International red tape prevented Knicks second-round draft picks Maciej Lampe and Slavko Vranes from joining the first day of summer league practice yesterday at the team's training facility in Greenburgh. Although both are in New York, there's no assurance that agreements will be in place for them to go to work today.

Lampe flew in from Chicago yesterday in anticipation of getting clearance to practice from Real Madrid, the Spanish League team that owns his rights, but the wording of the agreement first must satisfy both teams, the player, his agent and the NBA. All indications are that Real Madrid will let Lampe practice and play with the Knicks' summer league team next week in Boston and the following week in Salt Lake City.

But that doesn't necessarily mean the 7-foot power forward will have an easy time negotiating the $2-million buyout necessary to free him to join the Knicks for the regular season. General manager Scott Layden acknowledged that how Lampe and Vranes perform once they're cleared for the summer league likely will influence the decision on whether to keep them around this season or send them back to Europe for more experience.

"We're evaluating all those possibilities, trying to figure out what's best for them," Layden said yesterday. "And they're participating to learn what's best for them also. So we'll get the process worked out, hopefully sooner rather than later."

Agent Marc Cornstein, who represents Vranes, said he is "very optimistic" about negotiations with Buducnost about a buyout for the 7-6 Yugoslavian center. But he could not say for certain when Vranes, who has been working out privately in New York, would be allowed to join the Knicks.