Leon Rose is the right man to run the New York Knicks

Yaron Weitzman

FOX Sports NBA Writer

In March 2020, in the midst of a seventh straight losing season, the New York Knicks decided to hand the reins of the team over to a man with no front office experience.

Leon Rose had spent decades working as a player agent and had become one of the more respected agents in the field, but running a basketball team is a completely different endeavor.

The move, for the Knicks, was a risky one.

Three years later, it’s time to give Rose his flowers. The road hasn’t always been smooth, the decision-making process perhaps not so tight, but after beating the Cavaliers on Wednesday night 106-95 — in Cleveland no less! — the New York Knicks are now headed somewhere they haven’t been since 2013: the second round of the playoffs.

This isn’t one of those cases where an executive has benefited from the work of his predecessor either. Look at the team that just thumped the Cavs in five games and you can see Rose’s work everywhere.

There’s Tom Thibodeau, the twice-fired coach Rose brought in, believing he could instill a winning culture and mold a team in his image. Anyone who watched the Knicks thrash the Cavs on the glass and suffocate their star guards would say that Thibodeau has succeeded.

There’s Obi Toppin and Immanuel Quickley and Quentin Grimes, all of whom Rose drafted, the latter two with late first-round picks. None of those players are stars, but against the Cavs, each showed that they’re capable of impacting playoff games. They all have bright futures.

There’s Mitchell Robinson, who might have been drafted by the previous regime, but it was Rose who last summer handed him a four-year, $60 million extension. Given the pounding he just put on the Cavs, that deal is starting to look like a bargain. Robinson grabbed 29 offensive rebounds in the five games and made Jarrett Allen — an All-Star last season — look like a JV kid trying to keep up with a bigger and stronger varsity counterpart.

There’s Josh Hart, the wing Rose acquired before February’s trade deadline in what, incredibly, has become one of the more impactful deals of the season.

Hart ended up being a perfect piece for the Knicks, a player who — thanks to his size, defense, motor and rebounding — snapped everything else together. The Knicks went 21-9 with him in the lineup.

And of course there’s Jalen Brunson, the point guard Rose went out of his way to sign to a $100 million deal, one which now is one of the league’s top bargains. Brunson has become a stud, and just outdueled Donovan Mitchell, the star guard Rose elected not to chase, meaning he and the Knicks now have a war chest full of assets to go about buttressing this roster.

All of which leaves the Knicks in an incredible place. They’re not just headed for the second round, but they’re set up to be good for years.

Who knew the Knicks were capable of such things. Let’s give Leon Rose his proper props.

Yaron Weitzman is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He is the author of “Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports.” Follow him on Twitter @YaronWeitzman.