Let the guessing game begin.

Less than 48 hours remain before the 2005 NBA Draft, which will be held at Madison Square Garden tomorrow night. This is a deep draft where some teams will build their futures while others will ruin them, and for once local fans have reason to be excited.

A year ago, the Knicks had already unloaded their top pick while the Nets were openly selling their choice, giving fans little excuse to monitor the proceedings. This year, however, the draft will be key for both clubs. Let’s start with the Knicks, for whom it’s a bigger deal.

The Knicks own two first-round picks: their own at no. 8 and San Antonio’s at no. 30. Team President Isiah Thomas has several options for using the two picks, because aside from a glut of power forwards, every other spot on the roster could use help. New York’s biggest priority is in the pivot, especially if the trade of Kurt Thomas to Phoenix goes through.

The Knicks are still waiting on paperwork about Quentin Richardson’s back problem, and if they don’t get it the deal could be nixed. But that issue isn’t likely to be settled until after the draft, so the Knicks have to plan for either alternative. If Thomas leaves town, the need for a center becomes much greater, because the Knicks won’t even have a reliable stopgap. But even if the Richardson paperwork falls through, the Knicks are still at least a player short on the wings. In either case, the team also desperately needs a decent backup point guard.

The Knicks are likely to focus on the middle with the no. 8 pick. Their main target is Arizona center Channing Frye. At 6 feet 11 inches and 248 pounds, Frye is bigger than Thomas and his predecessor in the middle, Nazr Mohammed. He also averaged over two blocks a game in his senior season, and he has some other feathers in his cap.

Fyre is a fairly potent scorer with a good mid-range jumper, good hands (unlike Mohammed’s stone paws), and decent finishing skills. He also was nimble enough to pick nearly a steal a game last year. On the downside, Frye isn’t all that strong, and his low-post game isn’t as developed as it might be. But overall, he’s the best big man in the draft after Utah’s Andrew Bogut, the likely top pick.

By all accounts, Frye is the player Isiah Thomas has been eyeing, and he certainly would fill a glaring need. But here’s New York’s quandary: Frye might not be around by the time the Knicks select. Both Utah (no. 6) and Toronto (no. 7) need a center, and will get first dibs at Frye.

In other words, Isiah needs a Plan B, and that might involve waiting until the no. 30 slot to pick a center. The other big men available at no. 8 are either power forwards who would be a stretch as centers – Spain’s Fran Vazquez and UConn’s Charlie Villanueva, for example – or projects like Lithuania’s Martynas Andriuskevicius, who might not provide dividends for years.

On a positive note, Isiah could consider some promising backcourt and wing players if Frye is unavailable. High-school sharpshooter Martell Webster could provide the outside shooting touch that Tim Thomas failed to deliver a year ago. Texas A&M’s Antoine Wright is an accomplished scorer who could thrive in a sixth-man role. And New Mexico’s 6-foot-9-inch small forward, Danny Granger, has had scouts salivating with his combination of size, skill, and toughness – though he probably won’t be around at no. 8.

If Isiah went with a player like Webster, Wright, or Granger with his first pick, his second would likely be a developing center. He has shown interest in two of them: Connecticut high schooler Andray Blatche and Serbian Mile Ilic. The 6-foot-11-inch, 235-pound Blatche may not be ready to play the middle in the pros right away, while the 7-foot-1-inch Ilic has little game experience. These are the flaws a GM must sort through when 29 other teams have already picked.

On the other side of the Hudson, the Nets own the 15th pick, and for them the draft seems focused on finding an athletic big man to come off the bench. If the player can run the floor and get some easy baskets courtesy of Jason Kidd, so much the better.

That seems to have the Nets focused on two Big East players – Villanueva and Syracuse’s Hakim Warrick. Villanueva is the bigger and younger of the two and would be a home run with the no. 15 pick if he weren’t such a head case. He has reportedly turned off scouts with lackadaisical workouts, but his rebounding and shot-blocking skills are undeniable.

Warrick is known as a better citizen, and he can jump out of the gym, though his lack of a jump shot and rail-thin build have scouts worried. Warrick would have to play power forward for the Nets, but at 219 pounds, it’s not clear he could put up with the pounding. A further knock against him is that he averaged less than a block per game at Syracuse his senior season, which, given his leaping ability, leaves one to wonder if his timing is poor.

Nets team president Rod Thorn could go in a few other directions with the pick, especially since his bench was so thin on the wings in 2004-05. The Nets might like the immediate production that Oklahoma State’s athletic forward Joey Graham could provide, and they would also have to think twice if North Carolina point guard Raymond Felton was still around when they pick.

Regardless of how the two teams choose, think twice before criticizing the picks: Both Thomas and Thorn have very strong track records in the draft. Isiah’s first three first-rounders as Toronto’s GM netted Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby, and Tracy McGrady, and in his first draft with the Knicks he stole Trevor Ariza in the second round. Meanwhile, Thorn fleeced the Rockets in 2001 by trading for two picks that became Richard Jefferson and Jason Collins, and he plucked Nenad Krstic at no. 24 a year later.

Thus, the locals have even more reason to be optimistic than usual. With each team picking in the top 15 of a fairly deep draft, both the Knicks and Nets should come away with at least one quality player tomorrow. In another day, we can stop guessing who.