Worst Drafting Staff of All-Time Past Two Years. They've Been Nothing More Than A Complete Joke
Donnie Walsh met with his entire U.S.-based scouting department Wednesday to discuss the future and perhaps one glaring mistake from the not-so-distant past."I'm pretty sure the name Darren Collison will come up," said one team official.
The decision to pass on Collison in June's draft has backfired for the Knicks, and Walsh has not been shy about assigning blame to members of his scouting department, many of whom are holdovers from the Isiah Thomas administration.
"I couldn't get a feel for his game," Walsh said of Collison. "One scout said he thought Darren Collison was very capable. I said, 'If he's starter material you should come in my door every five minutes and tell me.'"
Collison, who played a UCLA last season, was selected 21rst by New Orleans Hornets and has flourished in his rookie season. Meanwhile, the point guard-starved Knicks used the eighth pick on power forward Jordan Hill who was traded along with multiple picks to the Rockets
As the Knicks president, Walsh is ultimately responsible for the pick and yet he continues to hint that part of the problem lies within the scouting department he inherited. Mark Hughes, Rodney Heard, Walker D. Russell and Steve Yoder were all hired by Thomas. Russell, in fact, was believed to be one of Collison's voucher of support.
Dick and Scott McGuire are the longest-tenured scouts going back to the '90s. Walsh's hires were Ben Jobe, John Gabriel and Misho Ostarcevic, who runs the department. Walsh reportedly has been interested in hiring Chris Mullin, Billy King or Billy Knight as GM, but it is believed that Garden chairman James Dolan doesn't want to add front-office staff. According to a source, Dolan vetoed Walsh's plans to bring in George Felton as a scout last summer.
In a recent interview with SI.com, Walsh hinted that ownership wouldn't allow him to revamp the front office.
"I could have hired some amazing people," Walsh told SI.com. "But there are some things you can't ask the owner to do, and that's eat some of these (front-office and scouting department) numbers."
That Dolan would be loyal toward Thomas' hires is not surprising. Dolan continues to maintain a relationship with Thomas, the former Knicks coach and president who is now coaching Florida International University. Dolan dined with Thomas and invited him to be his guest for the Knicks' season opener in Miami on Oct. 28.
When Walsh was hired to run the Knicks, it was Dolan who insisted that Thomas have a role in the organization. Thomas was eventually reassigned to a consulting position, and according to a team source, had Thomas not accepted the FIU job he would have remained employed by the Knicks.
Judging from his recent comments, Walsh doesn't sound thrilled about having to retain all of Thomas' hires. But he may not have a choice.
Thomas and his staff are responsible for drafting Trevor Ariza, David Lee and Wilson Chandler. And it appears that some of those same scouts threw Darren Collison's name out there to see if he'd stick.
Perhaps they could have pushed harder or maybe they didn't want to step on anyone's toes.
"It's kind of like what I'm hearing with the players: They don't think they're going to be here, so they don't want to play hard," Walsh told SI.com. "I'm like, 'What are you talking about?' They've got to play hard, and I haven't said I wouldn't take them back (as free agents), because if they're good enough, that would be one of my options. So that doesn't compute to me, the same way if you've got scouts working for you - they work for the New York Knicks."
). I tell ya though, with Donnie knowing damn well he had sup-par eyes for talent on that staff, you would think both he and MDA would've worked overtime during the off-season going to look at prospects THEMSELVES and IN PERSON. And damn Dolan for not letting Walsh go all the way when it came to cleaning house...
