[The Athletic] - Judging Scott Perry's Draft Record

[GONYK]

Relevant excerpt

Since taking over, Perry and Mills have been consistent in their declaring that the mistakes and shortcuts which have consistently hurt the team will not be repeated on Perry’s watch. And to this point, they’ve mostly held true.

The question then becomes whether Perry actually has the acumen to wisely exercise the franchise’s picks and otherwise find players that superstars would want to play with. An inspection of his front-office history provides some insight, although it’s usually difficult to pin a prospect on a single member of a front office. Still, when an executive serves in a number of roles across front offices, which Perry has, one can take a holistic look at the decisions made by the franchises that employed them and attempt to determine whether good things happened.

Prior to taking over in New York, Perry’s career as an NBA executive most notably included stops in Detroit, where he spent 11 years, and Orlando, where he spent five. He also spent one season with the Oklahoma City Thunder and three months with the Sacramento Kings in 2017, essentially being a part of the front office during the April-July drafting and free agency processes.

During Perry’s time in Detroit, he worked under Joe Dumars, rising from the ranks of collegiate scout to eventually becoming vice president of basketball operations, and the front office consistently drafted competent rotation players, but never a perennial All-Star. Relative to where they were selected, Mehmet Okur (38th overall, 2001), Tayshaun Prince (23rd overall, 2002), Amir Johnson (56th overall, 2005) and Arron Afflalo (27th overall, 2007) were among the greatest hits.

Opting for Darko Milicic with the second overall pick in the loaded 2003 NBA Draft, by far, was the worst miss.

Carlos Delfino, Jason Maxiell and Rodney Stuckey were also drafted during Perry’s time in Detroit, and considering the fact that the team only exercised a pick in the top 10 twice from 2000-07, it’s difficult to argue that the front office did a good job of finding competent pieces relative to where they selected.

Perry then spent one season in Seattle as the team’s assistant general manager and worked for the front office that drafted Kevin Durant. He then received an offer to return to Detroit, which he accepted. While in Detroit from 2008-12, the Pistons exercised a top-10 pick three times, selecting Greg Monroe (seventh overall, 2010), Brandon Knight (eighth overall, 2011) and Andre Drummond (ninth overall, 2012).

With respect to high-value second round picks, during Perry’s second stint in Detroit, the team selected Jonas Jerebko and Khris Middleton, each with the 39th pick in 2009 and 2012, respectively.

Departing Detroit for Orlando, Perry would next spend five years with the Magic, spanning 2012-17. Unlike the Pistons, the Magic were very much a team that was rebuilding, and for each of Perry’s five seasons there, they were in the lottery.

Victor Oladipo (second overall, 2013), Aaron Gordon (fourth overall, 2014), Elfrid Payton (10th, 2014) Mario Hezonja (fifth overall, 2015) and Domantas Sabonis (11th overall, 2015) were the high lottery picks that the Magic exercised while Perry was employed by the front office. His employment ended with the team just prior to the 2017 NBA Draft, so it’s unclear as to whether he had any influence on the team’s decision to draft Jonathan Isaac sixth overall that year.

Still, after a six-year drought, the Magic returned to the playoffs this past season, but of the aforementioned players, only Gordon and Isaac remained with the team.

Oladipo — who became the best player drafted by Perry’s front office in Orlando — was traded to OKC with Sabonis in exchange for Serge Ibaka. Orlando appears to have lost that trade.

Following his dismissal in Orlando in 2017, Perry enjoyed a short stint of employment with the Sacramento Kings. During his time there, the franchise drafted De’Aaron Fox, who, along with Durant, has made the most immediate impact of all picks.

Over the span of 17 years, though not exhaustive, Perry’s fingerprints are on the selection of these 20 players. Of the group, Durant is obviously the crown jewel, while Fox, Oladipo, Drummond, Middleton and Gordon would each rightly be classified as winning picks, as well.

Putting Durant aside, the other 19 players selected have a combined total of six All-Star appearances — one for Okur and Middleton and two each for Drummond and Oladipo.

In the end, it’s fair to conclude that Perry’s fingerprints are on the drafting of three All-NBA caliber performers in Durant, Oladipo and Fox and three All-Star caliber players in Drummond, Middleton and Gordon. Simply put, teams that build through the draft need higher jackpot ratios than that. The Thunder drafted Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and James Harden in three consecutive drafts while the Philadelphia 76ers drafted Joel Embiid in 2014 and Ben Simmons in 2016. Even the Boston Celtics selected Terry Rozier, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively.

It’s fair to say that, if Perry were a master of scouting, over the course of his 17 years, he would have hit more home runs, and it’s also fair to recognize that his high lottery picks in Orlando have failed to pan out.

He can’t afford the same in New York.

[JXL]

Perry can draft the next Jordan, Olajuwon and Pippen on this team and it wouldn't make a lick of difference. Until Dolan is gone, no legit superstar is coming to MSG.

[shtolky]

Perry's draft record is RJ, Knox, Robinson, Iggy.

You can't put failures (Hezonja, Payton, etc.) up there with successes (Durant, Middleton, Oladipo, Fox, Drummond) because he was only the assistant GM of those teams and it's silly to say that's part of his draft record. If we're going to say that, then his fingerprints are all over the 2004 title team with Detroit, which is again, a bit silly to say since Dumars was the GM.

[seren]

Perry’s draft record matters to the extent that we keep these guys. The Knicks have drafted well even under Isiah. The problem has been more about retaining them long term.

[DOT]

I mean, it's kind of hard to say how much influence he had on any of those draft picks before the Knicks

Like, I don't think it's fair to say he gets blame for drafting Darko, or that he should be praised for drafting KD cause he was never the one making the decisions, and we don't have 1st hand knowledge of who was in what camp during those drafts

We can only really judge him for the past 2 years, which is still tbd, but he did hit twice last year with Mitch and Trier, and he took the no brainer choice this year

At least, I don't think he's a bad drafter. But time will tell just how good he really is.

[nyknicks8016]

Perry can draft the next Jordan, Olajuwon and Pippen on this team and it wouldn't make a lick of difference. Until Dolan is gone, no legit superstar is coming to MSG.

this literally makes no sense, if they draft superstars then they would have superstars coming to msg. So yes drafting well does make a difference.

[Deeeez Knicks]

Perry was never the head GM or president, correct? I think its tough to judge his draft record with other teams since we don’t know which calls he made or didn’t make. Overall, I think he is doing a pretty good job of drafting with the Knicks. It does take time to see how that plays out though.

I think there is bigger concerns in if Pills has a good vision for building a good, well fitting, cohesive team. If they can execute the plan and what there long term vision is. I have a lot more questions about that aspect, but again it will take some time to see if they can pull something off.

[Clyde_Style]

He has drafted four players as a GM. That's it. Whatever

[blueNorange]

okur was an all star once but he was always an all star snub.

he was a damn good player.

going off all star selections in a league that's based on popularity isn't really the best decision.

like carlos delfino was always in a rotation because he was a good defensive role player.

[CharlesOakley]

I don't give a crap about his draft record when he wasn't in charge. I like who he found last year and this year in the draft. Both Robinson and Iggy look like late pick steals. He is well above the Knicks average at drafting for the last 30 years.

[Jalen Bluntson]

Terrible article.

[Esq-4]

Just looking for a way to stretch and bash the Knicks?

Not to bite, but....PHI is a bad comp too. How many high picks did they need? How'd Okafur do? Or Noel? Or Fultz? And those were higher picks than what "he" had in any of those other teams.

Ashame that OKC could draft this guys and not keep it together and win one.

[Thugger HBC]

How much input did Perry have in those stops to base the article when he wasn't the decision maker?

I guess in the quiet days of an offseason it makes for a decent read, but there's little relevant substance to it.

[NYKnickerbocker]

A lot of those guys had decent sized careers tho

[dakomish23]

Maybe they put this out there b/c Mitch has been building some hype

If you made a move good enough where folks want to take a deeper dive to see what else you've done, that’s an A+ pick.

[seren]

Perry can draft the next Jordan, Olajuwon and Pippen on this team and it wouldn't make a lick of difference. Until Dolan is gone, no legit superstar is coming to MSG.

this literally makes no sense, if they draft superstars then they would have superstars coming to msg. So yes drafting well does make a difference.

We tried that with KP. It is not as simple as that

[seren]

Just looking for a way to stretch and bash the Knicks?

Not to bite, but....PHI is a bad comp too. How many high picks did they need? How'd Okafur do? Or Noel? Or Fultz? And those were higher picks than what "he" had in any of those other teams.

Ashame that OKC could draft this guys and not keep it together and win one.

Philly had a horrible draft record. They messed up a lot of high picks.

[KnicksGadfly]

Another thing to remember is that development has a huge role. For example, does San Antonio know how to draft or do they know how to develop? It's probably a bit of both.

[HarthorneWingo]

Perry can draft the next Jordan, Olajuwon and Pippen on this team and it wouldn't make a lick of difference. Until Dolan is gone, no legit superstar is coming to MSG.

They're certainly not coming yet. I think they first want proof that the stench of Dolan is gone. That probably means that we're going to have to improve in other ways until that point in time.

[HarthorneWingo]

Another thing to remember is that development has a huge role. For example, does San Antonio know how to draft or do they know how to develop? It's probably a bit of both.

That requires patience, as in like 3-4 years.