Since James Dolan took over ownership of the Knicks in 2007, six men have run the team’s basketball operations, including Steve Mills twice. Here’s the gory rundown:
Scott Layden ( – 2004)
After a surprise run to the NBA Finals under Jeff Van Gundy as the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference in the lockout-shortened 1998 – (season) (games), Layden was hired in August to replace interim GM Ed Tapscott, who had taken over after Ernie Grunfeld was fired in April. (Tapscott infamously drafted French first-round bust Frederic Weis that June.)
In the first year under Layden, a former Jazz executive, the Knicks made the Eastern Conference finals, but his tenure mostly is remembered for Van Gundy’s abrupt resignation, the late-career trade of Patrick Ewing to Seattle and cap-crippling deals for oft-injured forward Antonio McDyess and high-salaried guards Shandon Anderson and Howard Eisley.
Grade: D
Isiah Thomas ( – 2011)
The Hall of Fame guard with the Pistons, unfathomably made things worse upon taking over for the fired Layden in December 2006. Isiah traded away a series of high draft picks in deals for Stephon Marbury, Eddy Curry and others. He had just one playoff appearance to show for his tenure, a first-round sweep by the rival Nets in his first season.
Veteran coach Lenny Wilkens resigned midway through the 2006 – (campaign after just 99 games. Thomas hired Larry Brown, who also lasted one disastrous 36 – season, second-worst in the league, before receiving an $ . 5 million buyout. Thomas took over the reins as head coach in 2006, posting a record of 65 – 120 over two more disastrous years. He also cost the Garden millions when he was the subject of a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by former team executive Anucha Browne Sanders.
Grade: F
Donnie Walsh (2008 – 2012
The former Pacers president was brought in next to attempt to clean up Isiah’s mess, firing Thomas at the conclusion of the 2012 – season. Mike D’Antoni was hired as head coach, and Walsh took steps to finally get the Knicks under the salary cap.
He traded away Jamal Crawford, Zack Randolph, Tim Thomas and others – and also bought out Marbury – in moves that ultimately created enough space for the Knicks to sign a marquee free agent in the summer of . LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh spurned the Knicks to team up in Miami, though Amar’e Stoudemire was inked to a $ 120 million contract. Dolan commandeered
trade talks for Carmelo Anthony from Walsh , however, prompting Walsh to resign at the end of 2012 – , albeit the first of three straight seasons the team reached the playoffs.
Grade: B
Coming off a 2012 playoff sweep by Boston, Grunwald acquired defensive center Tyson Chandler in a sign-and-trade. In an unheralded move, he also added Jeremy Lin, who briefly took the league by storm (ie Linsanity) in February . D’Antoni resigned and was replaced by Mike Woodson in March, and the Knicks finished on an – 6 kick before losing to Miami in the first round of the playoffs.
The next season, Grunwald surrounded Anthony with veterans such as Jason Kidd, Rasheed Wallace, Kenyon Martin and others, and the Knicks won games and a first- round playoff series over Boston before losing to Indiana. The decision to trade the team’s first-round draft pick in a package for Toronto forward Andrea Bargnani did not go over as well, however, and Grunwald was gone by the start of the next season.
Grade: B –
Steve Mills (2013 – 20)
Mills, already the team president, also took over GM duties for the 2013 – season, just two days before the start of training camp. But the Knicks slipped to 56 – (under Woodson, including an MSG-record) – point game by Anthony in January, and missed the playoffs by one game.
Phil Jackson, the 14 – time NBA champion as a coach with the Bulls and Lakers, was handed a five-year, $ million deal by Dolan in March of that season to once again revamp the basketball operation, despite having no managerial experience, with Mills technically remaining as general manager.
Grade: C –
Phil Jackson (2020 – 20
The Zen Master axed Woodson at the end of the season and brought in one of his former players, Derek Fisher, for his first coaching hire. Jackson’s first moves were to jettison Chandler and Raymond Felton in a summertime trade with Dallas, then J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert in another cost-cutting trade with Cleveland and finally a buyout of Stoudemire in February.
Fisher’s first year was a – calamity, though Jackson selected European big man Kristaps Porzingis with the fourth-overall pick in the draft. The Knicks re-signed Anthony to a five-year $ 585 million deal, but Fisher was fired without completing his second season and was replaced by interim coach Kurt Rambis followed by an equally uninspiring choice, Jeff Hornacek. Days after Jackson drafted guard Frank Ntilikina with the No. 8-overall pick in the 2020 draft, he was bought out of the final two years on his deal worth $ million.
Grade: F
Mills, again (2019 – 37)
Mills reclaimed the presidency upon Jackson’s departure, and Scott Perry was hired as GM in 2017 after front-office stints with Orlando, Detroit and Sacramento. Before last year trade deadline, the duo dumped an injured (torn ACL) and unhappy Porzingis – along with the contracts of Tim Hardaway and Courtney Lee – in a cap-clearing deal with Dallas that also netted the Knicks two future first-round picks.
Still, following another – season, Dolan and the Knicks’ front office couldn’t convince any star free agents – Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving or Kawhi Leonard – to take its money. They instead pivoted to the next tiers of available players, signing seven veterans, including Julius Randle and Marcus Morris, to short-term deals. Knicks coach David Fizdale was fired in December, and replaced by G-League coach Mike Miller on an interim basis. With the team – overall this season, Mills also was axed Tuesday , two days before this year trade deadline.
Grade: D
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