Author: Brian Cronin

Bleacher Report: Begley: Knicks Could Give Allan Houston, Scott Perry Front Office Roles

Brian Cronin 62 Comments

Adam Wells recaps a chat Ian Begley did:

Despite the arrival of Leon Rose as New York Knicks president of basketball operations last month, Allan Houston and Scott Perry could remain in the team’s front office in some capacity.

SNY.tv’s Ian Begley said he would “bet” Houston and Perry have “some role in some way shape or form” with the Knicks.

It’s perhaps notable that Begley didn’t specify if either one would be back next season in their current job. Perry has been their general manager since July 2017 when he took over for Steve Mills, who was promoted to president when Phil Jackson parted ways with the organization.

Mills was fired in February, opening the door for Rose to take over.

Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News reported in the wake of Mills’ firing that Houston emerged as a candidate for a front office promotion.

Houston, a two-time All-Star as a player with the Knicks, has been working in their front office since 2008 and currently serves as a special assistant to the general manager.

It’s pretty amazing that the Knicks seriously went from tied for the fourth-worst record to being alone as the sixth-worst record through an overtime win in the last game in the NBA before the season went on hiatus (and quite possibly ended for the season).

Well…not amusing “ha ha,” that is.

NY Daily News: Elton Brand a candidate for Knicks GM: source

Brian Cronin 275 Comments

From Stefan Bondy:

Leon Rose might look to Philadelphia for his new right-hand man.

According to a league source, Elton Brand has been targeted by Rose as a candidate for Knicks GM. Brand, 41, is currently the Sixers GM and is under contract next season, complicating any designs of bringing him to New York. The source said Rose wanted to see if Brand was dismissed after the playoffs.

Since taking over as Philly’s GM in 2018, Brand tried to build a championship contender around Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. He traded for Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris. Then after Butler left in free agency, Brand acquired Josh Richardson and Al Horford. The results have been mixed.

Philadelphia fell a Kawhi Leonard game-winner short of making the Eastern Conference Finals last year but has underwhelmed this season with a 39-26 record. The inconsistency has left coach Brett Brown on the hot seat.

I really don’t get this at ALL.

I don’t even hate Elton Brand as a GM, but he sure isn’t a guy I’d go out of my way to get. He’s just sort of “blah.” So why would you go out of your way to get him? Who ever watched the Sixers and said, “That’s a guy I’d love to see the Knicks target!”?

NY Daily News: James Dolan has coronavirus, Knicks say he has ‘little to no symptoms’

Brian Cronin 179 Comments

This is certainly a bit of a surprise:

Knicks owner James Dolan has the coronavirus, according to the team.

“He has been in self-isolation and is experiencing little to no symptoms,” the team said. “He continues to oversee business operations.”

Dolan is 64 years old.

Dolan owns the Madison Square Garden Company, including several live venues and the Rangers. He lives on Long Island, although it’s unclear where he’s been spending his self-isolation.

As they note, his symptoms are mild, so this probably doesn’t matter one way or the other, but it’s still interesting.

NY Post: Why Damyean Dotson’s future with Knicks is uncertain

Brian Cronin 198 Comments

From Marc Berman:

When Dennis Smith Jr. got booed off the court at the Garden in late October, the lone player to go over to him on the bench was Knicks shooting guard Damyean Dotson.

Those are the type of quiet leadership gestures Dotson does that go unnoticed by a Knicks front office now two administrations removed from drafting him. That makes the 25-year-old’s future highly uncertain as he enters free agency.

Dotson did not play in eight of the last nine games, including the double-overtime potential season finale March 11 in Atlanta.

“That seemed the writing on the wall,’’ one NBA scout said of the demotion. “You’d think they’d be still trying to develop him.’’

According to NBA sources, three prominent organizations — the Jazz, Bucks and Warriors — are expected to show some interest in Dotson, who made $1.6 million this season as a “3-and-D’’ prototype.

“He’s got a great work ethic, leadership qualities and toughness,’’ former Knicks coach David Fizdale told The Post this week. “He’s extremely coachable and dedicated teammate. Totally committed to the culture with a consistently good attitude regardless of his minutes.’’

I have no beef with Dotson as a basketball player, but I also don’t think losing him will make that much of an impact. However, if other teams just try to get him for the minimum, the Knicks should probably try to at least beat that.

Also, rather than that Smith Jr. thing being a sign of Dotson being a good leader, isn’t it kind of a bad sign for everyone else on the team? Or is Smith Jr. just a dick and the others all hate him?

NY Post: Stan Van Gundy’s lack of interest in Knicks’ coaching job goes beyond talent problem

Brian Cronin 202 Comments

It seems like the only real Knicks news is coaches out there saying they don’t want to coach the Knicks.

Stan Van Gundy, who really is a heck of a coach (but a terrible GM), was asked about the Nets and Knicks jobs and replied, “Of the two the Nets are the better job. There’s no question about that right now. The organization has been more stable. They’ve won more games. They have more talent.”

He also noted, “I’m not interested in the New York Knicks. No. First of all, there’s a family history there. If anyone would be interested in that — and I’m not sure he is either — it would be my brother.” Interesting comment about Jeff Van Gundy there.

He ended with more trashing of the Knicks, “And I just – I’ve said this – I’m different than a lot of coaches in looking at jobs. To me, it’s all who you work for and you work with. Everything I’ve seen in the last few years with that organization says that it’s extremely dysfunctional.”

There are many reasons to want the season to return, but partially I’d like to see some stories other than “Coach X would never coach the Knicks.”

NY Post: Rick Pitino on Whether John Calipari Should Coach the Knicks

Brian Cronin 209 Comments

New Iona College coach (which is so hilarious), Rick Pitino had a Q&A with the Post and he answered a lot of questions about the Knicks, but the question that has gotten the most attention has been about John Calipari (why Pitino’s insights into John Calpari are newsworthy is a bit beyond me, but hey, we’re all starving for some NBA news, right?):

Q: You don’t think Calipari would be interested in the Knicks job?
A: I really don’t. I think when you coach at Kentucky, you have the premier job in college basketball — in terms of he can recruit any player he wants, he has unbelievable facilities, he’s gonna win his 30 games every year, and he’s got the best job in all of basketball. So I’m not sure why he would ever want to have a job that’s not the best job in all of basketball. He’s smarter than me when it comes to that.

Funny self-own about the time he left Kentucky for the Boston Celtics.

Would anyone here even really want John Calipari? He’s not a bad coach, by any means, but is he really a difference making coach? He hasn’t coached in the NBA for two decades! I don’t see the point.

The Reddit 20 Points, 10 Assists and 5 Rebounds Challenge

Brian Cronin 302 Comments

This has been going around the interwebs, so I figured it could be a fun diversion here.

If you had a chance to play 82 games in the NBA, with a guaranteed 20 minute per game, with the ultimate goal of scoring 20 total points all season, get 5 total rebounds all season and record 10 total assists all season, at which point you would receive a $250 million contract, but if you fail, you’d die (and the players don’t know that you’d die if they didn’t help you, so they won’t help you), would you take the challenge?

I say no way in heck am I gambling my life on that. Scoring a single point in the NBA is ridiculously hard. The other two things could be achieved through luck over the season, but scoring 20 points? That takes some legit skill and I don’t think I’d be able to do it. I certainly wouldn’t be confident enough to bet my life on it. Go to Spring Break during a pandemic? Sure, that’s worth betting my life on it, but not this.

How about you folks?