12:11pm: The Knicks have officially announced Mills’ dismissal, phrasing it in their press release as the team president “leaving his position.” Mills will be nominated to the board of Dolan’s standalone sports company once it spins off from MSG’s entertainment business, according to the announcement.
“Steve and I have come to the decision that it would be best for him to leave his role as president of the New York Knicks,” Dolan said in a statement. “We thank Steve for his many years of service to our organization and look forward to continuing our relationship with him as part of our board.”
10:59am: The Knicks are parting ways with team president Steve Mills, according to reports from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links). General manager Scott Perry has taken over as the club’s head of basketball operations on an interim basis, Charania adds (via Twitter).
Mills, a former MSG executive, was named the Knicks’ general manager in 2013 and worked under Phil Jackson during Jackson’s tenure as team president, starting in 2014. Following Jackson’s dismissal in 2017, Mills was elevated to the president role, with Perry coming aboard as New York’s new GM.
The Knicks haven’t earned a playoff spot or won more than 37 games in a season since Mills arrived in 2013. Although he was given the green light to lead the team’s latest rebuild, his job security began to waver in 2019 after the team traded up-and-coming star Kristaps Porzingis to Dallas in a cap-clearing trade, then failed to land any star players with that cap room in free agency.
Mills was still given the chance to start the season with the team and had the autonomy to fire head coach David Fizdale in the fall, but New York remains lottery-bound under interim coach Mike Miller. Curiously, the 15-36 Knicks ultimately decided to part with Mills just 51 hours before the trade deadline, leaving Perry to run the show this week. The two executives hadn’t been seeing eye-to-eye on certain issues going forward, tweets Marc Berman of The New York Post.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Perry is expected to remain in his GM role for the foreseeable future. However, Knicks owner James Dolan will interview candidates for the president position, with Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri at the top of the club’s wish list, per Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Charania suggests (via Twitter) that the team’s interview process has already begun.
New York’s previous interest in Ujiri went nowhere, and there’s some skepticism that the Raptors’ head of basketball operations would leave a stable situation in Toronto to work for Dolan and the dysfunctional Knicks.
Still, there have been “strong rumblings” since December that the Knicks believe they have a real chance to land Ujiri, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link). Begley conveys a similar sentiment, tweeting that Ujiri has told confidants in the past that he’d be open to considering the Knicks’ job under the right circumstances.
Ujiri’s contract runs through the 2020/21 season, so if the Knicks want to lure him away from Toronto before then, they’d have to send some form of compensation to the Raptors. And their division rivals are probably unlikely to give the Knicks a discount, even if Ujiri decides he wants to leave.
For now, it will be fascinating to see how the Knicks approach the trade deadline. Nearly everyone on the roster has been mentioned in at least one trade rumor, but it’s unclear how Perry’s and Mills’ views on certain players differed.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Finally
This close to the trade deadline? Why?
Should have done it months ago.
They probably didn’t want Mills giving input on who to draft.
They might not anticipate making any trades? The most obvious answer is that this is the Knicks and they do whatever they want, whenever they want. As a fan, I’m just happy he’s gone and wish him well.
Perry and Dolan himself should follow lead if anything is to be fixed.
Yep, we can all expect James Dolan to step down as team owner.
F I N A L L Y
Better late than never. Unfortunately, an interim set up was inevitable. I would have preferred Allan Houston a month ago. But, so close to the deadline, an entire new FO group can’t take over. Perry is an OK evaluator, and he won’t be negotiating contracts or (hopefully) authorized to trade future assets away in trades. Maybe he’ll be OK in executing some depth chart clearing deadline trades, and pick up an asset for two. Get it done Scott, Knick fans would be fine blaming most of it on Mills, I know I would.
About time. Next up – Perry.
I think I would be fine with letting Perry stay on as Gm until they get Ujiri for no comp. Perry didn’t sign Hardaway and I credit him for finding guys like Mitchel Robinson and Tier.
And Gar Foreman of the Bulls still has a job what a joke
Urg you just made my bowels gurgle
What’s the point. Dolan is still there.
Like I said, they could all be gone. Perry n Miller are next up. This has been a major issue here for decades. Changing regimes means be theories. It’s why they don’t develop players. Don’t draft well or build a TEAM. You have to commit to build. Either thru draft trades or FA. Right now they have to see this rebuild thru. You have to give young talent a chance. And build back up value. They could get Love cheap. In three way with Char. I do it. Man Who TF knows what they’ll do now.
Ten years too late?
lol as soon as trade deadline rumors begin, hopefully this is a sign of good things to come. Knicks better be the most active team cause if not this is merely just paperwork
The best way to fix the Knicks is a change of ownership.
Why now?– I suspect it’s because the best trade for the deadline that Mills favored did not please Dolan.
If no big trade is made, which could happen, this will be a good excuse for that– no prez.
They should keep Morris, which if so would reduce the chances of a big trade. Maybe Dolan disagrees…
I agree with this. I would assume that either the proposals Mills was pitching weren’t great or that the market in general hasn’t looked good for them so Dolan figured ‘why wait?’.
I still can’t get over the fact that Scott Perry has climbed so high in the basketball world. I remember him as head coach at Eastern Kentucky (my alma mater) before I went there. He won 19 games in 3 years. I always figured he would end up as a car salesman or something.
Just goes to show that strange things happen.
Kliff Kingsbury failed his way upwards too.
Well, working for sleazy PR guy Steve Mills while he pretended to be a basketball guy, is pretty much akin to a used car salesman.
Until signing on to be GM under an unqualified TP, I believe Perry had hit a ceiling below the GM level, being a career assistant GM (in an era when the top basketball guys in the FO are the TP, followed by the GM). I imagine his next job will be below the GM level again. Or car salesman. You really weren’t off, you just didn’t account for Steve Mills.
Anyone who takes the job needs their head examined. Unbelievable the NBA lets a marquee franchise continue to be owned by a miserable rat. How much $$$ does this owner cost the rest of the NBA. I don’t care how much he is worth or what he paid there needs to be a provision in buying a team that allows the league to buy out horrible ownership.
They wouldn’t step in and rescue the Clippers from horrible ownership, they won’t try to save the Knicks. Save us, ghost of Red.
? Sterling was deposed somehow.