The New York Knicks made a major change on Tuesday when they fired president of basketball operations Steve Mills, and team owner James Dolan may now look to two of the most successful franchises in the NBA for a blueprint of how to rebuild his front office.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski report that Dolan is considering a front office model that is similar to the ones that are in place with the Warriors and Lakers — two teams that have former player agents running their basketball operations departments.
ESPN Sources with @ramonashelburne: Knicks owner Jim Dolan is already considering a front office model that is working with Golden State (Bob Myers) and the Lakers (Rob Pelinka): Hiring a top basketball executive out of the player agent ranks.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 4, 2020
Obviously, the model has worked in Golden State and Los Angeles. The Warriors have won multiple championships under Meyers’ leadership, and the Lakers are one of the favorites to win the title this year. The Knicks, on the other hand, have not reached the postseason in five years. They believed they were going to straighten things out when they hired Phil Jackson, but that turned out to be a disaster.
Dolan is reportedly eyeing one of the best executives in the NBA, but there are a lot of reasons the Knicks owner probably won’t get him. Hiring a former player agent would not be a bad idea, though it obviously depends on the person.
