Grunwald makes lasting first impression

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Identifying the new leadership structure of the Knicks in the wake of Donnie Walsh's departure is difficult. Even the man who replaced him isn't quite sure of his official rank right now. But he's well aware of his status.

"In terms of my role, I'm not sure if I'm the interim president or interim GM," Glen Grunwald said Monday. "But I'm interim. And that's fine."

The team initially had indicated there would be a search for Walsh's replacement, but there has been no evidence that the interviewing process has begun. As for Grunwald, in one day last week he did more to boost his credentials than any self-promotion could ever do.

The surprising maneuver to land the most coveted free agent on the market, center Tyson Chandler, and address the roster's most glaring weakness by creating salary-cap space was exactly the type of stealth action the franchise needed. Not a bad first impression, though Grunwald, who has the experience of running the Toronto Raptors from 1997-2004, is hardly new at this.

Said Grunwald: "I feel very fortunate because there was an excellent player who wanted to come to New York and play for the Knicks and, fortunately, that we have a situation here with an owner that is committed to winning and willing to invest in winning, that's willing to step up and provide us certain resources necessary to get a transaction like that done. It's an exciting time for us and hopefully it will result in a good outcome on the court."

That is ultimately how Grunwald will be judged. Walsh set the table with his moves to clear cap space and get the rebuild started with Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. Grunwald's job -- for now -- is to build around those stars and turn the roster into a championship contender.

"We're trying to build the best team we can," Grunwald said. "Ultimately, hopefully, it will be for an NBA championship. But this year we're hoping to move forward, make progress and improve on what we did last year.

"In terms of my philosophy, I think that we've got a core group together that's going to be here for four years and we're going to look to add to those guys, maybe do some tweaks, but we'll see how it goes. We'll have to react to the progress and the results that this team generates and then we'll see exactly what we need to have. I'm comfortable going into the season right now, but again, we're always trying to improve."

The training-camp roster is at 13 -- the Knicks signed guard/forward Devin Green and center Chris Hunter Monday -- with one more addition coming this week in rookie center Jerome Jordan. Grunwald still wants to make one more significant addition. He acknowledged that the team has interest in free-agent guard Jamal Crawford, who played for the Knicks from 2004-08.

"We'd certainly love to get Jamal back here, but we'll see where that goes," Grunwald said. "That's a situation that's still developing."

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