After Knicks fans expressed jubilation over Phil Jackson being fired as the Knicks president of basketball operations, they were dealt with the sobering reality on Sunday that things are going to be more of the same with the Knicks.
The Undefeated’s Marc Spears tweeted ex-Cavaliers David Griffin withdrew his name from the Knicks’ general manager vacancy after he was told he would not have full autonomy to run the Knicks the way he sees fit. That means he couldn’t hire his own staff to run the Knicks. He would be forced to keep Allan Houston (assistant GM), Jamie Matthews (vice president of basketball operations) and Kristian Petesic (director of scouting).
What made Madison Square Garden CEO James Dolan think he would get an accomplished executive to run his franchise by not hiring his own staff? Either he is stupid, or he was trying to get candidates to withdraw by telling them he would force them to work with his guys. We are going with the former here because if we go with the latter, we are giving him credit.
Forget Griffin not wanting to be here. There is no way any executive would want to work for Dolan when he can’t hire his own staff. Most general managers want to hire the people they know based on trust and competence. They rarely inherit assistants from a previous regime. It never works out that way in any sport.
This is why Knicks fans are upset, and this is why Dolan is taking another beating from the New York media. What good is change when the same guys are going to still be there? What Dolan needed to do is fumigate the entire front office and start anew. That’s not the way he wants to go about it. He would rather keep yes-men rather than hire competent people, and he rather be involved more than ever now that Jackson is no longer working for the Knicks.
Knicks fans desperately wanted Jackson to succeed since it would mean he would have full authority and Dolan and his staff would not be involved. So much for that. The Zen Master was overmatched at his job, and he did not seem interested in building a good working relationship with Carmelo Anthony, the players and the coaching staff. This only emboldened Dolan to have more power.
The Knicks have themselves a problem. They don’t have anyone who wants the job. Promoting someone in the front office to run the team will not do any good. The fans will have zero faith in Houston. It’s not like he was doing anything great with the Knicks D-League team in Westchester.
It’s already hard as it is to convince fans to think Steve Mills knows what he is doing as president of basketball operations. He has a shaky record as it is. He is the same guy that brought Isiah Thomas to the Knicks. Now, he stupidly overpaid for Tim Hardaway Jr.’s services by offering him a four-year, $71 million offer sheet, which the Hawks were more than happy not to match. Then, he foolishly signed Ron Baker to a two-year, $8.9 million deal. So that means the Knicks have no more room to pay for other free agents. As good as those two players are, they were not worth the money they were offered.
Mills does not strike anyone as a guy who is a talent evaluator. He is a guy that knows how to run checks and balances within the organization. That’s a quality thing to have, but what the Knicks need is a general manager and his staff to find talent all across the board. That’s why hiring him would be a hard sell.
Dolan might as well hire someone he truly trusts. Those two words are a dirty name in these parts, but Isiah Thomas might as well run the Knicks. The New York Liberty president is a guy that at least knows how to find young talent. He knows how to play the political game at the Garden. He at least will make the Knicks interesting with his stupidity. That’s something no one can say about the other candidates.
Dolan clearly does not care what Knicks fans think. If he did, he would have hired Griffin or not forced Donnie Walsh out years ago. He will go make a hire based on his comfort level, so he might as well hire Thomas since that’s the only guy he trusts.
Remember Dolan did not want to fire Thomas. He was forced to act by NBA commissioner David Stern after his employee was involved in the Anucha Brown Sanders sexual harassment trial. He still consulted with the disgraced Knicks president on what moves to make despite hiring Walsh. He even told his guy to sell LeBron James to come to New York in the Summer of 2010, which made then-Cavaliers superstar wonder who was actually in charge.
It’s telling Dolan hired him to run the WNBA’s New York Liberty, which is interesting since he allegedly harassed Sanders. It’s not a good look to have him run a women’s basketball team after being involved in a sexual harassment suit.
Dolan does not care, though. So he should have some hubris to hire Thomas.
He did mention he did not want to hire his guy because he does not want his guy to deal with the abuse by the fans and the local media. That’s bull. The one-time Knicks president of basketball operations couldn’t care less if people hate him. He was hated as a player, and he did quite fine, so running the Knicks won’t be a problem for him.
Dolan should hire Thomas and call it a day, so that we all can move on with our lives.
