Knicks Hire David Blatt as Basketball Ops Consultant

[god shammgod]

you guys really don't understand. after we fired donnie walsh, he was a consultant. after we fired grunwald, he was a consultant. after we fired clarence gaines, he was a consultant. it's a job with no real power. this is just a friend looking out for another friend who got sick. it's not a soap opera plot.

Bullsht. This is Steve Mills flexing. He just convinced Dolan to write a paycheck to a friend in his Rolodex.

The timing sure makes it looks like Dolan is casting a public vote of confidence in Mills.

This is the precursor to Mills legitimizing upcoming roster moves.

“Well David Blatt approved, so it must be a smart move (that came from Mills).”

flex ? what do you think he gets paid ? 100 grand or so. this is nothing. dolan pays larry johnson the same to sit next to him at games and occasionally go to a citi bank somewhere to smile and hand out t-shirts.

[BKlutch]

KHAAAAAAN!!!!

OMG, we're hiring Khan!

[ezmoney707]

you guys really don't understand. after we fired donnie walsh, he was a consultant. after we fired grunwald, he was a consultant. after we fired clarence gaines, he was a consultant. it's a job with no real power. this is just a friend looking out for another friend who got sick. it's not a soap opera plot.

Exactly. And if the front office is overhauled Blatt will be out the door with them. I don’t see why anyone would take this for anymore than it is, a consultant role.


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[thebuzzardman]

Conjecture but I see this as Mills throwing Perry under the bus.
Mills always wanted to hire Blatt as head coach. Both Phil and Perry shot him down.
Now Blatt has a job with the team.

Always thought of Mills as the execution guy and Perry as the basketball guy.
Mills probably sold to Dolan that the plan was sound but the man behind the basketball side chose the wrong players (this is something I don't necessarily disagree with)
Now bringing in a new basketball mind - one that Mills can put the blame on later.

Another excellent post.

[ChaosHamster]

yeah, Blatt is probably one of the worst guys from Europe you could've picked, with some kind of resume..

And to make it worse, he is buddies with Mills, so it means Dolan still trusts him and hes going nowhere.

[thebuzzardman]

Hopefully it's just to get the guy health insurance. #gardenofdreams

This might be the most cynical post ever.

I salute you.

[GONYK]

yeah, Blatt is probably one of the worst guys from Europe you could've picked, with some kind of resume..

And to make it worse, he is buddies with Mills, so it means Dolan still trusts him and hes going nowhere.

Why?

[god shammgod]

Hopefully it's just to get the guy health insurance. #gardenofdreams

This might be the most cynical post ever.

I salute you.

i looked at it as realistic

[ChaosHamster]

yeah, Blatt is probably one of the worst guys from Europe you could've picked, with some kind of resume..

And to make it worse, he is buddies with Mills, so it means Dolan still trusts him and hes going nowhere.

Why?

I just like other guys better, Messina for example. Is much more accomplished, also went through Pop school in NBA. He would've been a much better choice.

I mean, it matters if they want to make Blatt either a coach or put him in some higher FO job. If he just stays as an consultant, it doesn't really matter.

[thebuzzardman]

Ok so first of all David Blatt is a former coach whose mandate throughout his basketball career was to win games. Not to manage assets, not to evaluate talent, but to win games. I'm not saying he can't adjust, but I'm really afraid that with that coaching background he's going to push for the Knicks to become competitive asap and mismanage our assets for short-term results. How many successful front office people had a coaching background? There's a clash of interests philosophically speaking.

Was he that great of a basketball mind anyway? Ty Lue was a more progressive head coach than Blatt, and he gets clowned on the regular while Blatt (wonder why) gets widely praised for his coaching acumen despite failing on several fronts with the Cavs. I have just never been impressed with him as a head coach (not saying he was bad either).

We're once again moving further away from analytics with this hire. This is the biggest problem with this organization. It's old-school. Everything is old-school. The decision-makers are old-school. The vision is old-school.

And of course this reeks of nepotism. This is bad all-around.

Guys and their coaching career get judged on more than their NBA track record. I mean, if your analogy stands, than Mike Miller hasn't done sh*t, as he's coached 6 NBA games and other than that kicked around the NCAA and G-League, where he did well at times and other times didn't exactly light things on fire.

Blatt's a basketball lifer. It MIGHT matter, brain wise - depends on his role. Then again, Perry was and is a basketball lifer and he hasn't been that great. So obviously, the answer might be to get guys who have a lot of success early but are like 7 years in - a fast riser, a mustang.

But I'm not judging Blatt based on a 1 year stint with prime diva LeBron.

This could be a bad idea for a number of reasons around Mills, but what ability Blatt might have for the role not necessarily it.

[ARTjoMS]

So why we didn't hire him as the head coach in 2018? This needs some explanation.

Anyway, this could be first step in the positive direction after the rock bottom.

[nykfan42]

What exactly does this mean? Is he essentially Steve Mills now? I don't get this at all.

The way I'm reading it is he's in a similar role that Jerry West is in with the Clippers. Essentially an advisor to Mills and Perry.

Would be awesome if his first advice is to fire Mills and Robinson.

It amazes me how obvious it is for them to be removed from this franchise and for Dolan to sell the team and it still hasn't happened.

[thebuzzardman]

Hopefully it's just to get the guy health insurance. #gardenofdreams

This might be the most cynical post ever.

I salute you.

i looked at it as realistic

That's what is so awesome about it. I was like "oh, that's a decent point. Oh wait"

[cgmw]

Yes but LJ didn’t play basketball at Princeton, and the hire didn’t happen in the midst of Mills being a public target.

It doesn’t matter how much they’re paying Blatt—it’s an entirely political hire giving Mills a public vote of confidence and justifying any forthcoming roster moves.

Before this hire, Dolan would get panned for making trades with a lame duck President. Now, he can hide behind the Princeton brain trust. It’s a public relations ploy to bolster Mills and insulate Dolan.

[thebuzzardman]

Knicks. Always keeping things interesting. As in "May you live in interesting times"

[cgmw]

you guys really don't understand. after we fired donnie walsh, he was a consultant. after we fired grunwald, he was a consultant. after we fired clarence gaines, he was a consultant. it's a job with no real power. this is just a friend looking out for another friend who got sick. it's not a soap opera plot.

Bullsht. This is Steve Mills flexing. He just convinced Dolan to write a paycheck to a friend in his Rolodex.

The timing sure makes it looks like Dolan is casting a public vote of confidence in Mills.

This is the precursor to Mills legitimizing upcoming roster moves.

“Well David Blatt approved, so it must be a smart move (that came from Mills).”

flex ? what do you think he gets paid ? 100 grand or so. this is nothing. dolan pays larry johnson the same to sit next to him at games and occasionally go to a citi bank somewhere to smile and hand out t-shirts.

Oops see above. Impossible to navigate site on mobile nowadays. Maybe KnicksGod should hire a consultant.

[Deeeez Knicks]

So why we didn't hire him as the head coach in 2018? This needs some explanation.

Anyway, this could be first step in the positive direction after the rock bottom.

They were trying to get Durant/Kyrie/Max guys and thought Fiz would be a better sell to free agents

[thelastpope]

Blatt is Here to take perry's job, mills is a snake and everybody knows it

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[JBreezeNY]

yeah, Blatt is probably one of the worst guys from Europe you could've picked, with some kind of resume..

And to make it worse, he is buddies with Mills, so it means Dolan still trusts him and hes going nowhere.

Why?

I just like other guys better, Messina for example. Is much more accomplished, also went through Pop school in NBA. He would've been a much better choice.

I mean, it matters if they want to make Blatt either a coach or put him in some higher FO job. If he just stays as an consultant, it doesn't really matter.

None of what you said makes Blatt one of the worst guys from Europe.

You just liked Messina more, stick wit that.

[JBreezeNY]

Blatt isn’t in position to coach or be in the day to day operations, his MS prevents both from happening.