After becoming the first team to fire a head coach during the 2019/20 season, the Knicks are now the first team to part ways with a head of basketball operations this year as well, having announced this afternoon that Steve Mills has been removed from his position as club president.
As general manager Scott Perry takes over the front office on an interim basis, the Knicks will have just over 48 hours to consider how significantly they want to shake up their roster at this winter’s trade deadline.
Here’s the latest on the franchise, including an update on the front office situation:
- While Masai Ujiri has long been considered New York’s “dream candidate,” the Knicks’ reluctance to give up draft compensation for the Raptors‘ president of basketball operations may complicate the their pursuit of him, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Ujiri’s contract in Toronto runs through 2020/21, so if he wants to leave before it expires, the Raptors would have leverage to request a sizable return.
- Knicks owner James Dolan has already had conversations with one possible candidate to replace Mills, according to Wojnarowski, who suggests (via Twitter) that New York’s search for a new president may move too quickly to wait on a drawn-out courtship of Ujiri.
- Following up on a report that the Hornets and Knicks have discussed Julius Randle, Ian Begley of SNY.tv suggests that Terry Rozier, Malik Monk, and Dennis Smith Jr. are among the names that have come up in talks between the two teams. New York pursued Rozier during 2019’s free agent period, but doesn’t have strong interest in him now, according to Begley (via Twitter). It’s worth noting that Begley’s report surfaced before the team parted ways with Mills.
- Marc Berman of The New York Post, who previously noted that Mills and Perry disagreed on some deadline-related issues, suggests that one debate in the front office was over whether to trade Marcus Morris or keep him and try to re-sign him in the summer. It’s not clear which side of the debate the two executives were on.
- Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic makes a case for why the Knicks should seriously consider pushing for a D’Angelo Russell trade, assuming the price isn’t exorbitant.
I don’t want. D’Angelo Russell. He won’t make the Knicks better. I’d rather not trade anyone also if it would include any of our draft picks. We need to keep them. I also don’t want Malik Monk. He’s a bust!
Dlo is literally better than anyone on the Knicks roster. How wouldn’t he make the team better?
There is NO WAY Ujiri joins that dumpster fire
I cant possibly see where Ujiri would want to be other than TO.
Although this probably gives him leverage to get a blank check for his next contract
Wonder if Masai is already pulling strings from the Shadows while a final deal is worked out with Dolan ?
Knicks send 2020 1st unprotected swap for Raptors 2020 1st unprotected.
Plus a boatload of Cash.
Just seems like Destiny.
Ujiri is acting as if hes here long term.
He isnt making any trades or signings that impact 2021 , if he had the motivation to move to NY it would have been leaked by now AND Ujiri would likely be pushing “all in” to get back to back championships before he leaves
Ujiri to NY makes zero sense for anyone except desperate Dolan
I don’t want to trade any of our picks. They are to valuable. Would love to get Capela though.
The laughable idea of the Knicks giving up first round picks is that we are talking about lottery picks, probably of the premium position meaning potential first overall. Not sure Dolan is dumb enough to hand that over just to get his ideal president to run the team. But Dolan has amazed with his idiocy before.
Nothing the Knicks do is supported by a plausible understanding of reality, this move to pine for Ujiri included.
No, on DiLo. Any push the Knicks were going to make for DiLo would have been last summer. Like almost all of the rest of the league, they decided he wasn’t the kind of foundation piece that a max player has to be – particularly a rebuilding payroll’s first max deal. He’s the same player he was last year with more reps. Excellent scorer, average passer and shooter, poor defender. Why would they give up any assets now?
It’s one thing to chase performance (stupid), it’s another to chase perception (really stupid). DSJ is a classic case of chasing perception. Oh yeah, they “should have drafted him” – so, yeah, now let’s give up a rising potential superstar because he’s in the package. Hopefully, the Knicks recent desire to make trades the media approved of was coming from Mills, not Perry. We’ll see.
Anyone who expects Ujiri to join the Knicks is clearly delusional starting with the NY press. Why would a smart guy like him want to anywhere near the Knicks and their ownership?
DLo to the Knicks would be awesome but I can’t see it.
DLo with Barrett and Robinson would be cool but how do they make that deal Randle isn’t special, Morris is on a 1 year deal it would probably mean giving up this years draft pick which I should be totally off limits.
Imagine GSW having Curry Thompson Green and having 2 picks inside the top 5 in the draft.
Imagine them taking Wiseman and McDaniels
The front office as of right now is Dolan ,Perry and David Blatt