The New York Knicks have deep ties with Creative Artists Agency. It’d be one thing if the Knicks just had good relationships with those agents and that led to them repeatedly signing their players.
But the Knicks reportedly forced their coach, Mike Woodson, to join CAA. And above him, general manager Steve Mills and assistant general managers Mark Warkentein and Allan Houston are also CAA clients.
You can see how that could lead to problems.
Chris Broussard of ESPN:One Knicks player recently told ESPN.com that the CAA ties were a problem in the locker room.
“You see how guys from CAA are treated differently,” the player said. “How they get away with saying certain things to coaches. How coaches talk to them differently than they talk to the other guys. It’s a problem.”
First, for reference, let’s split the Knicks’ roster into two lists:
CAA
- Carmelo Anthony
- Andrea Bargnani
- J.R. Smith
Non-CAA
- Tyson Chandler
- Amar’e Stoudemire
- Raymond Felton
- Iman Shumpert
- Tim Hardaway Jr.
- Pablo Prigioni
- Kenyon Martin
- Toure’ Murry
- Cole Aldrich
- Jeremy Tyler
- Earl Clark
- Shannon Brown
With Chris Smith gone, the Knicks are no longer quite as CAA-heavy.
Melo gets preferential treatment, because he’s the team’s best player and a true star. He’d get special privileges no matter which agent represents him.
Bargnani and J.R. Smith? Yeah, I can why (at least) one of their teammates is dismayed.
Smith has gotten a ridiculously long leash from Woodson, and before getting injured, Bargnani regularly started despite poor – and occasionally stupid – play. When all signs point to the Knicks playing better with other players – mostly small lineups that include Tyson Chandler as the only big and two point guards in the backcourt rather than Smith – these two got chance after chance.
Maybe the Knicks are pursuing Phil Jackson, who isn’t a CAA client, to fix these broken processes. Frank Isola of the New York Daily News:The Knicks under Dolan have maintained a close relationship with CAA, the agency that represents both Anthony and Woodson. The hiring of Jackson could be viewed as Dolan wanting to distance himself from CAA.
“The Knicks and Phil are getting exactly what they want out of this,” said one general manager. “The Knicks are showing that they want to do something and this is a chance for Phil to get the Lakers to make a move. If they don’t, he can take the Knicks’ money.”
Why the Knicks are distancing themselves from CAA now, just before Melo hits free agency, confuses me. It might be the right move at just the wrong time. But New York shouldn’t throw good money after bad, either.
If Jackson can make the Knicks function like the well-run franchise they aren’t, including putting the relationship with CAA on more reasonable grounds, they’ll be getting their money worth.
Meanwhile, Smith and Bargnani will continue to get the money they’re not worth.
It’s too late to completely fix the issue, but Jackson could get New York headed in the right direction.
