After several conversations and a dinner meeting with franchise executive Steve Mills on Friday, the New York Knicks are progressing toward opening contract negotiations with David Griffin to become the team’s next general manager, league sources told ESPN. Griffin, the ex-Cleveland Cavaliers GM, traveled to New York this weekend to meet with Mills, with whom Griffin has continued to discuss the shaping of a potential Knicks partnership. Griffin is also expected to meet with owner James Dolan in the near future, league sources said. In the wake of Phil Jackson’s departure as President of Basketball Operations, Mills is expected to move into the president’s title – with Griffin, if he becomes GM, taking over the primary responsibilities of running basketball operations, league sources said.
Mills made the decision to sign Atlanta Hawks guard Tim Hardaway Jr., to a four-year, $71 million contract, a move that has been met with shock inside and outside the organization. The Knicks have become a perennial lottery team, rife with organizational discord and dysfunction. One potential stumbling block to the Knicks’ pursuit of Griffin, league sources said: The willingness of the organization to allow Griffin to bring his own front office and staff into Madison Square Garden. H/T ESPN WOJ BOMB
Oh good, I’m really glad The Knicks are going to lock down the number one GM on the market fresh off taking a team to the NBA finals three consecutive years before their perennial failure of an interim GM does anything really stupid.
*Remembers Steve Mills and Tim Hardaway exist*
SHIT.
This would have been really great if we sorted all this stuff out before Steve “ruin the franchise” Mills signed a less than promising guy we drafted and traded for an amount of money that would have been considered a max contract two years ago. Think about that. I know the cap has risen a bunch in the last two years, but in 2015 this would have been max money the Knicks just gave to Timmy.
This is the level of mental insanity we as Knicks fans have to deal with on a daily basis. There’s no justifying it or explaining it. Let’s make sure we make a splash in free agency, you know after we struck out swinging on options 1-37. Then after that, we can worry about hiring a guy whose entire job is to make decisions like that. Mills himself has admitted he’s a business side guy, former COO of the Knicks, guess what, you’re probably not gonna believe me, but he wasn’t good at that either. Shocker right?
All in all, it makes the Timmy deal that much more perplexing. Just looking at the numbers, a simple dude like me, who honestly has the math literacy of somewhere around a 6th grader, can see that deal is bonkers. And Mills is a COO of a billion dollar company. Not good folks. Timmy’s dad KILLED the Knicks for so many years in Miami during the great late 90’s rivalry, maybe this is him giving us one last haymaker while he laughs all the way to the bank.
I really hope and need the Knicks to hire Griffin and hopefully start a string of somewhat competent moves. Not even asking for good moves, just competent. You gotta crawl before you walk and learn from the mistakes along the way. But if you’re going to hire David Griffin to come in and be the guy who you pay to watch out for icebergs on the Titanic. Then maybe you should hire him BEFORE you hit the fucking iceberg!!!
P.S. Don’t be surprised if the Knicks fuck this up because they won’t let Griffin fire any of the MSG front office people. You know the same ones who have been there for the duration of the 14/15 last losing seasons. If I’m being completely honest, this is the exact outcome I expect from James “Banjo and Kazooie” Dolan.
