Knicks Notes: Carmelo, Mills, Grunwald, Houston

The Knicks surprised the NBA world yesterday when they announced that Steve Mills would be replacing Glen Grunwald as the team's general manager. We've already passed along a few of the reactions to that move, but there are a few more leftovers on the front office shake-up among today's Knicks items. Let's round them up….

• The Knicks' front office changes are "all to keep Carmelo [Anthony]," a rival executive tells Howard Beck of Bleacher Report. If Carmelo is going to commit long-term to the Knicks next summer, he wants to feel confident that the team can attract a marquee free agent in 2015, when cap space is available, writes Beck. According to that rival exec, Mills likely has a better chance of luring a top free agent than Grunwald, who is soft-spoken and isn't as connected to the players.
• Tommy Beer of HoopsWorld wonders whether it would be even be in the Knicks' best interests to re-sign Anthony to a max deal in 2014.
• Agent Rick Kaplan, who represents Marcus Camby, called the Knicks' demotion of Grunwald "absurd" and "cruel," according to Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. "He did everything he was asked to do by his owner, and did it with a smile on his face," Kaplan said. "The only good news is that some lucky team will have Glen fall in its lap and he can finally work for a team that appreciates his enormous talent and class."
  
• One "prominent NBA executive" who spoke to Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News agreed with Kaplan, asking rhetorically, "What in the world did Glen Grunwald do to get fired? They gave [Mills] two jobs today and he isn’t qualified for either one of them."
• Sources tell Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report that Allan Houston is likely being groomed to be the next GM in New York.

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