Leon Rose discusses the Knicks’ CAA/Kentucky connection and his front office adjustments
Leon Rose was able to laugh and joke about the CAA/Kentucky connection to the Knicks, which is a good sign he’s comfortable with his process. And maybe also the criticism.
Because that was real.
It wasn’t just the media and fans noticing Rose gobbling up characters from his former agency and the Lexington school closely associated with top executive William Wesley, there was a swell of voices around the NBA who believed the Knicks were, at best, too reliant on Rose’s circle. At worst, Wesley and Rose were taking care of their people with James Dolan’s money.
One successful season later, Rose made sure to address the narrative.
“Let me just go back to that CAA/Kentucky little jab there,” Rose said. “I mean, look, no doubt CAA has a lot of good players. Kentucky has a lot of good players. But as far as our evaluation and our decision making. …
Tom Thibodeau interrupted.
“Don’t forget Duke.”
Rose continued.
“But as far as our decision making, we’re going to make the best decisions for the team. And another benefit is — as much as we were competitors, I have a great relationship with a lot of agents and understand them. So I think that’s been a big benefit. We’re going to deal with every single agency out there as well — a guy can be a big Division 2 player, if he’s going to help us win ballgames, we want that guy.”
With agents transitioning to the front office, there are successes (Golden State’s Bob Myers, the Lakers’ Rob Pelinka) and failures (Detroit’s Arn Tellem and Phoenix’s Lon Babby). Here in New York, we were traumatized by Brodie Van Wagenen’s run with the Mets.
But theoretically, Rose carries a greater understanding of contract negotiations after decades as a power agent at CAA. And after his low-risk maneuvers in Year 1 paid dividends, Rose took more gambles this offseason by handing out big contracts to Julius Randle and Evan Fournier, along with multi-year deals to Nerlens Noel, Derrick Rose and Alec Burks.
“I think being an agent gives me a great perspective from the other side of the table, and allows me to have a greater understanding of the things we come up against every single day and the way the other people think,” Rose said. “So I think it’s a huge benefit.”
Thibodeau again interjected with a bit of brevity.
“Now he hates agents.”
Outside of Rose’s roster-building, the biggest staff move this offseason was retaining GM Scott Perry on, according to a source, a two-year contract. Perry was a holdover from Steve Mills’ front office but ran a successful trial season under Rose.
“Scott and I have had a longstanding relationship from when I was on the other side of the table. Last year was that opportunity for us, you’ve got to see how you work with somebody and that’s basically what we did, and it went very smoothly,” Rose said. “Scott has done a very good job and I rely on him for many things. He’s a seasoned veteran with a lot of relationships and you know it’s been a pleasure. I’m very happy he stayed on with us.”
This time Perry spoke up unprompted.
“I’m just happy he doesn’t take advantage of me like he did on the other side. Now we’re on the same team, and it’s been great.”
