Eyes on Masai

or

Knicks Pursuit of Former Executive of the Year Most Promising News Since….Well…Uh

 

Like the other downtrodden denizens of Knicks fandom, I opened my eyes this morning to the fading sound of air raid sirens. As I turned over in my bed and looked at my phone I blinked against the pale grey light like the Vault Dweller seeing the outside world for the first time. I tasted ash as it fell like snowflakes onto my tongue. Where once Madison Square Garden had stood, there remained only the crater left by the mother of all Woj Bombs.

Ok so I’m being a little bit dramatic, but this is still some crazy shit right?

I don’t have any particular interest at this moment in relitigating Phil Jackson’s ignoble tenure with the Knicks, because there are a million people better than me that have done and/or will do that very thing.

For now, throw out your pizza, watermelon slices, and traffic cones while you can. The purges have begun, and none who harbor idols to this dark time will be granted mercy (letter A you’re on notice).

The King is dead. Long live the King.

But who exactly is that going to be? For the duration of the current interregnum Steve Mills is our man, but before Our Glorious Leader’s corpse was even cold, there came whispers on the wind.

The Knicks are targeting Masai Ujiri.

This is both makes sense and is absolutely baffling. In favour of the former, Ujiri was the architect of one the more damaging swindles (and that’s saying something) that the Knicks have fallen prey to in recent years, so it is not surprising that his name looms large in James Dolan’s mind. On the other hand, Ujiri was both promoted to President of Basketball Operations and given a 5 year extension only last September precisely to head off this kind of headhunting. Putting aside the fact that Dolan just fired Phil a month after picking up his option for $24 million over the next 2 seasons, people with that kind of job security don’t generally change teams easily. Zach Lowe’s initial tweet seemed to dash any Knicks hopes of pursuing Masai without forking over some assets, which the Knicks can ill afford to do. But an article in the Toronto Star by Bruce Arthur intimates that Masai has the authority to leave for the Knicks, uninhibited, if he so chooses. No formal offer has been made that we are yet aware of, but the Knicks ought to make it very soon.

But will Masai accept? No doubt he is already weighing the pros and cons.

According to Arthur, Masai is paid like a top five executive in the league. Even while paying for Phil’s ghost the Knicks can make him number one overnight by a comfortable margin, not to mention the added profile and prestige that comes with winning in New York. But the price of glory is to work for James Dolan, and that is a Faustian bargain that many have made but none have come out the better for having made it.

It’s possible times have changed though. We’re not exactly going through Perestroika at the Garden (and certainly not Glasnost) but if Phil’s tenure is any indication, direct interference in player personnel decisions is no longer on Dolan’s plate. Masai would have some reason to feel assured that he could build the team his way, over the long term.

That may not be enough, mind. Dolan will keep his sycophants throughout the business ops side of MSG, and communications internal and external will still blare the same stilted propaganda about “The Mecca” and “The World’s Greatest Arena” hearkening to a bygone Golden Age that he hadn’t the slightest thing to do with. Masai enjoys the confidence of his current employers, the respect of his peers, and the relative freedom to act and say as he thinks best. It must be troubling to see how diminished Phil Jackson’s reputation will be after a mere three years at the helm in New York.

But Phil Jackson’s ruin was his own doing, not Dolan’s, and Masai will have seen that too.

From a purely basketball standpoint then, which job is more appealing?

The path to contention with either franchise is murky at best, but the Knicks best chance of getting there is 21, whereas the Raptors’ is an unrestricted free agent on the wrong side of 30.

A tear down in To-Raptor-Land (shouts Jet!) would probably be greeted with more skepticism up front then one in New York. This is the greatest period of sustained success that the Raptors have ever had as a franchise. Before you snigger too loudly, remember, we cheer for the Knicks. Moves like trading DeRozan might be in the best interest of the franchise, but it’s unclear that even with all the political capital he has accrued through years of steady work that Masai could execute such drastic tie cutting unscathed. Nor is it clear what the return would be. The other players that Toronto has already probably make them too good to get deep into the lottery, and signing up for an annual sweep by the Cleveland Cavaliers (or coming super-team Boston Celtics) might sap fan enthusiasm for Masai’s leadership as quickly as it was earned.

The Knicks have bad salary, but also good prospects and future picks. New York has a market advantage in that games will sell out whether the team is bad or not, the last near two decades are irrefutable proof of just that. If Masai wanted to begin a 3 year tear down in New York, the fan base would rally behind him. Porzingis has as much positional potential and talent as any player his age, and he still has two years remaining on his rookie deal. Real things are made of this stuff, and things built carefully now could transform the franchise for the next 20 years.

For now though, these are just visions cobbled together among the ashes of an all too familiar world. But a better world is possible.

And hiring Masai may start us down the path to get there.