Is Leon Rose the savior the New York Knicks have been waiting for these past two decades?
After Rose was reportedly chosen as Steve Mills' successor as team president the day of the trade deadline last month, he was officially named to the position Monday. Can Rose do what his predecessors were unable to and pull New York out of a tailspin that hasn't seen the team win more than 37 games since 2012-13? What direction should the Knicks take under Rose?
Let's take a look.
Why Rose makes sense in New York
During their seven years out of the playoffs, the Knicks have failed to maximize their biggest advantage with free agents: the attraction of playing in New York. Since signing Amar'e Stoudemire in 2010 and trading for Carmelo Anthony the following spring, the Knicks have repeatedly squandered their cap space on non-star free agents such as aging centers Tyson Chandler and Joakim Noah. Even when New York has been more patient, like last summer, stars have passed in favor of better situations.
Enter the well-connected Rose, who will eventually have a chance to pitch some of his former clients on playing in New York. While Rose is no longer at the height of his power -- he was the agent for LeBron James during LeBron's early prime years and helped orchestrate his move to Miami -- his client list is still impressive. In addition to veterans Anthony and Chris Paul, it notably includes younger All-Stars Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns as well as Devin Booker, a near-miss for this year's roster.
We've seen how quickly a floundering organization in a big market can turn things around by appealing to free agents. And while it's unusual to remove a lead executive the week of the deadline, remember that the Los Angeles Lakers did the exact same thing this time three years ago when they replaced Mitch Kupchak with Magic Johnson.
How this might go wrong
You mean besides the fact that it's the Knicks? When people talk about agents moving into prominent front-office roles, they typically highlight Bob Myers of the Golden State Warriors and Rob Pelinka, who worked under Magic as the Lakers' GM before taking on final decision-making power after Johnson's resignation last year. They usually don't mention Lon Babby, whose stint as president of basketball operations for the Phoenix Suns began that franchise's long playoff drought.
Despite sharing the same role as player agents, Myers and Pelinka aren't exact matches for Rose in terms of background. Both Myers (UCLA) and Pelinka (Michigan) played Division I basketball and were relatively early in their careers as compared to Rose (whose playing experience was at the D-III level) and Babby.
Additionally, neither came in as their team's top decision-maker. Myers was assistant GM under veteran Larry Riley before being promoted a year later, though he did have a significant voice in basketball decisions in that role. Rose will inherit veteran GM Scott Perry, but will presumably have final say from day one.
Additionally, the catch with Rose's former clients is that all of the young stars are under contract for extended periods. Booker and Towns are both in the first season of five-year extensions, while Embiid won't be a free agent until 2023. Given the turnover in the New York front office, it's no sure thing Rose will still be in his role by that point. If the Knicks are going to turn things around anytime soon, it won't be by signing Rose's former clients in free agency.
Should the Knicks have waited for Masai Ujiri?
Naturally, the first name linked with the New York job was Ujiri, the 2012-13 NBA Executive of the Year who built the Toronto Raptors into NBA champions. However, our Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Knicks' interest in Ujiri was complicated by his contract with the Raptors through the 2020-21 season. Toronto would rightfully have demanded significant draft compensation to let Ujiri go to a rival.
The Raptors got a second-round pick, eventually No. 40 overall, from the Orlando Magic when Orlando hired then-Toronto GM Jeff Weltman as president of basketball operations in 2017. The compensation for Ujiri would surely have been far greater given his strong reputation and the fact that he would have been making a lateral move rather than getting a promotion. In 2013, the LA Clippers gave up a first-round pick (eventually No. 28 overall) to hire Doc Rivers away from the Boston Celtics as head coach and president of basketball operations. A first-round pick was probably the floor for negotiations over a "trade" for Ujiri.
Given how New York has let lottery picks go to waste with mismanagement, trading a pick or possibly even two for Ujiri would have been worth it in my opinion -- particularly if the Knicks could have dealt from the two first-rounders they have coming from the Dallas Mavericks via the Kristaps Porzingis trade rather than their own picks.
How should New York move forward?
Thrust unexpectedly into the interim role of decision-maker after Mills was reassigned just before the deadline, Perry did well to get a first-round pick from the LA Clippers in return for forward Marcus Morris. The bigger decisions about the Knicks' roster are still to come.
The question now for New York's front office should be how current players and potential additions fit alongside the Knicks' young core, headlined by 2019 No. 3 overall pick RJ Barrett and 2018 second-round pick Mitchell Robinson. The lack of shooting and playmaking around Barrett has highlighted the weakest aspects of his nascent game while minimizing his strength as a one-on-one creator in space.
In particular, that framing sheds doubt on the fit of forward Julius Randle, New York's marquee addition in free agency and the only player the Knicks gave a fully guaranteed salary to for 2020-21 ($18.9 million, with an additional $4 million of his $19.8 million salary for 2021-22 guaranteed). Randle and Robinson have proved challenging to play together because both want to occupy the paint, while Randle does little to help create space for Barrett. I'd explore the market for a Randle trade this summer.
It's also uncertain whether Perry will continue in his role as GM or Rose will bring in an executive of his own choosing. That decision is crucial given the steep learning curve Rose will likely face mastering the intricacies of the NBA's collective bargaining agreement that aren't as important to agents as they are to front offices. Replacing Perry with another neophyte would be a mistake with potential long-term ramifications.
We shouldn't understate the challenge ahead for Rose. The spectacular failure of New York's plan to build through free agency last summer -- as well as the shocking regression of point guard Dennis Smith Jr., a seemingly valuable part of the return for Porzingis this time a year ago -- has left New York back near the bottom of the Eastern Conference with only Robinson among the team's young players performing particularly well on the court.
Given his role in putting the Knicks in that position, replacing Mills was likely a necessary step. But it's only the beginning of the process of rebuilding in New York.