The New York Knicks Status: Three More Changes Upstairs to Become Relevant

Sorry, but as much as all of us Knicks fans want to see owner James Dolan sell the team, it's unlikely to happen. All of the Knicks problems have came from Dolan. Since trading their Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing, they've missed the playoffs in all but five seasons and have won only one playoff series. In the other fourteen seasons, they continue to show their incompetence in the most impossible ways. While some of their problems aren't directly on Dolan, all of their problems stem from him, whether it's come to bad acquisitions or his management decisions. If the Knicks don't want to remain an embarrassment, they must make three more changes. 

Before Dec. 6, they needed to make four changes, but they already made the first major change with the firing of head coach David Fitzdale. He was recommended by star players such as LeBron James and Dywane Wade to be a head coach so that definitely brought up some good feelings for the Knicks and their fans. However, he wasn't hired to develop a roster of young players. He was hired to manage star players that the Knicks were planning to get in the next free agency class such as Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving among other players. They even traded their promising, but injured big man Kristaps Porzingis, along with other high priced players midway in the season to create more cap space for free agency. There was one problem: they didn't get the best free agents. Yet they still assembled a roster that seemed like a playoff caliber team. Rookie guard/forward R.J. Barrett and center Mitchell Robinson look like building blocks for the team in the future. But Fitzdale wasn't making the best out of a roster of young players. 

That was only one out of four changes that need to happen.

​President of Operations Steve Mills has varied his approach season by season with the Knicks and it hasn't been helping at all. His latest bad move was hiring Fitadale. It wasn't about Fitzdale being a good or bad coach. What made the hiring so bad, was that Mills was so sold on the Knicks getting free agents, that he wanted a guy who could successfully deal with those star players in Fitzdale. Even with an injury to their best player Kristaps Porzingis that would keep him out for all of 2018-2019, they still had a roster that was worth developing. Yet, he really didn't want to go with a coach that could develop some of their players such as Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy, or Mike Budenholzer. They did produce a solid 2018 draft class in Kevin Knox, Robinson, and Alonzo Trier who all showed promise during different phases of last season, but instead of developing them, they were more focused on getting a high pick that would complement their star free agents. But in the end, all of the losing hurt them from getting a free agent. Look at the Los Angeles Lakers before they got LeBron James; they didn't make the playoffs but they showed enough development in their players to help lure him. But since the Knicks put their young players in a bad situation, they lost a lot of games and it turned off free agents from joining them. In comparison the crosstown rival Brooklyn Nets focused on developing their players. Their reward was a playoff appearance, which appealed to Irving and Durant. Therefore, Mills deserves to get fired without question this off-season. 

After they clean house this off-season, they should replace Mills with the president of the Toronto Raptors Masai Ujiri. Ujiri, constructed a Raptors team that went from being a contender for four years, to a champion last year. While people think of him as the guy who made lots of high risk, high reward moves such as trading for Kawhi Leonard, he also deserves lots of credit for drafting players that have greatly progressed over time such as Pascal Siakam. Despite losing Leonard in the off-season to the Los Angeles Clippers, the Raptors are still one of the top teams of the East. His best move however, may have been hiring a coach that could really get the best out of his players in Nick Nurse. If the Knicks can hire Ujiri, he should do a lot to hire current ESPN analyst Mark Jackson. Besides his city roots and the fact that he was a point guard for the Knicks early in his career, he's praised for his work with the Golden State Warriors from 2011-2014. He didn't win a championship, but he reached the playoffs with them twice, where he won his first and only playoff series. His most impressive work is that he developed the Warriors championship core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. He has previously expressed interest of taking the head coaching job. It's definitely realistic that hiring Ujiru and Jackson will help develop the Knicks young core and lead them to lots of success. But for all of that to happen, they must put both of them in a good situation to succeed.