GM Perry’s been Knicks other All-Star in ’20-’21
Let’s start at the top, with Julius Randle. No player has been more valuable to the Knicks’ surprising start to this season, emerging as a reliable two-way force and a No. 1 option worthy of an All-Star selection. Randle was signed by Scott Perry on a deal that was considered, not too long ago, an albatross. Remember this: when Leon Rose took over alongside Worldwide Wes, their first important move was drafting Randle’s replacement — Obi Toppin — which underscored how little faith they placed in a future with the 26-year-old at power forward.
But today? Randle’s deal is a bargain and Toppin is still just dipping his toe in the rotation. The Knicks have a $19.8 million team option on Randle for next season, and picking it up is a no-brainer. His salary this season is the lowest of any All-Star who isn’t on a rookie contract.
Such travels the upward arc of many of Perry’s moves. He’s the basketball lifer who serves two important purposes for the latest iteration of the front office: he filled the asset coffers for the biggest deals yet to come, and he’s still bringing stability/experience to an executive staff otherwise led by former agents (Rose and William Wesley) and a numbers cruncher (Brock Aller). Consider these acquisitions now from Perry: l Perry traded Carmelo Anthony to the OKC Thunder, which was unpopular at the time given Melo’s status among fans, but it returned a second-round pick that Perry used to ... draft Mitchell Robinson. It was a gamble for a player who skipped college and raised red flags, but Perry had the inside intel and it paid off. Robinson’s contract was also negotiated as team-friendly, with an option next season at just $1.8 million.
l Perry traded another center, Willy Hernangomez, who was coming off an All-Rookie season, but was then moved out of the rotation. It was a sell-high move from Perry that netted two second-round picks from the Hornets. Both of those picks were used recently in trades — the first to move up in the 2020 draft to pick Immanuel Quickley, the other to acquire Derrick Rose from the Pistons. Hernangomez, meanwhile, is still struggling to find a consistent role in the
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l Perry signed Marcus Morris and flipped his expiring contract into a first-round pick from the Clippers, which a year later turned into Quickley. Keeping Morris would’ve only made sense if the Knicks were planning to re-sign him, but the forward’s departure has been beneficial in that it unlocked Randle.
l Perry drafted RJ Barrett with the third pick in 2019, which was the obvious choice, but also the right one, in retrospect. Barrett struggled as a rookie but is blossoming under Tom Thibodeau.
l Two other current Knicks starters, Elfrid Payton and Reggie Bullock, were signed by Perry in the 2019 free-agency period. (Payton was re-signed in 2020). Even if they’re not part of the future, they both are consistent contributors and elevated their trade value ahead of the deadline.
There were also mistakes along the way for Perry, most notably hiring David Fizdale. His Kevin Knox draft choice in 2018 remains questionable, at best. The emergence of the players chosen directly after Knox — Mikal Bridges and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — have made it worse.
Then there’s the unicorn-in-the-room: the Kristaps Porzingis trade. It’s indefensible — yesterday, today and tomorrow — because it was constructed around signing a player who instead went to Brooklyn. The Knicks valued cap space over players and draft capital, so the return was diminished. And while the two first-round picks retrieved from the Mavericks remain nice pieces, the Dennis Smith Jr. portion has already bombed.
In Perry’s defense, the impetus behind that trade — Porzingis’ discontent with the organization — was forged prior to the GM’s arrival. Former team president Steve Mills, an astute corporate man who had no business running basketball operations, failed to cultivate the relationship with more time and opportunities. o the Knicks moved forward with Randle as their top player and free agent, then eventually gave him the right coach in Tom Thibodeau. Now they’re established with an overachieving team and the assets for major upgrades, whether at the trade deadline or the summer.
Perry deserves credit for the setup.
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