Everything You Wanted to Know About The Knicks But Were Scared to Ask (Crisis on Infinite NBA Courts Edition)
By: Kofi Amankwaa Jr.
Tags: Rj Barrett, Sports, NBA, New York Knicks, Basketball

Everything You Wanted to Know About The Knicks But Were Scared to Ask (Crisis on Infinite NBA Courts Edition)

Breaking down the Fizdale firing, why it’s not entirely his fault, Mike Miller’s role as a head coach, why “P-ills” should not be trusted, and who Dolan should really hire to win

Photo by Getty Images

Well, it’s that time again.

The New York Knicks did something stupid (again) and a whole bunch of people have questions to ask that simply writing a full thesis would take too much time and yet still wouldn’t even be enough to explain the state of the Knickerbockers and what the heck they plan to do now.

Fortunately, that’s why I’m here.

I will do my best to breakdown everything that you may have questions about and will answer them to the best of my ability. As always, you can follow me and ask questions on Twitter or message me with your questions.

Alright, let’s descend into madness:

You seemed more bummed about the Knicks than usual. Wasn’t David Fizdale’s firing supposed to alleviate that?

No, it actually wasn’t. While I don’t deny that Fizdale did a poor job and understand the consequences of doing said bad job his firing actually puts the team in quite the dilemma. You have to keep in mind that Fizdale was signed to a four year deal and he was supposed to be the head coach for this young team during that timeframe. Now that he’s been fired, nobody knows what direction the franchise plans on going and that’s a dangerous place to be in.

It’s like you’re trying to absolve Fizdale any blame in all of this. How could you do that knowing that he wasn’t a good coach?

I already went into detail about my thoughts on the whole situation but I’ll say it again: Fizdale was A PROBLEM but not THE PROBLEM. While he wasn’t a good head coach and how he utilized the roster left a lot to be desired, he was not the sole reason why his team was failing. The factors that he could control (player rotations, offensive and defensive schemes, etc.) he sucked at it but as far as the clunky roster, that’s not on him. People have to remember Fizdale had several choices in his next hunt as a head coach. He had the options of going to the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, or the Phoenix Suns. He chose the Knicks because he thought he was going to coach Kristaps Porzingis. Of course, KP got traded so then he was promised that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving would be coming to the Garden. They, of course, went to the Brooklyn Nets. So what’s a coach to do? Well, Fiz was determined to do things his way and his way wasn’t working. Instead of making adjustments to better convince his bosses he deserves to stay he stuck to his guns and it cost him his job. That’s all there is to it.

Now that Fizdale is gone, do you think Perry and Mills deserve a second chance to get this right?

Second chance?! They’ve had like six chances to get this thing right! You have to remember Scott Perry was brought in to be the General Manager of the Knicks in 2017. He was supposed to create a competitive roster and stabilize the organization during his time here. We’re now in Year 3 of the “P-ills Regime” and they have nothing to show for it. Porzingis is gone. Kevin Knox and Frank Ntilikina haven’t taken leaps yet and one wonders if it’s due to their own limitations as players or the fact that they were never put in positions to succeed. Dennis Smith Jr. has taken MASSIVE steps back in his development. Mitchell Robinson hasn’t evolved either. The same could be said about Alonzo Trier and he can’t even get on the court. The only player that has taken some strides moving forward is Damyean Dotson and he’s clearly the eighth man off a benching unit to play the role as a 3&D wing. You fired a head coach no less than 19 months after hiring him. The roster is once again extremely clunky and the talent just doesn’t fit. Where’s the team headed? What are you building? What’s the culture here for the Knicks? If you’re asking these questions for a rebuilding team, that’s not a good look. Ask the Chicago Bulls how well that turns out when you’re asking these questions but hey at least they have more wins than the Knicks.

Would you put the blame solely on Steve Mills? I like Scott Perry and don’t think he should get fired along with Mills.

Photo by Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke/Newsday

Perry should definitely be fired alongside Steve Mills even though I personally put more onus on Mills. Perry put together this roster alongside Mills. It wasn’t done by one person. It was a collaborative effort and they failed to do their job.

Bryan Gibberman of The Knicks Wall also pointed out that Perry hasn’t been part of a successful front office regime for his entire tenure as an executive in the NBA. The Orlando Magic were aimless and didn’t go anywhere. The Sacremento Kings were designated to have a poor season before he left that organization to come to New York. The Kings are a prime example of poor roster construction that Perry had a hand in. You had young players like De’Aaron Fox, Willie Cauley-Stein, Yogi Ferrell, and Buddy Hield who can play an uptempo offense but signed veterans like George Hill, Zach Randolph, and Vince Carter who don’t compliment their skills and are seeking playing time over them. That roster put then head coach Dave Joerger in a bind and he couldn’t really do much with the roster until said veterans left the team. Next season they drastically improved only missing the playoffs by a few games. Point is if the team focused solely on the development and optimization of the young players that empowers them instead of neutering them, they could’ve done a better job in the prior year.

As for Mills, what else can be said that hasn’t be said already? He’s been working with the Madison Square Garden Company since the early 2000s and during his time as President of Basketball Operations he had the worst team performances as a head executive. He was only fired after the whole sexual harassment scandal with Anucha Browne Sanders because former NBA Commissioner David Stern pushed for Dolan to get rid of the people who have been highlighted as part of the lawsuit since it would paint a bad image for the Knicks and the NBA and suggested he hire Donnie Walsh to correct the issues with the organization. Ironically, the team would return the playoffs once Walsh and later on Glen Grunwald assemble teams that could compete for a playoff spot but not enough to get them far to the Finals, especially when the “superteam” of the Miami Heat’s LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh were in the way. After Dolan fired Grunwald and hired a consulting firm in McKinsey & Company and brought back Steve Mills as President and General Manager of Basketball Operations in an attempt to get his team to the NBA Finals.

They haven’t been to the playoffs ever since.

Dolan is the constant in regards to the poor success of the Knicks but Mills could also be seen as one as well. Since it’s impossible to get rid of Dolan since he’s the owner and chairman, removing Mills is the next best solution. Mills hasn’t had a successful tenure EVER as the man in charge. He may have survived with Phil Jackson, Derek Fisher, Kurt Rambis, Jeff Hornacek, and David Fizdale but at some point Dolan has to look at the guy who’s been the constant since his team stopped competing for the postseason. Perry hasn’t been good but Mills can’t escape his failures either.

Or can he?

Do you think Steve Mills will really get fired this time?

As anyone will tell you, Steve Mills is a “survivor.” The man has literally survived every single failure and regime change at Madison Square Garden. He survived the years with Isiah Thomas, Phil Jackson, Derek Fisher, Kurt Rambis, Jeff Hornacek, and now David Fizdale. Heck, he may survive with his partnership with Scott Perry.

However, it sounds as though Dolan’s patience with Mills is getting extremely thin.

According to a report from SNY’s Ian Begley, unless there’s a major turnaround this season Mills will more than likely be reassigned from his position as President of Basketball Operations or just fired all together.

Several members of the organization said this week that they fully expect Mills will be replaced as team president at the end of the season — if not sooner — unless the club somehow turns things around.

Good! Mills needs to be held accountable. He’s gotten a pass for way too long. Eventually, the results of his tenure need to be looked at and sadly he has not had much success since returning to the front office in 2013. The team hasn’t even whiffed the playoffs. Even if Dolan claims to not to know much about basketball, he should be able to tell the difference between successes and failures and Steve Mills entire career as a “basketball savant” at Madison Square Garden is deeply rooted in failure. The passes need to come to an end.

Photo by NY Post/Getty Images

What do you think about Mike Miller as a head coach?

I like Mike Miller as a head coach. I liked what he did as a player development coach in the G-League and I think that he deserves a chance to coach the team long term with a better, more balanced roster. However, as of now he’s likely to run into the same problems Fizdale ran into when he was the head coach and it likely won’t change until this roster and the team’s priorities change. Miller is desperate to prove his worth and win games. There should be no pressure at this point but I’m not in the organization to know what’s going on behind the scenes and what Miller’s goal for the remainder of the season is supposed to be. Either develop the players or use the vets and aim for late playoff push to showcase progress. Your guess is as good as mine.

Out of all the young players we have, who do you think we should invest long-term?

Brace yourself. It’s not a whole lot. As of now, just RJ Barrett, Mitchell Robinson, (and I guess) Frank Ntilikina, and Iggy Brazdeikis. Barrett has proven his worth as a legitimate rotational wing (which is good) but he still can’t shoot worth a damn and his limited athleticism makes it difficult to do much on offense (which is bad). Robinson is one of hell of a rim protecting center that thrives in the pick and roll and he continues to try to learn new ways to expand his game though a limited jump shot hurts in terms of what he can do on offense. Ntilikina isn’t a scoring threat and I doubt he ever will be but he does present himself as the best defensive player on the team not named Mitchell Robinson and he could certainly play that Dante Exum/Marcus Smart/Tony Allen role as the defensive guard who’s a secondary playmaker and defends though you’d wish he’d learn to use his body to get to the basket and score. As for Brazdeikis, he just got to the team so he needs time to develop.

Dennis Smith Jr., Kevin Knox, Alonzo Trier, and Dameyan Dotson are all expendable. They haven’t proven themselves as legitimate long term pieces so it’s best they’d take their games and find a better role somewhere else.

Do you think the team will improve next year?

Until they find a President and General Manager of Basketball Operations who has a legitimate goal and clearcut plan to build success that the fans and the organization can get behind on, the answer is unfortunately no.

That’s it for now! The Knicks play the Washington Wizards tonight. We’ll see if they can pull off a win but who the heck knows with these guys these days! Expect another post from me soon! Happy Holidays!*

*additional content by The Knicks Wall, Posting and Toasting, ESPN, NY Post, Newsday, WFAN Sports