According to Chris Iseman of northjersey.com, the New York Knicks are to hire Walt Perrin of Chicago, Illinois as their assistant general manager. Perrin had been the vice president of player personnel with the Utah Jazz from 2001 to 2020.
While with the Jazz, Perrin played a key role in Utah drafting Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Gordon Hayward, and Paul Millsap. Heading into the coronavirus hiatus, the Jazz were in fourth place in the Western Conference with a record of 41 wins and 23 losses.
It has been a strong season for Mitchell. The 23-year-old shooting guard from Elmsford, New York, leads the Jazz with 24.2 points per game and was an all-star for the first time. Mitchell’s 1525 points are also currently the 10th most in the National Basketball Association. James Harden of the Houston Rockets is the present NBA leader in points with 2096. Harden is the only player to have eclipsed 2000 points this season.
Gobert was also an all-star for the Jazz this season. The native of France was averaging 15.1 points per game after leading the NBA in 2018-19 with a .669 field goal percentage. Hayward is averaging 17.3 points per game as a small forward for the Boston Celtics and Millsap is averaging 12 points per game in 2019-20 with the Denver Nuggets.
Perrin meanwhile has also worked two years with the Minnesota Timberwolves as a scout (1993-1995), and seven years as a scout with the Detroit Pistons (1995-2002). The Knicks are also expected to name Oklahoma City Thunder scout Frank Zanin as their assistant general manager for pro personnel.
One could also argue that current general manager Scott Perry could be working on a short leash. Perry has been the general manager of the Knicks since July 14, 2017. Even though Perry has only had extended power when it comes to the Knicks basketball operations since February 4, one must realize the Knicks have not made the NBA Playoffs since 2012-13.
