Faith in Mills because for the most part once he was put in charge he has taken the best of what Phil was doing and has purified the process. Before you get “Results” there has to be a process. IF Dolan was playing chess he was too focused on short term moves. MIlls seems to understand you can get a star but then not enough talent won’t support a good run. Get AD would have been similar. His biggest blunder was THjr and really it was minor. He had to get someone to play with KP. At 18mm, it really was not terrible. If he is healthy and with talent we might see what Mills was thinking. After that he hired Perry right away.
Mills is doing what most good GM’s do but each team has its own circumstances. Marks in Brooklyn needed two years to get here. He had a good trade chip in BroPez and did well with Russell. And he hired a young first time coach.
They sucked for two years. Season three they made the playoffs. Is that the new model? If so, Fiz has two more seasons.
As for Mills as president of MSG he was not involved in any basketball related decisions while Isiah and Dolan put what was the most epic disaster of pro sports history given the deviance of cap to the mean and 23 wins produced all burning two top 5 lottery picks. The depths of this organization was pathetic! Amare then Melo was short sighted sugar rush. Bloody awful Dolan moves. Can’t blame Walsh. Mills was gone.
Dolan does the right thing to hire MIlls (well respected and was about to be hired by NBA corporate or head up league union but starphuching Phil diluted his ability.
IF Mills came from Spurs or any franchise doing well he’d have more cred. Thats understandable.
Sam Presti came from the Spurs and then dismantled the Sonics to get more picks. Had a base of in prime Ray Allen and Rashad Lewis to make deals and create cap space while reducing payroll. They basically tore it down, sucked and build thru the draft as the team was sold and then moved. There were lean years. Mills and Perry are doing this. Knicks were deprived of picks which is why Phil attempted to tread water with Rose and NOah with Melo. So when PHil was made gone our main piece was KP who Phil wanted to trade.
My point is not so much Mills but the condition by which he finally inherited full control fo the team. This is why when you look at the hierarchy of his previous employment here and his role under Phil you get better sense that blame is not solely on him being inept.
Seemingly the plan to open a path for Durant was hailed as excellent. Fate of injury to that plan was cruel. It derailed other teams. Sometimes the path comes to fruition. You have to commit to the plan first. The decisiveness of trading KP was excellent but really we don’t know the results. You can only look at the moment it was done and all the facts at that time. Hindsight will tell a different story perhaps. KP fulfills a HOF career and we falter it will look bad. KP gets max money then seemingly is never healthy until he is forced to retire, becomes a drug king pin in a third world country and dropped from a helicopter for his arrogance by Janis who is the real “Brains” of the organization........well then we can lay praise on what a good trade it was!!!!
I like what the knicks are doing. As for Sam Presti, has his cred been tarnished? He drafted three MVP’s who could not co-exist and kept one. Harden was traded for far less than what he turned into and KP walked out with no compensation. The lone player he kept, a MVP double triple what ever machine does not make others better. He now has to dump Steve Adams to keep them from tax hell and the fracking profits of OKC are dwindling. OKC had the best base of talent. Shyt happens. Presti the genius fell like many other good ones to law of averages. This shyt is hard and after a few great wins he missed on a few.
Which Presti do you want? Circumstances play a huge role. Consider them before you lay blame or praise.
