Knicks management has reportedly been put on notice with owner James Dolan expecting the front office to make “progress” in order for several members of the front office to keep their jobs. Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News hears that if New York finds itself hiring a new head of basketball operations, the team’s wish list begins with Raptors team president Masai Ujiri and Thunder GM Sam Presti.
Dolan has long been a fan of Ujiri’s. The Wizards took a stab at prying the executive from Toronto this past offseason with no success. Perhaps Dolan believes the Knicks will have better luck.
Presti has been with Oklahoma City for 12 seasons and he has arguably the most unique resume of any GM in the league. He drafted Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden to build a true contender and after each player left has molded a different team, ranging from contender to mid-tier playoff team to one in a rebuild again.
Bondy also mentions Trajan Langdon – who helped the Nets turn their franchise around before moving onto the Pelicans – and Kiki Vandeweghe – who currently works in the league office – as potential targets. Bondy hears that Vandeweghe would have interest in the job.
I’m not sure why Presti would leave OKC where he has complete control to go to the Knicks where he has James Dolan interfering with his job all the time.
He won’t. He’s in the middle of a massive rebuild and has tons of picks to do it. He wants to leave his legacy as the guy who built okc into a winner twice.
Knicks don’t have picks, and the a lot of the players they do have, don’t fit. He would have to start all over if he went to NY except for Barrett.
Knicks have a couple of extra first-rounders coming up. Signing all those power forwards was brainless.
good thing they’re only there for one season and come off the books(unless the Knicks pick up the second year option). if nothing else they become draft picks at the trade deadline
It’s great that Dolan likes these guys, but who in their right mind would want to work for him unless he signs on a contract that he gives up full control
This year’s “KD’s coming to the Knicks.”
Kiki Vandeweghe is likely the only name here who would seriously consider working with Dolan and therefore is likely to be hired then fired by Dolan next.
Ujiri is beloved in Toronto and has the keys to the castle. Why would he want to join this joke of an organization?
What a joke. When will New Yorkers get it through their heads that NOBODY wants to go to New York and join that albatross of an organization. Masai is certainly not leaving one of the best run organizations on the planet, in one of the best cities in the world, in the best country in the world, to go become a part of the laughing stock that is James Dolan and the Knicks. It’s actually hillarious when these stories come out, because it just shows how far up their own rear ends New Yorkers heads are, to think someone like Masai Ujiri would leave somewhere like Toronto to go to a crap hole like new York City. Laughable.
Afsooner02 should check his facts the Knicks will have Dallas 2picks also they will have possibly more as they start to trade some of the players that they signed this off season plus their picks which should be high picks
I should have stated…..compared to OKC, they don’t have the picks they do.
These should all be subtitled: Another Delusional Statement By The Knicks
The gentleman that has his head up his ass should enjoy his very lucky season last year because it ll never happen again to bad because he lives in a nice city it almost would fit in with some of our nicer neighborhoods however he lacks the class to enjoy the greatest city in the world
This is the in season version of the NYKs signing every top tier free agent they want to play at the Mecca of basketball, MSG.
Good thing Michael Jordan owns another team otherwise we would have to read inane rumors about the Knicks hotly pursuing him too.
People do realize that the Madison Square Garden Co. owns the Knicks & Rangers–and the Madison Square Garden Co. is publicly traded on the stock market… meaning there is no “owner”. The shareholders “own” the team.
Dolan is the Chairman of the MSG Board. There are 13 other board members.
Full list: link to investor.msg.com
They’re collectively doing a s**t job, with Jim as the frontman.
And this is why all bad things start from the top.
-Can’t hire good people because good people don’t want to work for you
-Can’t win games because you were forced to hire bad people
-Can’t recruit good players because of A and B
Rinse and repeat. Only when Dolan goes would hope be renewed.
bring Jerry West in and give him free reign. He’ll do for the Knicks what Lou Lamarello has done for the Islanders
knicks needs to tank again, trade these duds even if for very little since other than Morris and randle they are worth very little, build around RJ and maybe knox and move on. The current roster is pathetic.
Fitz like most NBA coaches is a non-factor. He is just slighty arrogant