Knicks retain GM Scott Perry on one-year contract
Leon Rose, the new president of the New York Knicks, isn’t ready to show general manager Scott Perry the door just yet. Newsday reported on Wednesday that the Knicks have retained Perry on a one-year contract.
The Knicks confirmed Perry’s new contract with a statement from Rose.
“Scott is a well-respected basketball executive who I have known for more than 20 years, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with him as we look to build a winning team in New York," Rose said, via Newsday. Rose was named Knicks president in March after Steve Mills was fired in February.
In normal, non-coronavirus times, this move would be seen as classic Knicks. Instead of cleaning house, something that is badly overdue in the executive ranks, the Knicks are retaining the old GM who continued the team’s slide into irrelevance and embarrassment.
Retaining Perry is still a classic Knicks move, but there’s more to consider right now. The NBA is at a total standstill due to COVID-19, and there’s no telling when — or if — the league will resume play this season. The draft is still scheduled for June 25, but teams have reportedly been calling for commissioner Adam Silver to push it back so it can coincide with the official end of the season (whenever that will be).
Everything that’s happening with the NBA is unprecedented and weird, and bringing in a brand new general manager amid so much uncertainty is like digging a hole with a shovel when there’s a backhoe sitting in your driveway. It would unnecessarily increase the degree of difficulty, and at the worst possible time.
Perry is on a one-year contract, so Rose hasn’t committed the Knicks to multiple years of Perry if things don’t work out in the next year. Perry now has a chance to turn things around with a new president, a chance he may not have had if the NBA wasn’t forced to suspend the season.
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