Mills: Dolan Wants Us To Be Patient With Knicks' Rebuild

[taj2133]

Knicks president Steve Mills says that owner James Dolan is on board with taking a patient approach with the team's rebuild : "Jim has given us the room to be patient which, again, is not something that's been common in this organization. Patience hasn't been one of our biggest attributes here ….I don't have any doubt that he's comfortable with the plan we're on and (that he) wants us to be patient and not do things that are just you know for the quick hit," Mills said last week. My take: this is probably encouraging for Knicks fans to hear but actions will speak louder than words here.
http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-0777538606695715233-4

[Oscirus]

and I want Dolan to stop star ****/ hiring yes men in important positions. Looks like nobody's going to get what they want.

[The_Special_One]

Plot twist: Delvec is James Dolan

[EchelonNYK]

Everyone has their own vision for this team. Owner, Management, Coaches and Players. Pretty sad.

[WajaBawl]

You preach patience Steve but consistently tried to make the playoffs the first year of a rebuilding phase, and managed to screw up our draft position wonderfully. You talk the talk but I ain't seen s*** that indicates that we are 100% committed to rebuilding this team. Watch them draft Trae Young and throw Franks development out the window.

[Red Vines]

Just talk. Nobody knows what the "right way" is besides don't give out huge contracts or give up your draft picks. They seem to conveniently ignore the contract they already gave Tim...

[Dr. Detfink]

Yeah, let's take a look at this "patient" approach.

Pay millions for a billboard begging Lebron to come to the Knicks. That's money right out the window that could have gone to the workers at MSG.

The ONLY good thing is that Mills was so foolish to overpay for Tim Hardaway Jr, the Knicks are essentially the SAME team next season. NO cap space.

Kanter, Noah, and Hardaway Jr = $53M in guaranteed salary against the cap in 2018-19. That's the top salary earners.

But it gets BETTER. The Knicks sign guys like Lee, O'Quinn, and Burke...who will make the rebuild even looooonger because the Knicks won't have the odds to draft a franchise guy.

The Knicks shoot themselves in the foot (again).

[Deeeez Knicks]

If this was true we would be putting together a plan to properly tank.

Most likely they don't know what they are doing and calling for patience just to buy time.

It's sad. Whether they try to sell us on win now or rebuild, it seems to be the same kind of crappy team with bad contracts that they piece together that win around the same amount of games. At least we have our picks.

[DaGawd]

Yeah something aint adding up with the quotes and what I saw take place this past off season/season

[EchelonNYK]

You preach patience Steve but consistently tried to make the playoffs the first year of a rebuilding phase, and managed to screw up our draft position wonderfully. You talk the talk but I ain't seen s*** that indicates that we are 100% committed to rebuilding this team. Watch them draft Trae Young and throw Franks development out the window.

Is Frank buried on the bench? The last time i checked he wasn't. It's up to Frank to develop and get better. Not the coaches or management. I don't hear anyone getting credited for "developing" KP. You know why, because he did it all by himself in the off seasons. Frank got plenty exposure to NBA life. it's now up to him to take what he learned and improve.

[MP4LIFE]

Steve Mills said it, so it must be true.

[GONYK]

I don't follow the argument that Mills and Perry made "win-now" moves this season.

[NBA Fan 1234]

Pay millions for a billboard begging Lebron to come to the Knicks. That's money right out the window that could have gone to the workers at MSG.

...? The billboard was not paid for by MSG.



I also think the moves they made did not scream win now.

[Meat]

Everyone has their own vision for this team. Owner, Management, Coaches and Players. Pretty sad.

what? players and coaches always try to win, its management\ownership that tank

[Dr. Detfink]

...? The billboard was not paid for by MSG.



I also think the moves they made did not scream win now.

I don't believe that. MSG is VERY protective of the Knick branding from the colors used. Also to allow that billboard to be hung so close by after the Brooklyn ad. Someone who is a sponsor of MSG was allowed and paid to have that hung.

[GONYK]

...? The billboard was not paid for by MSG.



I also think the moves they made did not scream win now.

I don't believe that. MSG is VERY protective of the Knick branding from the colors used. Also to allow that billboard to be hung so close by after the Brooklyn ad. Someone who is a sponsor of MSG was allowed and paid to have that hung.

There were whole subway cars branded with Knicks colors, logos, and players that MSG had nothing to do with.

[thebuzzardman]

Pay millions for a billboard begging Lebron to come to the Knicks. That's money right out the window that could have gone to the workers at MSG.

...? The billboard was not paid for by MSG.



I also think the moves they made did not scream win now.

It's a little odd, and of course people are wary because Dolan and the Knicks, but Knicks have been pretty consistent with the message so far. And this is coming from someone who was pissed pretty often about young players playing time.

Said upfront a year ago that it's a rebuild, will take 3-5 years, that they'd try to win, but it's going to take time. Which is pretty much how they conducted themselves. Want to develop a culture and a program, won't happen overnight.

So far, they are still saying it, and that they are looking for a coach who will be in sync with management and into development. Dolan's a jerk but so far it's still true.

Good news/bad news with Mills: Bad news is Dolan seems to trust Mills more than anyone else and Mills has been part of suspect stuff. On the plus side, if a light has gone on for Mills now that he's "The Man", Dolan seems to buy what he's selling.
Maybe it'll work out.

[R-DAWG]

You preach patience Steve but consistently tried to make the playoffs the first year of a rebuilding phase, and managed to screw up our draft position wonderfully. You talk the talk but I ain't seen s*** that indicates that we are 100% committed to rebuilding this team. Watch them draft Trae Young and throw Franks development out the window.

One of the problems we are going to face is that KP is too good of a player right now for us to bottom out, but not good enough to carry us deep into the playoffs (IMO, we would have finished right behind WAS if KP didn't go down). In some ways, the KP injury was a blessing because it kept our pick this year in the top 10, and likely puts us at the bottom of the barrel in terms of the tank race next season. Then, you roll into 2019-2020, although likely not a free agent destination, with KP, Frank, the 2018 1st - likely #9 and the 2019 1st - hopefully top 5. Noah's in the final year of his deal and Hardaway has only 1 year left. The hope is that 1 of either the 18 1st, 19 1st or Frank becomes an 2nd star to team with KP, the team is smart about long term contracts, and then you attractive to free agents in 3-5 years, when KP will be 25-27 and likely at his peak.

But then again, this organization has never done anything, with the exception of the Walsh years, to show there is a plan in place. I think most of us are in agreement that Mills isn't the right man for the job of leading the organization. His two biggest moves have been hiring Isiah Thomas and overpaying Tim Hardaway Jr.

[Jay10]

*wonders if people realize Ian Begley is taking quotes from last Friday's press conference, which can be found in its totality on the MSG website*

[R-DAWG]

I don't follow the argument that Mills and Perry made "win-now" moves this season.

Paying a premium for Tim Hardaway Jr could be described as a win now move. At age 25 and after 4 years in the league, we pretty much know what Tim Hardaway is, a solid 3rd guard off the bench who can score, but not really efficiently, and play 2 positions. A rebuilding team doesn't tie up that much cap space on that kind of player, rather, they eat the Mozgov deal to take on D'Angelo Russell, who has only been in the league for 2 years and is only 21 years old. Ultimately, Hardaway probably helped the Knicks win 3-5 more games this year, which is the difference between being 5th in the lottery and 9th in the lottery. And the though was probably, were competing for the 8th seed with KP maybe THJ puts us over the top there.