Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks will mercifully part ways on Wednesday, so here are five candidates to become the team’s new president.
It seemed like only a matter of time, but a report surfaced late Tuesday night pointing to the New York Knicks letting Phil Jackson go as team president. Owner James Dolan came off his draft week concert tour to apparently fully realize Jackson is failing as an executive, and a disagreement on buying-out Carmelo Anthony may have been the final straw.
Jackson’s public criticism of Anthony, and more recently Kristaps Porzingis, surely played a role in his looming departure. He’s also clearly behind the times, with a stubborn refusal to go away from the triangle offense that made him famous as Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers’ head coach.
After an option for the final two years of his contract was picked up in April, Jackson will walk away with the $24 million he was due to make. But Dolan has never been afraid to pay for his own mistakes hiring basketball executives, and simply being able to move on might be worth it.
The timing of Jackson’s departure is not ideal, from a certain perspective, with free agency set to start this weekend. But here are five candidates to be the next Knicks president.
5. Isiah Thomas
Thomas failed epically as an executive and head coach of the Knicks from 2003-2008. Before that, a tongue-in-cheek argument can be made that he ran the CBA into the ground as the NBA went a different direction for a developmental league.
Thomas re-surfaced as team president of New York Liberty, the WNBA team under Dolan’s ownership umbrella, in 2015. He also serves as a studio commentator for Turner Sports.
Thomas’ inclusion here is not all that serious. But he’s been working under Dolan again, and nothing can be ruled out. These are the Knicks after all…
4. Steve Mills
After working in business operations for Madison Square Garden from 2003-2009, Mills came back to Dolan’s’ organization as the Knicks’ general manager in 2013. That pre-dated Jackson’s hiring by less than a year, technically, so they are both tied to the current situation to some degree.
Mills will reportedly stay in his current role and lead the Knicks during free agency, which may become a positive with the way Jackson has botched things.
It’s not much of a comparison, but Mills’ relationship with Anthony has to better than Jackson’s was. Serious negotiations on a buyout could get off the ground soon, but it seems Dolan was the one who was against it, not Jackson.
Mills will surely be tied to Jackson in the eyes of the public and Knicks’ fans, for better or mostly worse. But he may get a chance to add a title and more responsibility to his current job. Then we can see what Mills is made of as a basketball executive, without Jackson’s shadow hanging over him. Dolan’s loyalty to people, to his own detriment at times, has to also be noted here.
3. Chauncey Billups
Billups seems to have real interest in taking a front office job. He interviewed with the Atlanta Hawks for their then-open general manager post in May, and more recently he has surfaced as the top candidate to be the Cleveland Cavaliers’ new general manager. As of right now Billups is undecided on joining the Cavaliers, with reported concerns about uprooting his family in Denver and the possible departure of LeBron James in 2018.
Billups would obviously have to uproot his family to move to New York, and he is on solid footing in his gig as an analyst for ESPN. Working primarily out of Los Angeles for ESPN is much closer to his family in Colorado, not to mention a lower level of stress in his current job.
If he eventually makes the jump to an NBA front office, general manager seems like a more likely initial job title for Billups. That said, offering him the role as team president without previous front office acumen would fit Dolan’s mold this side of Donnie Walsh. If a push to pay him more than Cavaliers’ owner Dan Gilbert wants to is made, Billups could land in the Big Apple.
2. Masai Ujiri
Upon news of Jackson’s departure ESPN’s Ian Begley first pointed out Dolan is a fan of Ujiri, who is currently president of the Toronto Raptors. Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical has backed that up, with his own report Dolan will target Ujiri in the search for a new Knicks’ president.
Ujiri has been with the Raptors in his current job since 2013. Before that he served as executive vice president for the Denver Nuggets, winning NBA Executive of the Year in 2013. He got his start as a scout, so he comes with the kind of credibility on that front that Dolan should be targeting. to replace Jackson.
Ujiri just signed a contract extension with the Raptors a year ago, so he has job security in Toronto and may have little interest in leaving anytime soon. But there is probably still some brand-name appeal to working for the Knicks, with the idea of being the guy that engineers a rebuild back to on-court relevance and possibly a championship.
ESPN’s Marc Stein has reported former Raptors’ executive Tim Leiweke is stepping in as an advisor for the Knicks after Jackson’s departure. That seems to automatically make him a candidate to become team president, but Dolan should have his eye on Ujiri until the interest is proven to not be mutual.
1. David Griffin
Griffin was without a contract to remain as Cavaliers’ general manager beyond the end of June, and a decision to “part ways” came last week. Griffin may have wanted more power than owner Dan Gilbert was willing to give him, with the paycheck to match, but any other general manager openings were filled before Griffin’s departure from Cleveland.
Say what you want about LeBron James serving as the de facto general manager for the Cavaliers. But Griffin deserves credit for building a roster that has gone to three straight NBA Finals, with Gilbert’s blessing to go over the luxury tax threshold. James himself lamented Griffin’s departure and gave a lot of credit to the now-former GM.
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Griffin is a free agent executive right now, with no concern attached to convincing him to leave another team and making that departure work on the other end. Dolan has a unique opportunity to hire a highly qualified candidate as Jackson’s replacement, and turning over his NBA front office operation to Griffin has to be on the radar immediately.