The Knicks are a .500 team. Leon Rose may bow as his anniversary as team president approaches. But Scott Perry can also get some honor if he was here.
One of the benefits of attending games at the Garden in person and not watching television is getting a glimpse of the Knicks’ drivers.
As fans are now in the building and making a stir again on Saturday, President Rose and his cabinet members have moved from celebrities to behind the baseline.
On Saturday, they watched their club jump to 17-17 with a grim 110-107 victory over the Pacers – a return of 16 points to clinch a delightful 3-1 home game.
“It was funky, but we just scratched it out,” coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Perry, the general manager of the Knicks, has not yet been seen during the four-game home field. The sit-down card: Rose, executive VP and senior adviser William Wesley, strategy director Brock Aller and VP of player leadership and development Allan Houston.
Perry was on a G-league reconnaissance mission in the final year of his contract. But in the pre-Rose days, Perry never missed a game – at home or away.
Even though Perry is not there, he starts getting credit for the Knicks’ interest.
Indeed, Rose was given a better hand than might have been expected when he took over for a year on Monday. Usually when a president is fired – as Steve Mills was 12 months ago – it’s because the present is dark and the future is darker.
But Mills and Perry, who remain, gave Rose plenty of ammunition to get the project moving forward.
In his tenure so far, Rose has yet to attract a leading free agent from his big commitment. Nor did he set up a stud. The free agency was silent.
During the long season, Rose investigated the move of Julius Randle to upgrade with a star-level player. Instead, Randle became that star. He had a tremendous first 34 games, and on Saturday he surpassed Domantas Sabonis.
Rose did the right thing not to trade Randle. Randle was named an All-Star for the first time last week, and is a future piece to build around. On Saturday night, he moved up another 28 points, 10 rebounds, six assistants and some loud “MVP” songs that become routine.
RJ Barrett, for whom Perry in 2019 at no. 3 stood on the point, Randle helped with 24 points and even heard his first “MVP” songs. “For 2,000 people, they’re very hard,” Barrett said.
Rose thought he was drafting a player who would soon replace Randle as an appetizer when he used his lottery in 2020 on power forward Obi Toppin, instead of a much-needed point guard.
Toppin’s rookie year can be summed up this way: he’s a good dunker, good enough to earn a Slam Dunk competition. But this is where it ends. Toppin, who has not been nearly as productive as expected, will not be named in the Rising Stars Challenge list.
Toppin even put Kevin Knox as the small ball power forward in the first half on Saturday after Taj Gibson sprained his ankle. Toppin only played six minutes.
Rookie point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who was in 12th place and shone with the Kings, was not high on Rose’s board when he selected Toppin.
Fortunately, Rose got another hit in the 2020 draft, as Perry swapped Marcus Morris to the Clippers for a late pick in the first round 12 months ago. To his credit, Rose had a large Kentucky business to comfortably grab him for Immanuel Quickley, when most teams made him turn lower.
Hiring Kentucky assistant Kenny Payne was valuable. Rose and Wesley, who are widely reported to be well connected to John Calipari and his program, deserve honors for the Quickley selection.
But the best step Rose took, due to earlier commitments, was to lure Thibodeau as coach at the end of July. Yes, Rose had luck up front because of the way Commissioner Adam Silver constructed the restart of the season in the bubble and selected 22 of 30 teams. The Knicks were one of those left out.
A number of vacancies for coaching emerged after teams were eliminated in late August. However, when the Knicks did their long search, they had no competition.
Sources cited at the time preferred Thibodeau to make choices. Whether he would take over the Knicks’ offer over another team we will never know. Thibodeau decided not to wait for another job because of his trust in Rose.
Thibodeau’s defense is on the top rankings and the Knicks do it all with mostly players from Mills and Perry. Coaching and culture do make a difference.
One of Rose’s few additions was a trademark for point guard Derrick Rose, but it was more the president who met his head coach’s wishes. According to Thibodeau, the profit percentage with Rose on the rankings is 63 percent. Without Rose, it’s 46 percent. Rose carved four stems on Saturday.
One NBA source said of the new government’s decision: “At the end of the day, it’s about what Thibs wants.”
Knicks fans are delighted with the progress with the beam being so low. The 6,000 fans who rolled through Garden turnstiles in the first three games allowed by the crowd were noisy.
The fans love this team. They like this coach. And they like an Oriental conference without depth. The Knicks are now tied with the Raptors for fourth place.
Leon Rose has been the strong, quiet type so far. He has not addressed the media for seven months. Nearly his one-year anniversary, Lucky Leon got away with it because she was talking Knicks in court.