Quiet time for Knicks interim GM Grunwald

Glen Grunwald's first days on the job as interim general manager of the Knicks were perhaps the most uneventful a Knicks executive has ever experienced in the month of July.

Usually, this is when the team is making its sales pitch to free agents -- a year ago, the Knicks barnstormed the country to visit with Amar'e Stoudemire, Joe Johnson, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh -- but the NBA lockout has put a freeze on free agency.

The league also apparently has put a freeze on talking about players, be it free agents or those already under contract. So along with having nothing to do during his first few days on the job, Grunwald has nothing to talk about. All interview requests have been declined.

Donnie Walsh, whose tenure as president officially ended at the same time the lockout began, is back home in Indiana with his family, his wife, Judy, and his beloved dogs. Walsh admitted he can't totally put the Knicks in his rearview mirror, but on the night of the NBA draft, he laughed when a reporter asked him about his role change from team president to paid adviser.

"I'm changing roles?" he said. "I'm going home. Ta-ta!"

With the lockout in place and no indication that it will end anytime soon (the league and players' union don't plan to meet for another two or three weeks), there doesn't appear to be a great deal of urgency to find Walsh's successor. But when the lockout does end, the Knicks will need to act quickly to build up the roster around the team's two stars, Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony.

The salary-cap system in the new collective-bargaining agreement will determine just how active the Knicks can be this offseason. With 12 players on the roster, the team's payroll is about $63 million, including the anticipated rookie salary of first-round pick Iman Shumpert (who has yet to be signed officially), second-round pick Josh Harrellson and 2010 second-rounder Jerome Jordan.

The NBA has proposed a hard-cap system similar to the NHL's format, with a $62-million "midpoint'' that would allow teams to spend below or above that number to a negotiated range. In the NHL, the range is $16 million, which if used by the NBA, would mean the Knicks could spend another $7 million in free agency for 2011-12. That also means that if the Knicks are careful with their finances in 2011-12, the chance to sign an All-Star point guard such as Chris Paul or Deron Williams in 2012 is a very real option.

Earlier in collective bargaining, when the league was proposing a $45-million hard cap and dramatic rollbacks on current contracts, it appeared the Knicks' plan to build a superteam akin to the Celtics and Heat would have to be scrapped. But the more recent proposal is much more conducive to their adding a third star.

With this in mind, Grunwald and other anticipated front-office holdovers such as Mark Warkentien and Allan Houston are more than capable of continuing the plan Walsh outlined when he arrived in April 2008. But there are several other GM candidates, such as former Trail Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard, who would love to have a shot at running the league's most valued franchise (according to Forbes) with a reasonably high salary cap in place.

The Dolan family owns controlling interests in the Knicks, MSG and Cablevision. Cablevision owns Newsday.