In the wake of Steve Mills‘ ouster, the Knicks may reconsider potential paths at this week’s trade deadline, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who notes that Mills was just on the phone on Monday exploring deals, including a possible pursuit of D’Angelo Russell.
Most notably, Wojnarowski suggests that ownership pushed the front office to change course on its plans for Marcus Morris. The Knicks, who were said to be “hell-bent” on retaining and trying to re-sign Morris, have now made him available in trade talks, says Woj.
Marc Berman of The New York Post reported earlier this afternoon that the debate over whether to retain or shop Morris was one issue Mills and GM Scott Perry were divided on. Based on Wojnarowski’s report, it sounds as if Perry was in favor of exploring the trade market for the veteran forward.
Morris, who is on an expiring $15MM contract, is enjoying a career year, with 19.6 PPG and 5.4 RPG with a .442/.439/.823 shooting line in 43 games (32.3 MPG). He has reportedly drawn some league-wide interest, including from the Clippers, and could potentially net the Knicks a first-round pick.
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- Although it appears Perry is making the decisions in the Knicks’ front office for now, the franchise has begun its search for a new president. According to Wojnarowski and ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne (via Twitter), New York has given some thought to hiring a player agent for that role, like the Warriors (Bob Myers) and Lakers (Rob Pelinka) have done.
- Sources tell Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link) that CAA’s Austin Brown is among the candidates being internally considered by the Knicks. One of CAA’s top agents, Brown represents players like Zion Williamson, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Russell, per Begley (Twitter link).
- Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports classifies the Knicks’ trade discussions with the Hornets involving Julius Randle and Terry Rozier on Monday as serious. However, he hears that Charlotte balked at taking Dennis Smith Jr. in a deal.
- League sources tell Goodwill that Knicks owner James Dolan has had intermediaries get in touch with top executives around the NBA to ask, “What would it take to get you to take over this franchise?”
I guess only Steve Mills could have fully appreciated the wisdom of building a team around a 31 year old role player.
Genuine LOL. Well done.
I’d love to see the Pacers trade Myles Turner for Marcus Morris. The Pacers have T.J. Warren out now, so they could play Morris at small forward and JaKarr Sampson at power forward until Warren comes back, then move Morris to power forward. Like Paul George, I don’t see the Pacers signing Oladipo to an extension after this season. I’d move him too, but the way he’s shooting, he may be untradeable. With Jeremy Lamb playing well, they don’t need him.
Done. Call Perry and iron out the details.
You’d move Oladipo AND Turner? Why not just rebuild?
Id do oladipo for kuzma in a second. Oladipo could play sg solid on both ends of the court and has shown the ability to hit bug shots. Indiana gets young sf/sg to pair next to warren and sabonis. Then trade turner for a guard and you have a solid rotation.
Pacers wouldn’t give up oladipo for kuzma you’re wildin
Kuzma for morris?
Terry Rozier for Julius Randle….. that could be interesting.
Rozier would give the Knicks a starting point guard who can score. He’s averaging 18/4/4.5 while shooting 42/39/86 which is pretty good. Randle on the other hand has been alright but he’s weak defensively and doesn’t play hard. His 19/95/3 stats look nice but that’s cause he’s the best scorer on the worst team. He’s also shooting a career worst 27% from 3 and 71% at the line, plus a career worst 0.3 blocks.
However the Knicks who will have a pick top 5 in the draft should be looking at Ball, Maxey, Anthony and Wiseman and say they draft in Ball what does that mean for Rozier? Back to a sixth man?
A lot of PG in this draft. Why take the not-a-superstar 19M Rozier?
Because you’re talking about not-an-NBA-team in the Knicks
The Hornets and Knicks should just have a few laughs over which signing was dumber, and go their separate ways. Toxic waste for toxic waste doesn’t really solve anything. Still, it’s interesting that the Hornets won’t even discuss DSJ as part of the package. I don’t like him either, but it’s not like the other names in the discussion are much better. He’s from the area, and has been disappointing people there longer than most I guess.
Now maybe a player agent for prez possibly. Just throw rich pauls name out there. Jkjk.
The fact that Mills could even fathom holding onto Morris, on an expiring contract with a terrible team, is a sure sign he was completely out of touch. The fact that he wanted to keep him, and ended up dying on that hill, is just icing on the cake.
It boggles the mind that billion dollar organizations can be run by such incompetent people.
It’s called “we make money in spite of ourselves”.
They make money in spite of themselves.