The Knicks fired president Steve Mills and replaced him with Leon Rose.
But general manager Scott Perry will survive – beyond just the draft.
Perry has an incredible knack for getting opportunities. He worked in the Magic’s front office during Rob Hennigan’s poor tenure (though sometimes disagreeing with his boss). Then, Perry went to the Kings, helped with an overrated offseason and quickly parlayed that into the Knicks job. In New York, the front office flopped in its plan then still set expectations counterproductively high.
Now he gets to stay under Rose?
A former agent, Rose is a first-time team executive. Perry knows this side of the business and can add value.
Rose knows something about how the game works, too. Lead executives get only so many hires. If he replaced Perry with an incompetent general manager, Rose would face more scrutiny with Knicks owner James Dolan. By keeping Perry – whether or not Perry is up to the job – Rose extends his honeymoon period. With Perry on only a one-year contract, Rose also maintains flexibility.
New York maintains a link to the failed Mills era, and that won’t sit well with fans. But politically, it’s easy to see why this happened.