Right after the 2017 NBA draft, James Dolan finally did what every Knick fan was hoping he would do and that was to fire phil jackson. Since Jackson’s departure, Steve Mills has been the one making basketball decisions. While he’s making Basketball decisions, the Knicks are also searching for Jackson’s replacement. Over this past weekend, Former General Manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers David Griffin had an interview with the New York Knicks.
Griffin and the New York Knicks were not on the same page when it came to Griffin having full control on basketball decisions. He also he wanted to hire his own staff and the Knicks disagreed with that as well.
According to ESPN, with Griffin having taken his name off of the Knicks GM search, Mills will continue to lead the Knicks front office going forward.
The New York Knicks have been dysfunctional
The New York Knicks have been very dysfunctional for quite some time. Knick fans believed that once Jackson was gone, all would be good and that there is hope. Unfortunately that has not been the case. Since the firing of Jackson, the Knicks have been making moves without an actual plan in place. They’ve lost out on a general manager who had recently won a championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers all because he had the audacity to want to hire his own staff. They also haven’t done much in free agency besides overpaying Tim Hardaway Jr, who was drafted by the New York Knicks and is looked at as an above average player.
With the way the Knicks look right now, it doesn’t seem like any superstars would want to play for New York. The Knicks just seemed to be too much of a laughing stock for anyone to come here. The one thing that could change is if Kristaps Porzingis and Frank Ntilikinta become superstars (Two picks that Jackson made while being the Knicks President of basketball operations).
Are the Knicks doomed to failure?
So far with the moves Mills have made this offseason, it doesn’t seem like there is any plan and the Knicks are doomed to failure. The Knicks as of right now barely has any cap space after signing Hardaway Jr to a four-year contract along with giving Ron Baker $9 million to remain with the team.
So unless Carmelo Anthony stays and they don’t trade him to either Cleveland or Houston or Porzingis really turns into the player everyone expects him to become in the upcoming basketball season, the Knicks will have another season where they will miss the playoffs.
As of right now, it looks like the Knicks will stay in-house and promote Steve Mills from general manager to the president of basketball operations. So far it looks like Steve Mills wants to start a youth movement. Mills want his team to be 25 and younger, and if Anthony is gone he will get his wish. The big question is, will this plan helped the Knicks go back to being that great team it was in the 90s?
