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The Knicks are displaying their disfunction once again.
On the court, the team isn’t very good. Mike Miller has instilled a bit of fight in the squad since he replaced David Fizdale, but his firing is already being hinted at by team employee Steve Stoute, who had an odd appearance on ESPN’s First Take on Tuesday.
Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti reacted to Stoute’s comments on Wednesday morning. Both hosts marveled at this latest bit of “idiocy” from the Knicks.
“This is the new brand marketing manager of the New York Knicks,” Esiason said on WFAN. “You cannot make the idiocy up, you cannot make it up anymore! What the hell is this guy talking about? And who is he? This is the guy that’s in Jim Dolan’s ear?”
Stoute, who works on the Knicks’ marketing and branding, created controversy when he was discussing the recent firing of Steve Mills on First Take. Stoute claimed that a change had to be made with Mills, and that change would also “bring a new coach and new coaches that are going to help develop these younger players.”
The Knicks have since had to walk Stoute’s comments back in a statement.
Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images For Roc Nation Stoute himself walked back his words in a statement as well, saying "In my excitement to defend the Knicks on live TV today, I inadvertently insinuated about Knicks personnel."
Giannotti added that the most frustrating part of this story is that Miller has been doing a decent job with the Knicks since taking on the job.
“The early returns are in, but this was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen. … For an employee of the organization to go on national TV and say that. And by the way, he’s (Miller) done a really good job with this team! That’s the thing that’s really annoying about it, is the fact that he’s worked hard, he’s put this thing back together, he’s been with the organization. They’re about as good as they can possibly be with the terrible roster that they have. They show some life, they play a little harder.”
Leon Rose hasn’t been officially announced as the team’s new president, but reports indicate that he is the man who will take over that job from Mills.
Giannotti pointed out that Rose needs to come into the organization and put an end to some of this drama and confusion.
“It’s really going to be up to Leon Rose to put the kibosh on all of this stuff.”