There are no perfect solutions for the Knicks right now, because that is the sentence for a team that for 20 years has wandered in a fugue state. Firing Steve Mills was a necessary decision that also comes a few weeks — or years — too late.
There is a perfect candidate to replace Mills, Masai Ujiri, who burnished his reputation by twice fleecing the Knicks — first in Denver in fully leveraging the Knicks in the Carmelo Anthony deal, later in Toronto somehow convincing them to take Andrea Bargnani off his hands. He then all but delivered a Raptors NBA title by boldly trading for Kawhi Leonard, even though Ujiri knew Leonard might be (and was) a one-year rental.
But Ujiri is signed with the Raptors through the end of next season, and the Raptors would surely demand draft compensation for him. Because the Knicks have all but written sonnets about how much they value their draft assets — likely one reason Mills was erased, before he could start playing fancy with them — that seems a genuine stumbling block.
There is Sam Presti, who runs the Thunder, who is young (43), bright and said to have a good enough relationship with Thunder owner Clay Bennett that Bennett might not block Presti if the Knicks truly make a run for him. That would be intriguing, especially if it means Presti could bring Long Island native Billy Donovan with him at some point.
But another potential pathway emerged Tuesday, the possibility Dolan could mimic what has worked well in both Golden State (Bob Myers) and with the Lakers (Rob Pelinka), which is to empower a player agent. Two names that quickly surfaced: CAA’s Austin Brown and Kevin Durant’s rep, Rich Kleiman.
One name that will surely be referenced by Knicks fans: Brodie Van Wagenen — an ex-agent now running the Mets whose first 14 months on the job have been, at best, uneven.
Only one thing is certain now: Mills had to go, curious timing or not. He should have been gone weeks ago (and let’s take it a step further: he never should have been rehired in 2013). The Knicks, forever looking for a savior, are in the market for one. Again. And leaning heavily on that Blind Squirrel Theory.
Put yourself, for a brief, uncomfortable minute, in the shoes of James L. Dolan, and consider the sensory overload that’s been at work the last couple of days.
SIGHT: All you need to do is look at the Knicks — despite their two-game road winning streak through Indianapolis and Cleveland — and see that they are an island of misfit toys, a roster assembled with neither imagination or ingenuity, a team that, more often than not, looks hapless and hopeless on the court.
SOUND: “Sell the team!” Sell the team! Sell the team!”
FEEL: Oh, you could sense that as the minutes clicked down toward the trade deadline that Mills, Dolan’s longtime henchman/yes-man/sidekick/valet, was about to do something foolish. Keep Marcus Morris, for instance. Ransom assets for D’Angelo Russell or Andre Drummond. Or, worse: something that hadn’t yet been rumored. This was a man who once thought it a fine basketball idea, after all, to sign Tim Hardaway Jr. to a $71 million contract. And to trade Kristaps Porzingis. No one saw those coming, either.
So even Dolan had enough by Tuesday afternoon, reassigning Mills elsewhere in his kingdom where he can stop doing chronic damage to the basketball team. That means, in the immediate, that the more level-headed (and basketball savvy) Scott Perry will take the Knicks through the trade deadline (where he is less likely to visit more carnage on the Knicks, as Mills would’ve done).
It will mean, in the long term, that the Knicks are about to enter into another era under another leader. Dolan inherited Scott Layden as his top basketball lieutenant. He has hired Isiah Thomas, Donnie Walsh, Glen Grunwald, Phil Jackson and Steve Mills. If you’re keeping score at home that makes:
- Three abject failures (Thomas, Jackson, Mills)
- One incomplete grade (Walsh) because, ultimately, he meddled to the point of neutering;
- One guy (Grunwald) who actually led the Knicks to a season of prosperity, then didn’t even make it to opening night the next year.
That’s quite a track record.
So maybe the man is due.
Or else, if you are a Knicks fan, you must sit on pins and needles and hope that the stars finally align, that the blind squirrel finds his nut, that the broken clock gets two cracks to be right. Those aren’t great odds, but those are what lie ahead.
For more on the Knicks, listen to the latest episode of the “Big Apple Buckets” podcast: