Scott Perry will remain the general manager of the Knicks for at least another year after his contract was extended under Leon Rose, the recently hired team president, a source with knowledge of the matter said Wednesday. The extension was first reported by Newsday.
It is unclear what personnel moves Rose and Perry will be able to make in the immediate future as the N.B.A. navigates an uncertain period because of the coronavirus pandemic. The league postponed its season in mid-March, and when play will resume is an open question. The Knicks were 21-45 and in 12th place in the Eastern Conference when the season was halted.
In a normal timeline, Rose and Perry would be preparing for the N.B.A. draft — scheduled for late June — free agency and potentially the hire of a new coach, should they decide not to keep Mike Miller, who has been the interim coach since David Fizdale was fired in December. The spread of the coronavirus, which has caused the deaths of more than 50,000 people in the United States, has hit close to home for the Knicks: James L. Dolan, the team owner, tested positive for the illness in late March.
Perry was hired in 2017 to be the team’s general manager after the departure of Phil Jackson as team president. At the time, Perry was the executive vice president for the Sacramento Kings, one of several front office positions he held before arriving in New York to work under the then-president, Steve Mills. But in the years since, Perry’s track record has been mixed. The Knicks are 67-163 since he took over as general manager, and the team has not signed a single marquee free agent, despite being in the country’s largest media market and projecting strong signals that it would do so. Mills left his position as president in February.
In the three years since Perry took over, the Knicks have had three head coaches (Jeff Hornacek, Fizdale and Miller) and traded Kristaps Porzingis, who was the franchise cornerstone, to the Dallas Mavericks , receiving little in return. But the Knicks ushered in yet another new era this year with the hiring of Leon Rose, the former agent for Creative Artists Agency who represented several star N.B.A. players. The Knicks hope that Rose’s hiring and his wealth of connections will entice star players to sign with the team.
Source: Basketball - nytimes.com
