Knicks Insider: "All Things Knicks"

Interesting. I had read a while back that World Wide Wes couldn?t join the Knicks because of other ?obligations?. Sounds like Dolan and Rose made him an offer he couldn?t refuse.

World Wide Wes is a big get. His off the court influence can be a game changer. Honestly, if we have Rose and WWW in our front office and we still can?t attract impact free agents over the next couple years, it might be time to just shut the whole franchise down.

Larry Brown said the WWW hiring will change everything for Knicks.

Starbury not impressed tho...

The Knicks? hiring of ?World Wide Wes,? aka William Wesley, was universally praised on Wednesday as a forward-thinking addition by new team president Leon Rose. One former Knick, however, is against it.

Stephon Marbury blasted the move, calling Wesley ?world wide sucker,? in a video he posted on Instagram and wrote on Twitter that Wesley is a ?kiss a?.?

?C?mon man, c?mon. At New York Knicks, did you really just bring world wide sucker to the New York Knicks. ? Really? You brought this dude here? Why? I?m a real New York Knicks fan. I?ve been a New York Knicks fan since I was a [kid]. ?

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?C?mon [Jim] Dolan man. You gotta be kidding me, man. You brought this dude here? Really? What?s going on man. There?s gotta be an explanation. Not him. Out of all people, you bring this dude here? You bring him to NYC? To New York? He ain?t got no credibility here. Nah.?

he team announced Thursday that they were releasing two-way contract player Kadeem Allen and signing former Phoenix Suns two-way player Jared Harper. Harper?s deal with the Knicks expires at the end of this season, but they will retain non-Bird rights on him and can re-sign him to a two-way deal next season.

Harper, 22, was a star of Auburn?s Final Four run a few years back, but went undrafted in 2019. He?s only 5?11? but extremely fast and has a reputation as a good shooter and defender.

Lt. Plumlee is still only 27, the youngest of three brothers who all played (or still play) in the NBA. But he ditched his basketball career almost two years ago for the U.S. Army, and is already the leader of a roughly 40-person rifle platoon stationed at Fort Lewis in Washington.
It was an opportunity Plumlee knew was coming, having declared his intentions to join the U.S. Military before the NBA draft. He then juggled his duties with the New York National Guard while playing with the Knicks, driving up to its facility in Troy, NY, for drills whenever the schedule allowed. Carmelo Anthony called him ?Captain America.?

mafra said:

Ian Begley, SNY.tv | Twitter |

The Knicks have hired CAA's William 'World Wide Wes' Wesley as an executive vice president and senior advisor to team president Leon Rose.

The organization formally announced the move on Wednesday morning.

"We are very excited to announce the hiring of William Wesley, someone that I have known for over 40 years and consider to be family," Rose said in a statement. "He is one of the most well-connected and respected people in the basketball community and he will be a tremendous asset and resource to both myself and the New York Knicks."

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I made a comment that under Mills the Knicks had the most top heavy and excessively fat front office in the NBA but it’s become more so under Rose. Not sure about this hire of Wes because when people describe what he brings to the table they don’t describe basketball related skills just his people skills, is that going to make the Knicks a winner?

tiger0330 said:

I made a comment that under Mills the Knicks had the most top heavy and excessively fat front office in the NBA but it’s become more so under Rose. Not sure about this hire of Wes because when people describe what he brings to the table they don’t describe basketball related skills just his people skills, is that going to make the Knicks a winner?

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I wrote this before reading that Rasheed Wallace said the same about Wes that he’s an agent and not a basketball pro in questioning the Knicks hiring of him. The Knicks fat wallet aside, is he worth the 7 figure salary he’s pulling down?

tiger0330 said:

I made a comment that under Mills the Knicks had the most top heavy and excessively fat front office in the NBA but it’s become more so under Rose. Not sure about this hire of Wes because when people describe what he brings to the table they don’t describe basketball related skills just his people skills, is that going to make the Knicks a winner?

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Just crazy to think that Rose met WWW when he went to a store to buy shoes. WWW was the shoe salesman... now the pair running the Knicks.

tiger0330 said:

I wrote this before reading that Rasheed Wallace said the same about Wes that he’s an agent and not a basketball pro in questioning the Knicks hiring of him. The Knicks fat wallet aside, is he worth the 7 figure salary he’s pulling down?

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Larry Brown said it was WWW who convinced him to go to DET. That worked out well for Wallace.

NEW YORK KNICKS
@nyknicks
Congrats to
@kennywootenjr
on being named to the
@nbagleague
All-Defensive Team!

3.6 BPG (96 blocks in 27 games!)

mafra said:

NEW YORK KNICKS
@nyknicks
Congrats to
@kennywootenjr
on being named to the
@nbagleague
All-Defensive Team!

�� 3.6 BPG (96 blocks in 27 games!)

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Why didn't Mills/Perry give DeAndre Jordan a 2 to 4 yr extension to Tudor MitchRob & Kenny Wooten jr. for a couple of seasons. Letting DJ mentor the two future above the rim big-men would've been the first move to rebuilding a winning Knicks team.

Mills/Perry signing a 4 yr $74M contract to (Lakers/Pelicans PROJECT loser) Randle whom performance in 5 NBA season showed he was best at coming off the bench for 15 or 20 minute of playing-time. Then they sign a 1 yr $15M contract to (Bulls/Wizards PROJECT loser) Portis whom 4 yr NBA career showed consistently to be a teams 12th man off the bench.
Plus signing PROJECT Payton to a 2 yr $16M contract after Payton flunked 3 teams in his 5 yr career whom performance showed repeatedly to be a teams 3rd PG on the bench.
When the Pelicans added the two project players Randle & Payton to their roster in 2018-19, the Pelicans super-star Anthony Davis asked to be traded ASAP.

How many decent complimentary-players will the Knicks have that mixed well on the court with teammates on next season roster?
Did we see any chemistry from our top-3 most minute players in the final 20 games of the season? Randle (32 min)? rookie Barrett (32 min)? Payton (27 min)?
Will the Knicks hire two of the best winning head-coaches available before/after the draft for the Knicks new coaching-staff under Rose ???

If no decent players, or decent head-coaches, or decent GM want to sign on to the Knicks during this long long pandemic off-season? Then ...SELL the Knicks team Dolan !!!

One reason many Knicks fans were dismayed at the hiring of Leon Rose and William ?World Wide Wes? Wesley to run the front office was that the pair had long been rumored as having a strong voice at MSG during the past decade. If Rose and Wesley had been secretly running the show while working as agents for CAA, how much would really change with the Knicks now that their titles were more official?


While we still don?t know all the details of Wesley and Rose?s influence in the past, a disturbing story emerged Sunday from Marc Berman of The Post. Apparently, Wesley was responsible for the firing of GM Glen Grunwald following the 2012-13 season, a.k.a. the last time the Knicks made the playoffs:

The Post has learned Wesley was a driving force behind Dolan moving on from Grunwald after a 54-28 season four days before the 2013 training camp. Wesley recommended bringing back Steve Mills, citing stronger connections.
Grunwald did a fine job as GM, strengthening the roster around Carmelo Anthony with savvy veterans and three-point shooters. The rumor at the time (which still might be true) was that Grunwald was against the Knicks? disastrous efforts to trade for CAA client Andrea Bargnani in the summer of 2013, and he was replaced by Mills soon after. Berman doesn?t mention the Bargs trade, but he does confirm that Wesley pushed for Grunwald to be replaced by Mills, who had zero experience in basketball operations at the time.

Long story short, we saw how Mills? ?stronger connections? would help the franchise over the next seven years. Mills was fired midway through the 2019-2020 season and replace with Rose, who brought Wesley aboard in an official capacity.

So does this mean the Rose/Wesley partnership is doomed to fail? Not necessarily. Rose has brought on some quality basketball minds since taking the job. Here?s hoping he and Wesley have learned from pass mistakes, and trust those experts.

mafra said:

One reason many Knicks fans were dismayed at the hiring of Leon Rose and William “World Wide Wes” Wesley to run the front office was that the pair had long been rumored as having a strong voice at MSG during the past decade. If Rose and Wesley had been secretly running the show while working as agents for CAA, how much would really change with the Knicks now that their titles were more official?


While we still don’t know all the details of Wesley and Rose’s influence in the past, a disturbing story emerged Sunday from Marc Berman of The Post. Apparently, Wesley was responsible for the firing of GM Glen Grunwald following the 2012-13 season, a.k.a. the last time the Knicks made the playoffs:

The Post has learned Wesley was a driving force behind Dolan moving on from Grunwald after a 54-28 season four days before the 2013 training camp. Wesley recommended bringing back Steve Mills, citing stronger connections.
Grunwald did a fine job as GM, strengthening the roster around Carmelo Anthony with savvy veterans and three-point shooters. The rumor at the time (which still might be true) was that Grunwald was against the Knicks’ disastrous efforts to trade for CAA client Andrea Bargnani in the summer of 2013, and he was replaced by Mills soon after. Berman doesn’t mention the Bargs trade, but he does confirm that Wesley pushed for Grunwald to be replaced by Mills, who had zero experience in basketball operations at the time.

Long story short, we saw how Mills’ “stronger connections” would help the franchise over the next seven years. Mills was fired midway through the 2019-2020 season and replace with Rose, who brought Wesley aboard in an official capacity.

So does this mean the Rose/Wesley partnership is doomed to fail? Not necessarily. Rose has brought on some quality basketball minds since taking the job. Here’s hoping he and Wesley have learned from pass mistakes, and trust those experts.

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Interesting behind the scenes story but didn't Grunwald pull the trigger on the Bargnani trade? I don't believe for one moment that he was against the trade for Bargnani because he drafted him in Toronto. First I've heard that WW was instrumental in getting Mills hired but I'm skeptical of that also since Mills was already a Knicks employee and close to Dolan. I'm sure it was Mills who sold himself to Dolan, not Wes. That said I'm not sold on the value of WW unless he turns out to be a factor in bringing talent to the Knicks.

Maybe it will amount to nothing, but I like our chances in free agent meetings with Rose and WWW a lot more than with Dolan and Mills. Unfortunately, Perry is still around.

tiger0330 said:

Interesting behind the scenes story but didn't Grunwald pull the trigger on the Bargnani trade? I don't believe for one moment that he was against the trade for Bargnani because he drafted him in Toronto. First I've heard that WW was instrumental in getting Mills hired but I'm skeptical of that also since Mills was already a Knicks employee and close to Dolan. I'm sure it was Mills who sold himself to Dolan, not Wes. That said I'm not sold on the value of WW unless he turns out to be a factor in bringing talent to the Knicks.

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You could look at it from another perspective tho, since he drafted AB and was burned once... would he really stake his reputation on the player again? Remember, Afterwards... reports at the time said we wanted Lowry but Dolan got gunshy bc of getting fleeced twice already by MU.

Dolan interjected himself not the Carmelo trade.... so it wouldn?t be outlandish to assume he did so again here?

Still, EG was GM when trade went down.... still, did Dolan call Mills and run trade by him and ignore advice of his GM? Mills was out of sports when Dolan hires him to return.


Agents, execs rip Knicks for ?absurd? firing of GM
By Marc Berman September 27, 2013 | 8:39pm

Rick Kaplan, the agent for Marcus Camby, pounded the Knicks for their handling of former general manager Glen Grunwald, stripped of his duties four days before training camp.

The Knicks have brought back their former executive, Steve Mills, to be their new president/general manager after Grunwald retooled the club all summer. Kaplan goes way back with Grunwald, to when Camby was in Toronto.

?Steve is a great guy, but Glen?s firing is absurd,?? Kaplan stated in a text message Friday morning to The Post. ?He did a great job in a challenging environment. Turns out it was a thankless job.??

Several league executives were genuinely shocked at the timing of the move, as was Carmelo Anthony.

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?I was shocked,?? Anthony said at a promotional event. ?I never heard about it and nobody knew it was coming.??

The Post has learned the Knicks would have made the announcement ?a few days sooner?? if not for Wednesday?s planned NBA press conference in Greenwich Village in which commissioner David Stern announced the All-Star Game was coming to New York in 2015.

Dolan was at the event and both the Knicks and NBA didn?t want the Mills-Grunwald shakeup to upstage the presser, according to sources.

But one NBA GM said Friday: ?If you?re looking for logic within Dolan?s Knicks, you?re looking in the wrong place.??

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Contacted at the NBA offices, Stern defended the Knicks decision, lauding Mills, who worked with Stern in the 1990s. Stern said his inexperience running a club day-to-day is a non-factor because of his past experience as Garden?s sports president where he also oversaw the WNBA?s Liberty.

Dolan is also bringing in Mills to team with assistant GM Allan Houston to oversee a future overhaul that could begin this summer as they prepare for potential cap space in 2015 and make sure they re-sign Carmelo Anthony.

?Over the years, he has developed an enormous network of friends and colleagues of various teams,?? Stern told The Post. ?He?s dealt with a lot of players, a lot of agents. He?s a superior administrator who is going to help the team with its team business operations and I don?t mean just business.??

?The Knicks are doing something specific and Steve fits the bill.?

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Stern declined to comment on his involvement in Mills? hire, citing ?commissioner-owner privilege,?? but acknowledged he knew of the hiring at the press conference. One league source said Dolan got Stern?s endorsement recently.

One league executive questioned Mills? acumen, saying he hasn?t had a full-time job in sports since leaving the Garden, where some questioned his handling of the Anucha Browne Sanders situation before she filed a sexual-harassment lawsuit.

Adrian Wojnarowski
@wojespn
Tom Thibodeau ? the leading candidate for the New York Knicks coaching job ? had his formal interview with the organization today, sources tell ESPN


According to Marc Berman, the Knicks have already conducted interviews with Kidd, Ime Udoka, Will Hardy and Jamahl Mosely.

The New York Knicks interviewed Mike Woodson on Friday, sources told Ian Begley of SNY.

It was Woodson's second interview with the team.

The Knicks are on their second round of interviews with candidates. It is unclear if there will be a third round.

The Knicks are expected to name a head coach by July 31st.

No mention of Kenny being interviewed yet when you would think he would be one of the first, maybe Kenny is not interested in the Knicks job.

tiger0330 said:

No mention of Kenny being interviewed yet when you would think he would be one of the first, maybe Kenny is not interested in the Knicks job.

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Good article posted over on posting and toasting dot com... about how player development Kenny should be the choice...

Remember, the man behind Linsanity... while he was an asst coach here under D?Antoni...

?Linsanity likely never occurs without Kenny Atkinson. In truth, Lin might not have had a place in the NBA at all without him. ?I was literally the 15th guy,? Lin said,

?Everyone knew I was going to get cut. I knew I was going to get cut. And [Atkinson] was still pouring everything into me like I was his star player.?

After six starts in which he averaged 24.3 points and 9.5 assists per game, Lin said, ?I can?t say enough about that guy ... I mean this guy wakes up at 6 a.m. every morning, I?ll text after a game at midnight, 1 o?clock when I go home and I?ll say, ?Hey can I look at those turnovers. Can I look at the upcoming team? How they run pick and rolls?? And he?ll have the film ready when I walk into the facility the next morning.??

Both at the beginning and tail-end of his NBA career, Lin played by far his most efficient and effective basketball under Atkinson, averaging 14.6 points per game, 5.1 assists per game, and 3.6 rebounds per game in just 24.5 mpg on 44% shooting from the field, 37% from three, and 83% on free throws, with a true shooting percentage of 57 in his time with Brooklyn.?

mafra said:

Good article posted over on posting and toasting dot com... about how player development Kenny should be the choice...

Remember, the man behind Linsanity... while he was an asst coach here under D’Antoni...

“Linsanity likely never occurs without Kenny Atkinson. In truth, Lin might not have had a place in the NBA at all without him. “I was literally the 15th guy,” Lin said,

“Everyone knew I was going to get cut. I knew I was going to get cut. And [Atkinson] was still pouring everything into me like I was his star player.”

After six starts in which he averaged 24.3 points and 9.5 assists per game, Lin said, “I can’t say enough about that guy ... I mean this guy wakes up at 6 a.m. every morning, I’ll text after a game at midnight, 1 o’clock when I go home and I’ll say, ‘Hey can I look at those turnovers. Can I look at the upcoming team? How they run pick and rolls?’ And he’ll have the film ready when I walk into the facility the next morning.’”

Both at the beginning and tail-end of his NBA career, Lin played by far his most efficient and effective basketball under Atkinson, averaging 14.6 points per game, 5.1 assists per game, and 3.6 rebounds per game in just 24.5 mpg on 44% shooting from the field, 37% from three, and 83% on free throws, with a true shooting percentage of 57 in his time with Brooklyn.”

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Thibs is no slouch when it comes to player development, saw him completely transform Yao Mings game from his rookie year to him becoming a dominant low post center. A mystery why Kenny hasn’t interviewed yet, he seems a natural fit for the job. Surprised he hasn’t interviewed yet, I’m going to ask the guy that covers the Knicks for The Athletic if he’s heard anything.