The Knicks are a .500 team. Leon Rose can make a birthday bow when the team president approaches. But Scott Perry could also earn credit, if he were here.
One of the perks of attending games at the Garden in person and not watching TV is having a view of the Knicks executives ’assistants.
With fans now in the building and making another Saturday, President Rose and his cabinet members have moved from the celebrity line to the baseline.
On Saturday, they watched their club jump to 17-17 with a 110-107 win over the Pacers, a 16-point comeback to end a delightful 3-1 local streak.
“It was fun, but we just deleted it,” coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Perry, the Knicks ’general manager, has not been seen during all four games. The seat table: Rose, executive vice president and senior advisor William Wesley, strategy director Brock Aller and vice president of leadership and player development Allan Houston.
It was said that Perry, in the final year of his contract, was on a League G exploration mission. But in the days leading up to the rose, Perry never missed a game, either at home or away. .
Even if Perry is not present, he begins to earn credit for the relevance of the Knicks.
In fact, Rose was given a better hand than might be expected when she took office on Monday a year ago. Usually, when a president is fired – as Steve Mills was 12 months ago – it is because the present is gloomy and the future darker.
But Mills and Perry, who stayed, gave Rose plenty of ammunition to move the project forward.
In her tenure so far, Rose has not attracted a free agent star from her vast connection. Nor has he performed a box office operation for a bolt. The free agency was quiet.
Rose explored Julius Randle’s move during the long low season to improve with a star-level player. Instead, Randle became that star. He has had 34 fantastic first games and on Saturday he beat Domantas Sabonis.
Rose did the right thing by not negotiating Randle. Randle, first named an All-Star last week, is a future piece to build. On Saturday night, he added 28 more points, 10 rebounds, six assists and several loud “MVP” chants that are becoming routine.
RJ Barrett, for whom Perry clung to his guns to sign up for No. 3 in 2019, helped Randle with 24 points, even listening to his first “MVP” songs. “For 2,000 people, they’re very strong,” Barrett said.
Rose believed he was a national team player who would soon replace Randle as a starter when he used his 2020 lottery selection for striker Obi Toppin, rather than a much-needed defensive point.
Toppin’s new year can be summed up this way: he’s a good dunker, good enough to earn an appearance in the Slam Dunk competition. But this is where it ends. Toppin, who has not been as productive as expected, will not be named on the Rising Stars Challenge list.
Toppin even hit the bench on Saturday for Kevin Knox as a small ball striker in the first half after Taj Gibson sprained his ankle. Toppin played just six minutes.
Rookie keeper Tyrese Haliburton, caught in 12th place and brilliant with the Kings, was not up to Rose’s table when he chose Toppin.
Fortunately, Rose got another crack at the 2020 draft because Perry had replaced Marcus Morris 12 months ago at the Clippers for a first-round pick. To his credit, Rose had ample information from Kentucky to make him comfortable catching Immanuel Quickley, when most teams made him go down.
The hiring of Kentucky assistant Kenny Payne proved valuable. Rose and Wesley, widely known for being well connected with John Calipari and his show, deserve congratulations on the Quickley selection.
But the best move Rose made, due to past connections, was to attract Thibodeau as coach in late July. Yes, Rose was lucky on that front because of the way Commissioner Adam Silver built the restart of the season in the bubble, picking 22 of 30 teams. The Knicks were the ones left out.
Several coaching vacancies appeared after teams were eliminated in late August. However, when the Knicks conducted their long search, they had no competition.
Sources indicated at the time that Thibodeau preferred to have options. We’ll never know if he would have taken the Knicks ’offer above that of another team. Thibodeau decided not to wait for another job because of his confidence in Rose.
Thibodeau’s defense is the best ranked and the Knicks do it all, mostly with Mills and Perry players. Training and culture do make a difference.
One of Rose’s few additions was the Derrick Rose trade, but the president complied with his coach’s wishes. In a big state, the percentage of Thibodeau winners with Rose on the list is 63 percent. Without Rose, it’s 46 percent. Rose got four robberies on Saturday.
An NBA source said of the new administration’s decision-making: “In the end, it’s about what Thibs wants.”
Knicks fans are delighted with the progress with the bar so low. The 6,000 fans who have gone through the Garden turnstiles in the first three games allowed by the people have been boisterous.
Fans like this team. They like this coach. And they like a shallow Eastern conference. The Knicks are tied for fourth with the Raptors.
Leon Rose has been the loud, quiet guy so far. He has not addressed the media for seven months. Nearing his one-year birthday, Lucky Leon has left because his Knicks talk on the court.