NYTimes: Knicks add top executive

ijag23 · Post #1 » by **ijag23** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:05 am

John Gabriel, a former N.B.A. executive of the year with the Orlando Magic, has joined the Knicks’ revamped front office and will assume a key role in rebuilding the roster after seven straight losing seasons.

Donnie Walsh, the team president, appointed Gabriel as the director of pro scouting and free agency, a newly created position. Gabriel’s primary duty will be evaluating current N.B.A. players, with an eye toward future trades and free-agent signings.

After being fired in March 2004, Gabriel joined the front-office staff of the Portland Trail Blazers, who have undergone a transformation that the Knicks surely hope to emulate. Once saddled with a bloated payroll and a roster of bad actors, the Blazers are now one of the most promising young teams.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/sport ... basketball

livintoolive · Post #2 » by **livintoolive** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:12 am

ijag23 wrote:
John Gabriel, a former N.B.A. executive of the year with the Orlando Magic, has joined the Knicks’ revamped front office and will assume a key role in rebuilding the roster after seven straight losing seasons.

Donnie Walsh, the team president, appointed Gabriel as the director of pro scouting and free agency, a newly created position. Gabriel’s primary duty will be evaluating current N.B.A. players, with an eye toward future trades and free-agent signings.

After being fired in March 2004, Gabriel joined the front-office staff of the Portland Trail Blazers, who have undergone a transformation that the Knicks surely hope to emulate. Once saddled with a bloated payroll and a roster of bad actors, the Blazers are now one of the most promising young teams.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/sport ... basketball

I love this move.

drj · Post #3 » by **drj** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:16 am

John Gabriel, interesting move.
Maybe Donnie just thought he was the best guy out there.
But -- just maybe -- it signals that we are aiming for a proper rebuild.
If so, hallelujah! Better a decade late than never.

BLACKFEET · Post #4 » by **BLACKFEET** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:18 am

this is like a big deal right?
suprised im not hearing more about this......

Post #5 » by **Deeeez Knicks** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:20 am

me likey

adjacent2bench · Post #6 » by **adjacent2bench** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:24 am

This move is huge. Not only will he help Donnie with future signings, trades, etc, he may also take over the reigns when Gramps retires.

If we had a guy like this with Isiah, and if Isiah's head wasn't so big, we probably wouldn't have half the players we have now on our roster. Isiah probably just looked at stats and said 'Oh lets get this guy, let's get that guy.'

Good move Donnie.

blueNorange · Post #7 » by **blueNorange** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:32 am

according to some reports john gabriel yelled out "i have to deal with this clown again" when he saw zach randolph's name on the current roster.

NYKBaller · Post #8 » by **NYKBaller** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:41 am

lol, good hire

VinnyTheMick · Post #9 » by **VinnyTheMick** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:42 am

blueNorange wrote:according to some reports john gabriel yelled out "i have to deal with this clown again" when he saw zach randolph's name on the current roster.

I heard it & I'm in DC.

livintoolive · Post #10 » by **livintoolive** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:48 am

blueNorange wrote:according to some reports john gabriel yelled out "i have to deal with this clown again" when he saw zach randolph's name on the current roster.

If he can finagle another max expiring for Zach, he deserves EOY

cgf · Post #11 » by **cgf** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:04 am

Good to hear our new Gm is surrounding himself with smart and talented people. Now let's wait and see what this guy does for the knicks.

Post #12 » by **j4remi** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:06 am

adjacent2bench wrote:This move is huge. Not only will he help Donnie with future signings, trades, etc, he may also take over the reigns when Gramps retires.

If we had a guy like this with Isiah, and if Isiah's head wasn't so big, we probably wouldn't have half the players we have now on our roster. Isiah probably just looked at stats and said 'Oh lets get this guy, let's get that guy.'

Good move Donnie.

Co-sign, this guy is more then likely our future GM.

ChickenPox · Post #13 » by **ChickenPox** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:06 am

Get Zach off the roster!

TKF · Post #14 » by **TKF** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:11 am

nice move, I like gabriel .. good acquisition..

BLACKFEET · Post #15 » by **BLACKFEET** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:45 am

question......is he the guy that gave zach his contract?

aq_ua · Post #16 » by **aq_ua** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:47 am

If you look at Gabriel's track record, he comes across as a roster salary reduction specialist, starting with Orlando (resulting in the Grant Hill/McGrady signings) and then taking Portland from a overpaid bunch of veterans down to its current state of young talent. I don't think it's any coincidence his contract is 3 years, and that's our rebuilding horizon. Here's to hoping he can find a way to take us down a similar and successful path.

Clyde2 · Post #17 » by **Clyde2** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:01 am

cgf wrote:Good to hear our new Gm is surrounding himself with smart and talented people. Now let's wait and see what this guy does for the knicks.

Very good move by Walsh

NYStateofMind · Post #18 » by **NYStateofMind** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:07 am

Wow, this is a pretty big move. And a great one at that. It's always good to see the head honcho bringing in specialists to aid in the grand scheme. It shows that Donnie's not arrogant and he knows he can't do this all on his own. The more viewpoints on how to go about rebuilding, the easier it is to come to a centralized and well thought out conclusion. I'm surprised this isn't getting more attention.

HarpStarkOakEw · Post #19 » by **HarpStarkOakEw** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:19 pm

Wow yea this speaks wonders for walsh and to a certain extent antoni. When people were talking about rebuilding everyone knew it had to be from the top down and that is exactly what we are doing. If you dont want holes in your roster you cant have holes in the front office. We are stacked! The front office is full of intelligent and experienced guys who get it done. I hate to bring up isiah but think about it. We replaced Isiah (coach, gm, president etc etc) with Walsh, Gabriel and antoni. LOL its almost comical because each is far superior to isiah by themselves.

kosmovitelli · Post #20 » by **kosmovitelli** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 1:23 pm

Donnie Walsh, the team president, appointed Gabriel as the director of pro scouting and free agency, a newly created position. Gabriel’s primary duty will be evaluating current N.B.A. players, with an eye toward future trades and free-agent signings.

Excellent move. When it comes to strategy and rebuilding a roster, John Gabriel is a good fit and an excellent executive but I certainly don't want him to be our next GM !

Jimly Dolan has never promoted an executive from within anyway. Wether it was Layden, Thomas or Walsh, they were all coming from elsewhere while the likes of Ed Tapscott, Jeff Nix or Glen Grunwald were waiting to be promoted inside the organization.

I like this hiring. Donnie Walsh seems to be the opposite of Isiah Thomas.
Isiah used to surround himself with friends, puppets and yes men, people that could never steal his job while Donnie's not afraid to surround himself with the best executives available on the market.
It makes quite a big difference. When you're surrounded by so many great basketball executives you're less likely to make an ill-advised decision.

I'm not surprised. Donnie has 25+ years of experience as GM, he knows what it takes to build a succesful team.

As I said a zillion times here in the past, rebuilding starts at the top and I'm glad we have a man in charge who acknowledged that.