Glen Grunwald appointed as the permanent general manager of New York Knicks – NBA Update
The New York Knicks on Tuesday promoted interim General Manager Glen Grunwald as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of the team. Grunwald had been serving as the interim General Manager since July last year.
Grunwald came to the New York Knicks franchise in September as the Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations. Before that, he had been associated with the Toronto Raptors for 10 years, from 1994 to 2004. He has also worked
in the capacity of General Manager of the Raptors team for 7 seasons. Grunwald said in a statement issued by the Knicks team:
"It has been a great honour to be a part of this storied franchise for the past six seasons," Grunwald said in a statement released by the Knicks. "I would like to thank (Madison Square Garden chairman) Mr. (James) Dolan for this
opportunity and look forward to building on our commitment to give our fans a team that they can be proud of today, and in the future."
Grunwald had had a successful stint as interim General Manager since taking over from former President and GM Donnie Walsh in July. He was the person behind three key moves for the Knicks this season.
First, he was responsible for bringing centre Tyson Chandler to the Knicks franchise. Chandler had a very successful 2010-2011 season where he was part of the championship winning Dallas Mavericks team. He was one of the most sought
after agents of last summer, and his addition to the team has made the Knicks one of the top five defensive teams in the league.
Grunwald was also responsible for bringing Jeremy Lin into the squad just after the season started. Lin was supposed to be a backup point guard and come off the bench, but injuries to the Knicks starting guards gave him an opportunity
to make the starting five and what ensued is well known to everyone.
Lin rose up to the occasion and led the Knicks to 7 straight victories, making him the most talked about basketball player of the season. The third big move of Grunwald that has worked in the favour of the Knicks is the signing
of Steve Novak, who is one of the best 3 point shooters in the league this season.
With a successful few months behind him, Grunwald will have a number of tough decisions to make once he takes over. The most critical one is the hiring of a new coach for the New York Knicks. Interim coach Mike Woodson has had
a successful stint with the Knicks, as they are 16-6 with him as coach. He has shown his desire to come back as full time coach.
“I think when you've been given an opportunity to start something; you'd love to finish it. But again that's not my call” said Woodson.
Grunwald will also have to decide the fate of Jeremy Lin, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, and Baron Davis, who will be a free agent come summer time.
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