wade, better rebounder, not as good an athlete, but really an all-purpose player. Needs to work on his release. Caron Butler is a great comparison for Turner, but Turner is a better passer and rebounder.

Now it gets hazy.

The next group of players is DeMarcus Cousins, Derrick Favors, Wesley Johnson, and Greg Monroe. Cousins is a huge thick PF, a bit under-sized at 6’11″ because he’s not a great athlete, but he’s so big he powers through. He and Wall on Kentucky just ran people out of the gym this year. …but he’s slightly nuts. He was regularly caught on TV yelling at his coach, and the usual whispers of him as a thug. But I bet no NBA manager asks if his mother is a whore. Uncool Jeff Ireland. Derrick Favors is a pure PF at 6’9″ 250 (Cousins is 280), and he is very strong and athletic. The funny thing about him is that Georgia Tech’s guards were so terrible at getting the ball to their big men, no one really knows how good he will be. He’s pretty raw. But his frontcourt mate is also a prospect this year. You’d think a team with one decent guard could get two NBA first-rounders past the NCAA first round. I’m a big fan of Wesley Johnson. I just realized Joe Johnson is a good comparison, maybe Grant Hill in his prime and with range. I think he’ll be very good. 6’7″, good shooter, a little thin, had a huge game in the NCAA first round. Greg Monroe I loved in college, but the concerns about him are accurate. Lamar Odom-like handle, shot-blocker, most skilled big in this draft, but disappeared for long stretches in games big and small (hello again Lamar). This is why Georgetown bounced in and out of the Top 25 all year; GT is in the Big East, so they play tons of games against top teams. They would have done much better if Monroe comes up big regularly, instead of inconsistently.

There have been a couple of super-talented players that came into the league recently and coasted, so GM’s are a little nervous. I’m thinking of Rudy Gay and Charlie Villanueva. (Both UConn guys. Will Stanley Robinson follow a similar path? Great athlete, some fire, but a massive regular disappearing act. Still, he’s a projected first-rounder.) CV hit some 3’s, rebounded, got a big contract and sat back down. Rudy is probably going to get overpaid by someone who loses the LeBron sweepstakes this summer, but his ceiling is Luol Deng. Anyhow, that makes people a little nervous with Monroe.

The next couple are Aminu, Patrick Patterson, Cole Aldrich, Ed Davis, James Anderson, Xavier Henry, Damion James, and Ekpe Udoh. Aminu is still a pretty raw PF at Wake Forest, skills have improved, excellent athlete. His progress has been retarded by his terrible coach. Patrick Patterson was the elder statesman at Kentucky, put up great numbers (scoring and rebounding) in his previous years. Still had a solid year at KY with Wall and Cousins dominating, and extended his range to 3. Also showed himself a character guy, both by restricting his game with the influx of talent, and being a senior leader on an immature, ragged team. I think he will be overlooked in this draft a bit, but he could be a Millsap with better shooting touch.  I don’t like Cole Aldrich. He was a good shooter at Kansas, nice energy, shot-blocking and rebounder, but he has an insanely ugly shot, is not a great athlete or finisher despite his touch. I’m thinking of Eric Montross, the star white center at UNC, drafted in 1994 in the top 10, averaged 10 ppg his first year, a number that never improved. Aldrich will be drafted too high.

I like Ed Davis from UNC, looked great as a freshman, didn’t improve much this year, but a 6’11” PF with nice skills, nice touch around the basket, not enough fire in the belly. James Anderson is a skilled wing player, shooter and slasher. Xavier Henry disappeared for stretches, but he and Anderson could be nice contributors from the wing, or could be Mo Pete or Von Wafer guys who barely make a mark in the league. I think Damion James is really talented, was a freshman with Kevin Durant and DJ Augustin (and that team lost in the FIRST ROUND. Man, Rick Barnes is a bad coach). All purpose forward, 6’7” battler on the boards, needs to work on his release and shot selection, but could be a rebounder and scorer off the bench, like a Brandon Bass. My favorite in this group is Ekpe Udoh. I don’t know why he’s not higher. I didn’t get to see him a ton this year, but when Baylor went up against Duke, check out Udoh’s line: 18 and 10 (7 offensive), 6 assists, 5 blocks. 6’10”, good athlete, and he’s got the fire. I rate him higher than any big other than (crazy) DeMarcus.

For late first-round value:  I like Gordon Hayward, but he needs to work on his handle, passing, and fire. I don’t know if he’s really committed to being an NBA player. I like Avery Bradley, an athletic freshman PG at Texas, and Quincy Pondexter, a 20-ppg wing scorer from Washington. Solomon Alabi is a big 7-footer with ups and long arms, he will be a nice weak-side defender off the bench. Willie Warren, the backcourt partner of Blake Griffin in 2009, could be a very good point guard, strength, shooting and vision like Deron Williams. I should also mention Lance Stephenson, who I didn’t see in many first round projections but should be. PG skills at 6’7”, great passer, can shoot and finish and defend. Could he be a Scottie Pippen? I loved the way he seemed to come up big for his team with regularity.