Leon Rose likely is well-prepared to steer the Knicks

Leon Rose’s Knicks tenure is expected to begin Sunday, the day he is cleared to take charge as president of the team. But whenever he arrives, Rose didn’t get to this place without putting a lot of thought into the job.

So you can guess that Rose has spent the time preparing since being officially named — and likely for weeks before that as the upper reaches of the Madison Square Garden corporation interviewed replacements for Steve Mills.

For Rose to make the move from a key player at CAA as one of the most prominent agents in the NBA to the executive suites at the Garden certainly is not a move he wouldn’t make without considering what he was getting himself into.

Rose likely will begin to accompany the team on the road, learning more about the players, the coaches and executives who have survived to this point. The 22 games remaining give him time to make his decisions on what needs to change.

“Player relations, he’s very big on that,” long-time Rose client Carmelo Anthony said Friday in an interview with Newsday. “Deal-making, very big on that. Communicating. Knowing personnel. He’s been in this game for a long time. He’s represented the best of the best in this game. He knows. He’s made deals. That’s just what he does. He’s good at running his organization and his own business.

“If I knew him the way I think I know him, he’s going to take his time slow walking as far as right now. He’s going to get in there, he’s going to feel everything out. He’s going to talk to people. He’s going to get his feet wet. In the offseason is where he’s going to get it going.”

Here’s a to-do list to get him started:

Decision-Makers

Before he worries about the players to keep and dump, Rose will have to put in place the team that will aid him with those decisions. Scott Perry was kept in place when Mills was removed, ascending to serve as head of basketball operations, overseeing the trade deadline deal that sent Marcus Morris to the Clippers. The front-office executives brought in by Mills and Perry are still here, as are the scouts who have been in place for a long time.

Not many are expected to survive. The results of the three seasons that Perry has been in place don’t exactly scream out positives.

But Rose might not purge the rolls at MSG the way other candidates for the job might have. He has long relationships with many of the executives. He worked closely with Garden chairman James Dolan as an agent when CAA seemed to have control of much of the Knicks’ roster. Allan Houston, who has been a part of the organization for decades, is a CAA client.

One source said there still could be a house-cleaning coming — and quickly.

The Knicks have their own first-round draft pick (almost certainly a lottery pick), the Clippers’ first-rounder and Charlotte’s second-round pick, which should give them three of the top 40 picks. Putting that in the hands of a group that hasn’t succeeded is a risky start to his tenure.

Rose has plenty of people to recruit as a GM. One name that has been floated is Denver GM Arturas Karnisovas, along with Toronto’s Bobby Webster and Clippers GM Mike Winger.

Don’t be surprised if he lifts someone from the CAA staff for scouting college talent.

The Coach 

This has been the most speculated-upon position under Rose, and with good reason. There are long-time ties in place and that has led to questions about college coaches John Calipari and Jay Wright — both of whom publicly insisted that they aren’t coaching the Knicks.

So look to the long association with Tom Thibodeau and add in rebranding man Steve Stoute, who has pushed to mend old wounds with throwbacks to team history. Jeff Van Gundy could make another run at coaching in New York, too, and he was the head man when the Knicks last reached the NBA Finals.

As Stoute revealed on ESPN this past month, there will be a new coaching staff, but it is expected that Mike Miller has earned an opportunity to remain as an assistant in New York — or somewhere in the NBA — with his efforts as interim coach.

The Players

For Rose, it’s a wait-and-see time.

The Knicks have opted not to serve up buyouts for veterans. Six of the free agents brought in have only minimal guarantees to buy out the second year of their deals — and those players could be packaged in a trade this summer.

For example, Bobby Portis could be used as an $18 million placeholder in a deal. Reggie Bullock’s 2020-21 option, which is worth less than $4 million, is the most attractive deal.

So the real question for Rose is who fits among the young players — RJ Barrett, Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson, Frank Ntilikina and Dennis Smith Jr. Allonzo Trier and Damyean Dotson can walk this summer.

As Newsday has reported for more than a month, Anthony could return for a farewell season. Anthony, a long-time Rose client, did not rule it out.

“It’s hard to say because I don’t know what that situation is going to be,” he said. “The easiest thing to say is, ‘His agent is there, he’s coming back.’ Until I sit down and see the whole plan, I don’t know.

“Me and him, we talk multiple times a week. That’s not something we even discuss. I still think it’s still a shock for everybody. When the offseason comes, I got to be careful what I say] now because it’s tampering.”
 

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.