Steve Mills is the common denominator of Knicks failure
By STEFAN BONDY
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
NOV 11, 2019 | 3:34 PM
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The greatest trick Steve Mills ever pulled was convincing Knicks fans he didn?t exist. For over 15 years, Mills has assumed a top executive role at Madison Square Garden, lording over one of the most dysfunctional and unfathomable situations in sports.
Yet Mills has survived in the shadows, distancing himself from one bad maneuver after another. He was the firestarter promoted to firefighter, equipped only with James Dolan?s trust and buzzwords like ?culture? and ?changing the perception.?
Mills? latest survival tactic was an impromptu press conference on Sunday night, when the Princeton grad declared himself and GM Scott Perry ?not happy with where we are right now. We think the team is not performing to the level that we anticipated or we expected to perform at.?
In other words, Mills believes he did a fine job in free agency (he called it ?successful? before the season) despite striking out on all his top targets. ESPN reported Monday that Mills has been laying the groundwork for the ?eventual dismissal? of Fizdale. That would represent the fifth coach fired with Mills as either GM or team president.
He?s great at finding fall guys.
?I got a two-and-a-half year contract,? Fizdale responded Monday when asked if he?s received any assurances concerning his job. ?That?s my assurance. That?s my business. The assurance is that I have a contract.?
Mills declined comment Monday.
To be clear, Fizdale has done a poor job as Knicks coach and deserves criticism for, among other things, failing to establish an identity. But firing the coach would be a band-aid on a bazooka wound. Fizdale isn?t the root of the problem.
There are precisely zero other NBA teams that would hire Mills to be its president of basketball operations. His work as an executive and talent evaluator would make David Kahn cringe.
Among Mills? first important decisions as an MSG business executive was hiring Isiah Thomas to run the Knicks. Great instincts. Mills then served as Anucha Browne Sanders? direct supervisor while she was allegedly being sexually harassed by Thomas. Browne Sanders testified that her pleas to Mills to interfere were largely ignored, and Mills once responded to complaints by telling her to ?be prepared that Isiah is going to start a rumor about you having an affair with (Knicks employee) Jeff Nix. ?I said, ?Steve, is that a threat?,?? according to Browne Sanders? testimony.
Mills denied this happened in court. Madison Square Garden was found liable for $11.6 million in damages.
Mills left MSG not long after that trial to work with Magic Johnson, and the Knicks enjoyed their best stretch of the millennium. They even won a playoff series. But then Dolan summoned Mills to replace GM Glen Grunwald and an avalanche of losing commenced. At the time of his return, Mills had no experience on the basketball operations side of an NBA team. But he has been either the GM or president for the last six years with a record of 165-337.
Mills likes to distance himself from Phil Jackson, which is indicative of a pervasive philosophy at MSG: pass the blame and survive. But the fact remains he was Jackson?s general manager. And when Lakers owner Jeanie Buss implied that Jackson was betrayed in New York, it was widely assumed she was talking about Mills as the Benedict Arnold.
?(Jackson) should?ve made sure (to control) who was surrounding him, because the people close to you will take the knife and put it in your back,? Buss told The Athletic.
After usurping Jackson, Mills? first two moves were signing Tim Hardaway Jr. for $71 million and Ron Baker for $9 million. Great instincts.
Baker is out of the NBA. Hardaway?s fate underscores the ineptitude: the contract became a predictable hindrance, so Mills used the best player on the roster ? Kristaps Porzingis ? as a means of shedding Hardaway. The goal of that trade was to create cap space to sign two players, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, who instead joined the crosstown rival.
Mills fancies himself a player whisperer and relationship guru but couldn?t repair a partnership with Porzingis. Mills once lauded his ?hectic texting relationship? with the Latvian, and now it?s easy to believe the frenzied typing was all coming from one side.
After failing with Porzingis, Irving and Durant, Mills stocked the roster with high-priced role players that he expects Fizdale to mold into something much greater. Mills had $70 million in cap space as the president of a marquee franchise, and his concoction has a combined zero All-Star appearances.
?I think any roster can (rise up),? Fizdale said.
For six straight years of playoff-less basketball, the Knicks have only fallen. That predates Fizdale, Jeff Hornacek, Kurt Rambis and Derek Fisher.
Mills is the constant.