Popper: Knicks GM arrives with good intentions; join the club

In his New York debut, Scott Perry struck all of the right notes. He refused to be drawn into the struggles of the Knicks' past, insistent on looking forward. He spoke of culture as a daily way of life.

And he seemed more enamored with his family than the job, his wife, his daughter and his sister seated in the front row where he repeatedly directed his smile. On the basketball side he arrived as Knicks general manager with a near unanimous reputation as a well-liked executive, hard working and smart.

So a good man with good intentions takes his place at Madison Square Garden, the new face in the front office with Phil Jackson gone.

Try not to look down, Scott, at the bones of the good men with good intentions who preceded you into the abyss. Maybe some didn’t always have good intentions. But look at the legacy that you inherit - Scott Layden, Isiah Thomas, Donnie Walsh, Glen Grunwald and even Steve Mills, who just hired you in his new role as team president.

And don’t look around too much, Scott, or you will see that many of the same folks who pushed those well-intentioned, smart executives over the cliff are still in place. As long as you have the say and power that you need to survive you’ll be fine.

You do have that, don’t you?

“I’m going to give Scott the room to make basketball decisions and make recommendations to me,” Mills said. “He’s going to have a chance to manage the coaching staff, manage the scouting staff, and make recommendations as to where we should go as a basketball organization. I think we’ll be partners in that in the sense that he’ll come to me with his recommendation and we’ll debate it back and forth. But at the end of the day, I’m giving him the room to make those decisions.”

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So he’s going to have room to make basketball decisions and make recommendations, which he’ll bring to Mills and debate. But he’ll make all the decisions? I’m not sure I follow.

The advantage that Perry has as he takes his place is one that both he and Mills repeatedly stressed - that they have a long time relationship, moving from respected rivals to friends. During the Jackson era in New York, executives from other teams noted that there seemed to be a division in the Knicks' front office, unsure of who was speaking for who, if Mills and Jackson were on the same page.

Perry at least has the advantage of coming into a situation with a relationship with his boss. As long as one doesn’t turn on the other, everything should be just fine. After all, the New York Daily News reported that Perry got a three-year deal with a two-year option after it, and three years is an ambitious goal. The last 10 years have featured six different faces running basketball operations for the Knicks.

Let’s assume the relationship has put the Knicks' front office on stable ground. I know, but let’s just go with it. The pair, along with coach Jeff Hornacek, all said all of the right things Monday, all speaking from the same script.

“Some of the things that need to change is we need to have a very focused plan in terms of how we’re going to operate and how we’re going to move forward,” Mills said. “And that’s why we decided to focus on youth, athleticism, those kinds of things. Those are the things we need to do if we want to build a sustainable organization. That’s what we have to do, and obviously we’re in a situation now where that hasn’t been the case, and we’ve been part of it and have to take our portion of the responsibility for it. 

“But we’re very clear in terms of how we want to see this organization and this team moving forward, and Jeff and I talk a lot about what we should expect from our players, what we should expect from a basketball team. I think we’re in the same place (with) a lot of the things, details that go into playing basketball. Those kinds of things are important — how we execute, the importance of execution. We’re in alignment completely on the importance of those kinds of things, and we’re going to focus on them as we move forward.”

In a salary cap world there are advantages that you can have being the big-market, big-money franchise. There is no cap on coaches, no cap on front office executives. Perry is well-respected, part of a successful front office in Detroit and a failing regime in Orlando. He was the No. 2 man in Sacramento for three months as the Kings pulled off a number of moves that have drawn admiration around the league - odd for that franchise. 

Perry and Vlade Divac never had to sweat out wins and losses together in Sacramento. That is a luxury that Perry and Mills will not have. When Mills embraced the selection of Frank Ntilikina on Monday, and Perry applauded the signing of Tim Hardaway Jr., they now own those moves.

For Perry now, he’s not an assistant GM, he'll find himself directly in the crosshairs if the moves - his moves, Mills moves - don’t work out.

“The best way I’m going to do that is I’m going to be Scott Perry,” Perry said. “I’m going to be who I am and what got me here, and that’s a person who’s very up front, straight forward, a hard worker, and I’m going to be available as much as I can be available. I want to make sure that I see myself as a bridge-builder, not a bridge-destroyer.

“So I’m looking forward to the opportunity. I’m embracing the fact that I’m moving to New York, and I understand the magnitude that comes with being in the largest media market in the world, and I’m looking forward to it, ready to make improvements here with this basketball team, and I think that will be the biggest statement that I can make or any of us can make up here, is just gradual improvement of this basketball team to a point where we can become an elite franchise one day.”

Good guy. Good intentions. Join the club.

Email: popper@northjersey.com