Spoke with Glen Grunwald yesterday before the Knicks failed to show up in a home game they needed badly, losing to the Portland Trail Blazers – without Zach Randolph – 92-86.
Grunwald, Isiah Thomas’ right-hand man as the Knicks’ senior vice president for basketball operations, hadn’t done an interview with a New York media outlet since the last day of training camp in October. He shared his thoughts on the plan for improving a roster that is projected to be at least $30 million over the salary cap next season.
The bottom line, as you can read in today’s paper, is there’s not much Grunwald can do for the foreseeable future in terms of franchise-shaping moves. The Knicks are capped out, don’t have many desirable contracts to move in sign-and-trades, and will have to rely mostly on their young core of Eddy Curry, Channing Frye, and David Lee to get better.
Unless, of course, they decide to trade one or more of those players. But speaking with Grunwald on the phone from his office at Madison Square Garden, I didn’t get the sense that’s a strategy he’s too keen on implementing.
Anyway, you can decide for yourself. Here are some highlights from the interview. Comments are welcome.
On working with Thomas: “To have a sounding board or a different perspective from someone else with a different viewpoint, that’s good. I think we have a good relationship, so we can have candid conversations and we can express our opinions. He makes the final decisions, but I’m very comfortable expressing what I think are things we should do.”
On his reputation as the man in Toronto who talked Thomas out of rash decisions on personnel: “I give my opinion of what I think we should be doing. I don’t necessarily disagree with anything we’ve done. I’m just here to generate some ideas, generate some leads, go from plans and then try and present them to Isiah and management and see if we can keep moving in a positive direction. I don’t think I have to say that I’m keeping Isiah under control. He knows what he’s doing. It’s just another perspective and some different ideas and we all buy into the same thing once we agree on it.”
On his philosophy for acquiring players: “The versatile, athletic, long players are something that we think can be very helpful to a team and help build a successful franchise. Given where we’re at in terms of the salary cap, the need to not lose players is very important and to continue to accumulate good players is very important.”
On how he’d assess the Knicks’ cap situation: “We’re over the cap right now and next year, too. For two years, we’re pretty much going to be over the cap and then it’s our job to provide some different alternatives in two years. Whether we stay over the cap or try to get under the cap, those are things that we’re looking at and trying to manage right now and plan for.”
On his plan for improving the team: “We like our young players. We think our core, young group of bigs is as good a group of players as any in the league, probably, from a young player perspective. We see that as very positive for our future. We like a lot of our players. We can only play five at a time, but we think we have good players. I think what’s important for us right now is that we continue to build value in our team and in our players in the event that we do decide to make a trade in the future.
“I think since I’ve been on the staff here, I’ve seen the value of our players – not that we’ve had any trades – but in discussions with other teams, the value of our players has increased over the course of the season right up to the trade deadline.”
On how much flexibility he has to make an impact move in the offseason: “We’re looking to improve our team. Whenever that deal would be, Steve Mills and Mr. Dolan have all been very supportive about various things that we’ve talked about to them. And I think they have trust in Isiah and his staff to do the right things. Obviously nothing big has happened this year. But I think if an opportunity presents itself, we’ll be able to seize it.”
On whether a few buyouts would help the cap situation this summer: “No, I don’t think that’s a realistic possibility right now to get cap room in the next two years, frankly. There’s no great value from a cap perspective in buying out players.”
On whether a buyout has been discussed with Steve Francis or his agent, Jeff Fried: “The whole Steve Francis thing, I don’t know where that started, but there’s no truth to that. I don’t know how that still has legs, but no, that’s not true.”
On the upcoming draft, where the Knicks will likely have a first-round pick in the 20s: “It looks like a good draft. It’s too early to say how good it will be because so much of it always depends on underclassmen and their decisions to enter the draft or not. It could be a very good draft, and I think we could get a very good player if things go as predicted.”
On whether anyone on the roster is untouchable: “Some people are more available than others, but my position has always been that unless there’s a no-trade clause in someone’s contract, then you always have to look at whatever can improve the team. That’s not to say that we’re trying to trade anyone or anything like that, but I think we have to be honest with our team. They have to understand that we’re going to do everything we can for them while they’re here and treat them fairly if it ever comes to a time when we think it’s in the best interests of the team to make a trade.”
On why he was brought in to run the day-to-day basketball operations: “I think the franchise needed some stability this year. I think to make significant changes, unless it was going to dramatically improve us in some fashion, probably would have not been the right thing to do. I think we needed to get the franchise stabilized and set and get the group playing together for some time and experiencing some success together, and I think that’s what’s happening right now.”
On how close the Knicks were to making a trade at the deadline: “We had our discussions, but I would say the quote from Isiah was, we weren’t really in any deals that came close.”
On his job so far: “It’s been good. It’s been a great learning experience getting to know the team and the players and the organization and the city. So it’s been a great experience for me so far. And the more we win, the more fun it’ll be.”