Lets Talk Knicks GM Options
So the dust from Wednesday morning’s Woj Bomb has settled and Phil Jackson is no longer in New York. Now he gets to fly back to LA, try to woo Jeanie back, and light cigars using $100 bills from James Dolan’s account for the rest of his life. Phil Jackson Bulls coach doesn’t have shit on Phil Jackson Knicks President when it comes to destroying the Knicks franchise, and those Bulls teams ripped New York’s guts out regularly.
Anyway, it’s time to move on to bigger and better things. Do I truly think that no matter what we do, it will inevitably lead to James Dolan fucking it up? Of course. The only GM to ever build a competitor under Dolan (Donnie Walsh) left because of Dolan while Dolan basically had to have Isiah Thomas pried from his hands despite setting the franchise back a decade and even Phil got his extension picked up in February despite his tenure being somewhere between Trainwreck and Plane Crash on the tragic scale. I was as happy as every Knicks fan on the planet when they got rid of Phil. But James Dolan is the real problem. Phil was Darth Vader. Dolan is the Emperor.
But unless we are going to stop caring about the Knicks altogether, it’s time to move on to finding a GM or Team President or whatever the next guy in charge wants to be called. Here are a few thoughts about the guys that are being linked to the Knicks in the media over the last 48 hours.
Masai Ujiri
Pros:
– Built playoff teams in Denver and Toronto, two places that aren’t storied franchises or attract a bunch of free agents
– Respected basketball mind that would bring credibility to a franchise that was hated by players around the league
– Doesn’t give a FUCK
Can you imagine this guy with Knicks fans? Turning all of our anger directed at James Dolan into anger directed at whoever our opponent was in the (*gasp) playoffs? Yes, the Knicks could even make the playoffs in this dream scenario. Hell, based on that video, I could see Ujiri putting Dolan through a table if he tried to pull any of his typical Dolan bullshit on him.
Cons:
– His greatest moves came at the expense of the Knicks (The Melo trade and the Bargnani trade). It’s hard to fleece the Knicks and be successful if you are in charge of the Knicks.
– The biggest issue is what it would take to get Ujiri. He recently signed an extension with the Raptors and Toronto would likely ask for a first round pick in return. And as Knicks fans know all too well, trading your first round pick is usually a #bad idea. There are already reports that the package is too much for the Knicks.
The Knicks have reportedly removed one name from their list of possible Phil Jackson replacements: Masai Ujiri. The team is not expected to ask permission to speak to the Raptors president, who recently signed a contract extension with Toronto, according to ESPN. Bringing Ujiri to New York would require giving the Raptors compensation in the form of at least one first-rounder.
Even though it seemed a little too convenient that the guy who brought Ujiri to Toronto was the guy Dolan chose to help Steve Mills run the Knicks in the meantime.
Dolan has admired Ujiri from afar, and Tim Leiweke, the former Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment executive who is running the Knicks’ presidential search, once hired Ujiri away from Denver to Toronto.
I’m not giving up on Ujiri yet just because I fucking love him. I don’t want the Knicks to trade a draft pick for him. But maybe Dolan and his minions can come up with a package that includes a Ranger or two getting sent to the Maple Leafs. Rangers fans have had their fun the last few years, maybe they could let us Knicks fans enjoy the postseason. And since this is Dolan we are talking about, maybe he can give Toronto some real American cash instead of that funny money they play with up there. After all Dolan just fired a guy that he could have let go in February for no money but will instead pay him about $24 million because he fired him in June and after the draft.
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Lets move on because I’m getting mad at Dolan again.
David Griffin
Pros:
– Was the GM of a championship team that beat the 73-win Warriors in the Finals (Insert a 3-1 joke if you would like here).
– Is used to being the fall guy for a shitty owner.
– Didn’t surround LeBron with players like:
LeBron took that team to the NBA Finals by the way. Fucking nuts.
– Has a good relationship with LeBron
which will lead to every Knicks fan thinking LeBron may come to New York because of it being the media capital of the world. I will not think those crazy thoughts until at least the 10th Photoshop I see of LeBron in a Knicks jersey.
Cons:
– Took over as GM for a team that already had Kyrie, Tristan Thompson, and was about o win the #1 pick, which he turned into Kevin Love. So he didn’t exactly build a championship team from scratch.
– Hard to judge a GM that has LeBron on his team because LeBron is a basketball robot that cannot be stopped.
– That LeBron tweet could have been a way to signal his disappointment with the franchise letting Griffin go and giving LeBron an excuse to leave the franchise for the Lakers since Dan Gilbert is still the dude that wrote that letter in Comic Sans. Or LeBron just needed those Likes and Retweets since Zero Dark Thirty-23 really impacts his social media #brand numbers.
Sam Hinkie
I feel like this is the official Sam Hinkie picture, whether it’s a story about Sam Hinkie or a Photoshop of Sam Hinkie or whatever. So I had to use it.
Pros:
– Hinkie coming to the Knicks would piss off Philly fans soooooo goddamn much. As a Giants and Mets fan, I have no animosity towards Boston sports fans at all, except when they flooded my mentions with Photoshops of Kristaps Porzingis in a Celtics jersey. Watching Philly fans squirm as their fallen Messiah took over the reigns at MSG would be heaven on Earth. Ever since the Sixers traded for Markelle Fultz, it has been an orgy of Sam Hinkie puff pieces and videos. I haven’t even seen any reports of interest from the Knicks or Hinkie, but I had to include him here just because it would be so great to watch Philly burn.
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– Knicks fans have always said they would embrace a rebuild if it meant the team was actually good again. The Process would likely bring as many if not more losses as we saw during the Phil Jackson reign of terror, but would (hopefully) end with high draft picks and a talented team.
Cons:
– Hinkie would probably trade Kristaps Porzingis for a few 1st round picks and a kabillion 2nd rounders.
– Every 1st round pick would be used on a 7-footer
– Getting fired, infiltrating the Knicks front office as a Trojan horse, and then trading a bunch of New York’s first round picks to Philly for 2nd round picks seems like it could be the final stage of Hinkie’s Process with Philly, ensuring the Sixers win not one, not two, not three, not four, not five championships.
Steve Mills
Pros:
– Ummmmm, knows the franchise I guess since he’s always around?
– Has the survival abilities of a cockroach.
– I could see Dolan just forgetting to hire a replacement for Phil Jackson and Mills just continues to be GM for years as Knicks fans eyes glass over and we no longer fight for our franchise.
Cons:
– Mills became President of MSG Sports in 2003. The Knicks made the playoffs in 2004, became a tire fire over the next five years, and Mills left the Knicks to work with Magic Johnson in 2009. The Knicks then made the playoffs in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Mills then returned to the Knicks and the franchise has been upgraded to a dumpster fire that resides in a shit factory during his last four seasons here. Steve Mills could be just as much a problem as James Dolan, since he is the one who helped bring Isiah into the fold which caused the flames of the franchise burning to be visible from space. Long story short, FUCK Steve Mills.
Isiah Thomas
Told ya.
I blogged about Isiah turning down the Knicks GM job yesterday. If you want to read it, click that link. In the interest of fairness, here is my breakdown of Isiah.
Pros:
– Can probably give the Knicks some decent minutes at point guard
Cons:
– Basically everything else that has to do with running a basketball team. He can be Varys to
John Calipari
Reags already blogged the story of Calipari being linked to the Knicks and Cal’s reaction to it. Check them out because he’s a Kentucky and Knicks fan, which means this story was basically made for him just like the Charles Oakley vs. James Dolan battle was made for me. Again my breakdown in the interested of fairness.
Pros:
– Insert paying player jokes here
Cons:
– Reference anything about John Calipari’s tenure in the NBA with the Nets
And that’s all we have for now. I’m sure there will be crazy names and ideas floated because this is the Knicks and all. I can’t wait (read: I’m terrified) to see how it all shakes out.