Knicks · Meet John Gabriel (page 1)
Professional Experience:
2008-Present
Director of Pro Scouting and Free Agency, New York Knicks
2004-2007 NBA Scout, Portland Trailblazers
1996-2003
General Manager, Orlando Magic
1994-1996
Vice President of Basketball Operations/Player Personnel, Orlando Magic
1987-1994
Director of Player Personnel, Director of Scouting, Assistant Coach, Orlando Magic
1982-1987
Assistant Coach, Director of Video Scouting, Scouting Coordinator, Philadelphia 76ers
Career Highlights
NBA Executive of the Year (2000)
Drafted Rookie of the Year Player, Mike Miller, in 2000
Sports Illustrated Executive of the Year (2001)
Five NBA Playoffs as General Manager (1997, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2003)
Atlantic Division Champions (1999)
Two NBA Playoffs as a Vice President (1995 and 1996)
NBA Finals (1995)
Eastern Conference Finals (1996)
Eastern Conference Champions (1995)
Atlantic Division Champions (1995 and 1996)
Three consecutive playoff appearances with the Knicks (2011-2013)
Graduated in 1978 from Kutztown State Teachers College (now Kutztown University of Pennsylvania), where he also played basketball. He was inducted into the school's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006
Mark Warkentein:
(Portland, Oregon, USA), Mark is the New YorkMark Warkentien Knicks Director of Player Personnel. Formerly, Mark was the Denver Nugget's General Manager and awarded the 2009 NBA Executive of the Year. Mark worked for one season as the Director of Player Personnel for the Cleveland Cavilers. Prior to Cleveland, Mark headed up the Portland Trail Blazers Scouting Department for ten years as Assistant General Manager and Director of Scouting. Mark earned his Masters in Sports Leadership from Concordia University Chicago and teaches Basketball GM & Scouting.
Clarence Gaines JR.
HIs father was the long time coach of Winston Salem State. He coached Earl the Pearl. Steven A. Smith. Is good friends and has big respect of Phil Jax.
He is here because Phil hired him. His daughter has leukemia and perhaps is not fully into his job this year. Lets not forget before they are saviors of franchises and super scouts with super knowledge, they are men, husbands and fathers.
Gaines championed N'dour over Chasson Randle. N'dour is getting a chance because of Gaines. I know not everyone loves this, but if you love Gaines, and some of you do, you can't just cherry pick the good stuff and blame others for the bad. Its an organizational decision and some things work better than others.
Basketball Staff
Head Coach Jeff Hornacek
Associate Head Coach Kurt Rambis
Assistant Coaches Howard Eisley, Corey Gaines, Jerry Sichting
Assistant Coach, Player Development Joshua Longstaff
Advance Scouts Matt Harding, Scott Simpson
Video Coordinator Patrick Licursi
Assistant Video Coordinator Steve Senior
Player Development Coach Dave Bliss
Equipment Manager Mike Martinez
Basketball Operations
Assistant General Manager/GM, Westchester Knicks Allan Houston
Vice President, Player Personnel Clarence Gaines Jr.
Vice President, Basketball Operations Jamie Mathews
Director, Security John Donohue
Director, Sports Technology Richard Dry
Director, Scouting - West Mark Hughes
Director Player Relations Asani Swann
Director, Scouting and Administration Kristian Petesic
Director, Scouting - Central Walker D. Russell
Director, Data Analytics & Pro Scout Mike Smith
Director of Operations, MSG Training Center Miguel Vazquez
Director, Player Personnel Mark Warkentien
Scouts Kevin Wilson, Ben Jobe
I'm a big brain storming guy...the more the merrier...
WaltLongmire wrote:Just means we have more of a "brain trust" than we knew of.I'm a big brain storming guy...the more the merrier...
If Warkentien and Gabriel had convinced Phil not to give Noah that huge contract, to trade for Rose, among other unfortunate moves, I would feel better about what they bring to the Knicks these days.
The question has to be why did Dolan and Phil pass over two seasoned executives, with years of experience in franchise building, and hire Mills as the GM? Someone with no real qualifications for the job, and after a stint as the president of the team who gave us arguably the worst period in franchise history, on several levels ?
How does this speak to the decision making process of those involved?
The thing is we changed 3 years ago and had to bide time to build an asset base.
Phil tried to build a short term result with Melo who had to be convinced Phil could get some talent to win in the short term while developing a long term plan.
This sells tickets. Flat out rebuilding via draft can take years and not succeed. Teams usually have to blend it in. This is how GSW did it.
First you have to rid the dead weight, then draft. Helps to have picks.
The results all speak for themselves, but to simply thing "Fire Phil" and our problems are done, well thats a bit too simple for my thinking.
If anyone was offended by that, well, sorry.
crzymdups wrote:Can't wait for the Mark Warkentien thread!
True!!! He is paid to be a Melo Surrogate? This guy is the CAA liaison?
Was he suppose to help Melo recruit? Was he holding Melo's "Rolodex?
Nalod wrote:crzymdups wrote:Can't wait for the Mark Warkentien thread!True!!! He is paid to be a Melo Surrogate? This guy is the CAA liaison?
Was he suppose to help Melo recruit? Was he holding Melo's "Rolodex?
The point is these guys have been here since 2008. Walsh brought in both guys. When the Knicks have had picks, they've generally made good ones, so I assume they're good at their jobs.
But let's be real here - was there some Triangle Insurgency Gabriel and Warky tried to organize before Phil arrived? No. No there was not. They're following Phil's orders. Unless you think Gabriel woke up one day and screamed "I've got it! We shall resurrect Sasha Vujacic!! Find out what brothel Lamar Odom is passed out in and bring him to me now!!!"
They're following Phil's orders. Phil gets the credit if this all succeeds. But it's sort of sad to pass the blame around if he fails. If this fails - it's because Phil's vision failed. Not because of some former GMs working behind the scenes who have been on staff since 2008.
GustavBahler wrote:WaltLongmire wrote:Just means we have more of a "brain trust" than we knew of.I'm a big brain storming guy...the more the merrier...
If Warkentien and Gabriel had convinced Phil not to give Noah that huge contract, to trade for Rose, among other unfortunate moves, I would feel better about what they bring to the Knicks these days.
The question has to be why did Dolan and Phil pass over two seasoned executives, with years of experience in franchise building, and hire Mills as the GM? Someone with no real qualifications for the job, and after a stint as the president of the team who gave us arguably the worst period in franchise history, on several levels ?
How does this speak to the decision making process of those involoved?
Not sure. Isaiah was driving the basketball decisions at the time. Remember, Mills was bought back after being fired. At the time knicks bought him back he was rumored to be heading back to the league:
Wikipedia:
Mhe executive vice president ills played professional basketball in Ecuador for a year.[2] He worked for the National Basketball Association for sixteen years beginning in 1984 after having worked at Chemical Bank. Mills ascension while at the NBA was notable. He was an account executive in the corporate sponsorship department of NBA properties and program manager for NBA properties. He became vice-president of special events, after which he was senior vice-president of Basketball and Player Development,[3] Mills then became Chief operating officer and Sports Business President of Madison Square Garden in 2003.[4] His duties at MSG included supervising day-to-day operations, including finances, business strategies of the NBAs New York Knicks, NHL's New York Rangers and the WNBA's New York Liberty. All sports related activities were under his jurisdiction, including boxing, college basketball and track & field.In 2009, Mills left MSG and joined Magic Johnson Enterprises where he helped create the Athletes & Entertainers Wealth Management Group, LLC (A&E).[5] of which he was a partner.[6]
On September 26, 2013, the New York Knicks announced Mills would be tand general manager of the organization.[7]
Gm's run the day to day of a franchise but we fans think of them mostly as the talent evaluators. The titles are a bit blurry as team presidents also now are part of that evaluation.
If a team is thin on blue chip infusion of talent and did not develop a base of young players for on court performance and as trade bait, its cannot be expected to grow. This has been evident since knicks made trade for Melo. Im not sure we were even recovering from the isiah purge. JR smith was an outcast playing in China during the strike because nobody would touch him prior. Knicks had to make an effort because we were stripped post melo trade.
WE all know this history, we had Tired Mike Bibby, we even tried to bring Baron Davis back from the dead!!! Jason Kidd was not much better but he at least helped us early in the legendary "54 win" team.
Knicks are awful, media sells the anger, most fans need it, some of us need a place for blame. I get it. Its NY. Its everywhere.
Some fans think because its NY, the Mecca, that we deserve better. We do. not because we are NY and entitled, but for decades of mostly failure.
If Three years is too much for some of you, then have at it. Too bad life is not that simple.
crzymdups wrote:Nalod wrote:crzymdups wrote:Can't wait for the Mark Warkentien thread!True!!! He is paid to be a Melo Surrogate? This guy is the CAA liaison?
Was he suppose to help Melo recruit? Was he holding Melo's "Rolodex?The point is these guys have been here since 2008. Walsh brought in both guys. When the Knicks have had picks, they've generally made good ones, so I assume they're good at their jobs.
But let's be real here - was there some Triangle Insurgency Gabriel and Warky tried to organize before Phil arrived? No. No there was not. They're following Phil's orders. Unless you think Gabriel woke up one day and screamed "I've got it! We shall resurrect Sasha Vujacic!! Find out what brothel Lamar Odom is passed out in and bring him to me now!!!"
They're following Phil's orders. Phil gets the credit if this all succeeds. But it's sort of sad to pass the blame around if he fails. If this fails - it's because Phil's vision failed. Not because of some former GMs working behind the scenes who have been on staff since 2008.
I pose questions and admit no real answers other than the results that speak for themselves.
You fill in as if your intimate with the scenario. Yes, Phil has imposed his influence which is why he was bought in.
You make it sound as if he was doing to for control and only for that reason.
Phil bought in a system that won in other places. We had not the personal for it. Maybe there was hope that Melo could do it. Melo said he wanted to do it.
Now its depicted as if Phil has been abusive.
Defending not firing Phil is not the same as defending all his moves. What Im defending is the process of change and letting things play out. We took risks with 2nd round players that did not pan out. Early was coming around to some degree, not sure if would have made it, but he got shot in the leg for goodness sake. We drafted Thanasis and bought him to Dleague where he made less money than if he stayed. he was the Greek Freaks big brother and if he stuck, maybe we get the freak to come join him. It was a stretch. If we followed other teams we'd see they too have made lots of these type moves and they don't usually work. Look t Landry and Andy. Both taken at basically the same spot. One made it, the other not. Landry had a nice career going until he got hurt.
I'd say if you can strike gold on in a while, your doing better than most. We call the Willy!!! Spurs call that Manu. Maybe we got one this time???
And have we ever tanked and given minutes to players? Usually we were just losing and injured. We have Baker, Ndour, Randle all getting time.
This is not fastenough for you?
Melo's NTC? Melo promised to play the triangle, Phil gave him a binding contractual promise.
Rose, a gamble worthy of the upside. Noah came with it. I don't like it financially, but its not a franchise killer.
We own all our first rounders for the first time I can ever remember!!!!
Things in Knick land are not the same. Its far from healthy, but we have a unicorn, Willy and some pieces that might be a core support for a few years.
Phil considers Red Holzeman his mentor and the man has 11 rings as a coach that did not follow what everyone else did. He took a different path and is the greatest coach of all time. He wants to employ a system that not every player can handle. He wants players that can play it. Kobe and Jordan became gods under the system.
When Phil took over the bulls nobody knew what would happen. When phil took over Lakers, with 21 year old arrogant Kobe, nobody knew either.
When Phil took over knicks, we were full of hope. Question is did Phil's "Failings" really his fault? Really could the return on trades really been much better?
and what is the expectation for a franchise that only had one no. 1 pick in three years? And what does one do with Melo? Let him walk? Im going to guess that Melo wanted Phil to not just rebuild, but get talent in here. He tried, and other than Noah's contract I can't spell disaster. Melo has performed to his contract statistically but not philosophically. Im ok with that decision. Melo has been relatively healthy as well.
Nalod wrote:GustavBahler wrote:WaltLongmire wrote:Just means we have more of a "brain trust" than we knew of.I'm a big brain storming guy...the more the merrier...
If Warkentien and Gabriel had convinced Phil not to give Noah that huge contract, to trade for Rose, among other unfortunate moves, I would feel better about what they bring to the Knicks these days.
The question has to be why did Dolan and Phil pass over two seasoned executives, with years of experience in franchise building, and hire Mills as the GM? Someone with no real qualifications for the job, and after a stint as the president of the team who gave us arguably the worst period in franchise history, on several levels ?
How does this speak to the decision making process of those involoved?
Not sure. Isaiah was driving the basketball decisions at the time. Remember, Mills was bought back after being fired. At the time knicks bought him back he was rumored to be heading back to the league:
Wikipedia:
Mhe executive vice president ills played professional basketball in Ecuador for a year.[2] He worked for the National Basketball Association for sixteen years beginning in 1984 after having worked at Chemical Bank. Mills ascension while at the NBA was notable. He was an account executive in the corporate sponsorship department of NBA properties and program manager for NBA properties. He became vice-president of special events, after which he was senior vice-president of Basketball and Player Development,[3] Mills then became Chief operating officer and Sports Business President of Madison Square Garden in 2003.[4] His duties at MSG included supervising day-to-day operations, including finances, business strategies of the NBAs New York Knicks, NHL's New York Rangers and the WNBA's New York Liberty. All sports related activities were under his jurisdiction, including boxing, college basketball and track & field.In 2009, Mills left MSG and joined Magic Johnson Enterprises where he helped create the Athletes & Entertainers Wealth Management Group, LLC (A&E).[5] of which he was a partner.[6]
On September 26, 2013, the New York Knicks announced Mills would be tand general manager of the organization.[7]
Gm's run the day to day of a franchise but we fans think of them mostly as the talent evaluators. The titles are a bit blurry as team presidents also now are part of that evaluation.
If a team is thin on blue chip infusion of talent and did not develop a base of young players for on court performance and as trade bait, its cannot be expected to grow. This has been evident since knicks made trade for Melo. Im not sure we were even recovering from the isiah purge. JR smith was an outcast playing in China during the strike because nobody would touch him prior. Knicks had to make an effort because we were stripped post melo trade.
WE all know this history, we had Tired Mike Bibby, we even tried to bring Baron Davis back from the dead!!! Jason Kidd was not much better but he at least helped us early in the legendary "54 win" team.
Knicks are awful, media sells the anger, most fans need it, some of us need a place for blame. I get it. Its NY. Its everywhere.
Some fans think because its NY, the Mecca, that we deserve better. We do. not because we are NY and entitled, but for decades of mostly failure.If Three years is too much for some of you, then have at it. Too bad life is not that simple.
You mean GMs dont just make trades? Wow, didn't know that. Mills has the resume of a suit, he moved up the corporate ladder, not the BBall side of operations. What makes him more qualified than someone like Gabriel who was involved in actual BBall decisions, building a contender, not pencil pushing? There was no good reason to have hired him over many qualified candidates. If the rest of the league respected Mills, they wouldnt be trying so hard to reach Phil. The sexual harrassment fiasco was enough to have Mills never return.
What has Mills ever done as an exec that can be seen as creating a winning atmosphere or just old fashioned winning? Why didnt anyone in the NBA hire him in any capacity when he left NY the last time? If Dolan hadn't hired him again he would be behind a desk, nowhere near BBall decisions.
You blame the media for creating a false narrative, but you're just substituting your own hagiography of Phil Jackson. Doesn't matter what moves he makes, his tweets, how some moves were counter to his Triangle fantasies. Its all good in your book.
Its not so about "having at it" after three years, its more about 3 plus years of your endless excuses for him. I dont want Phil fired either, so please dont tell me that all this losing was part of the plan. Phil needs a course correction.
It also confirms that Phil is surrounded by the brightest and the best and you can be sure the conversations are lively and compelling.
As for the suggestion that Phil needs a course correction - he does. Get rid of Melo at any cost. There's no reason to be taking criticism on the chin that is the direct consequence of a player who is hopelessly out of touch with the game.
We have a litany of failed draft picks trades free agency and of course over record
If anything it shows that these old guard of player evaluators are way past the time
Seems that Dolan, who has admitted to being a part of the process, has stepped away. No Kyle Lowrey for this team for a first round pick!!
No more filling in with short term fixes.
Say Rose and Noah? They were an attempt to be competitive in the short run. Has it impeded our longer term progress? Not really.
Has it yielded results for the short term? Nope.
DO you go this route if you don't have melo? I doubt it.
Gaines has a prominent role in this organization. Thats new.
Kp the best rookie in 30 years.
BRIGGS wrote:I wouldn't be talking about how good anyone who has managed the Knicks over the last 17 yearsWe have a litany of failed draft picks trades free agency and of course over record
If anything it shows that these old guard of player evaluators are way past the time
I have no idea where you get off talking like this.
IMO, there are a lot of very vocal critics of the management who have zero idea of what constraints these guys are saddled with in attempting to build a winning team [and I'm not talking about a flash in the pan run]
The last executive we had who was clueless (and he was not alone among his peers) was Scott Layden. And his sin was inherited from Dolan and Riley who spent whatever they wanted for whatever they wanted without paying attention to the unanticipated consequences of the new player agreements. Allan Houston's contract was the fiscal straw that broke the camel's back.
There was an interim period between then and the Melo era in which successive administrations attempted to navigate out of the trainwreck that transpired. The Melo era has been a trainwreck all on its own. You are smart enough to figure out the common denominator there. And just before Melo, we had a window of opportunity with D'Antoni to be interesting.
But the very minute this team is about to turn a corner, a blood-thirsty local media and rabid fans demand "change" and the stupid loop starts all over again.
You and your peers need to chill the F' out. Let's give stubborn optimism a chance.
fwk00 wrote:BRIGGS wrote:I wouldn't be talking about how good anyone who has managed the Knicks over the last 17 yearsWe have a litany of failed draft picks trades free agency and of course over record
If anything it shows that these old guard of player evaluators are way past the timeI have no idea where you get off talking like this.
IMO, there are a lot of very vocal critics of the management who have zero idea of what constraints these guys are saddled with in attempting to build a winning team [and I'm not talking about a flash in the pan run]
The last executive we had who was clueless (and he was not alone among his peers) was Scott Layden. And his sin was inherited from Dolan and Riley who spent whatever they wanted for whatever they wanted without paying attention to the unanticipated consequences of the new player agreements. Allan Houston's contract was the fiscal straw that broke the camel's back.
There was an interim period between then and the Melo era in which successive administrations attempted to navigate out of the trainwreck that transpired. The Melo era has been a trainwreck all on its own. You are smart enough to figure out the common denominator there. And just before Melo, we had a window of opportunity with D'Antoni to be interesting.
But the very minute this team is about to turn a corner, a blood-thirsty local media and rabid fans demand "change" and the stupid loop starts all over again.
You and your peers need to chill the F' out. Let's give stubborn optimism a chance.
Fwk. You can say whatever you want-- make any excuse you want.
Two things blaming the fans is blasphemy of the worst kind. All the fans do is provide the revenues for these people's highly paid jobs and show up every night despite the apocalypse of the last 17 years.
You are what your record says it is. Even if King Dolan was giving these guys orders to win now is still doesn't matter. I can go back and name error after error that easily could've changed things. Sorry FWk nothing personal the Knicks have been abysmal and everyone associated is part of the disaster
fwk00 wrote:BRIGGS wrote:I wouldn't be talking about how good anyone who has managed the Knicks over the last 17 yearsWe have a litany of failed draft picks trades free agency and of course over record
If anything it shows that these old guard of player evaluators are way past the timeI have no idea where you get off talking like this.
IMO, there are a lot of very vocal critics of the management who have zero idea of what constraints these guys are saddled with in attempting to build a winning team [and I'm not talking about a flash in the pan run]
The last executive we had who was clueless (and he was not alone among his peers) was Scott Layden. And his sin was inherited from Dolan and Riley who spent whatever they wanted for whatever they wanted without paying attention to the unanticipated consequences of the new player agreements. Allan Houston's contract was the fiscal straw that broke the camel's back.
There was an interim period between then and the Melo era in which successive administrations attempted to navigate out of the trainwreck that transpired. The Melo era has been a trainwreck all on its own. You are smart enough to figure out the common denominator there. And just before Melo, we had a window of opportunity with D'Antoni to be interesting.
But the very minute this team is about to turn a corner, a blood-thirsty local media and rabid fans demand "change" and the stupid loop starts all over again.
You and your peers need to chill the F' out. Let's give stubborn optimism a chance.
Concise!
BRIGGS wrote:fwk00 wrote:BRIGGS wrote:I wouldn't be talking about how good anyone who has managed the Knicks over the last 17 yearsWe have a litany of failed draft picks trades free agency and of course over record
If anything it shows that these old guard of player evaluators are way past the timeI have no idea where you get off talking like this.
IMO, there are a lot of very vocal critics of the management who have zero idea of what constraints these guys are saddled with in attempting to build a winning team [and I'm not talking about a flash in the pan run]
The last executive we had who was clueless (and he was not alone among his peers) was Scott Layden. And his sin was inherited from Dolan and Riley who spent whatever they wanted for whatever they wanted without paying attention to the unanticipated consequences of the new player agreements. Allan Houston's contract was the fiscal straw that broke the camel's back.
There was an interim period between then and the Melo era in which successive administrations attempted to navigate out of the trainwreck that transpired. The Melo era has been a trainwreck all on its own. You are smart enough to figure out the common denominator there. And just before Melo, we had a window of opportunity with D'Antoni to be interesting.
But the very minute this team is about to turn a corner, a blood-thirsty local media and rabid fans demand "change" and the stupid loop starts all over again.
You and your peers need to chill the F' out. Let's give stubborn optimism a chance.
Fwk. You can say whatever you want-- make any excuse you want.
Two things blaming the fans is blasphemy of the worst kind. All the fans do is provide the revenues for these people's highly paid jobs and show up every night despite the apocalypse of the last 17 years.You are what your record says it is. Even if King Dolan was giving these guys orders to win now is still doesn't matter. I can go back and name error after error that easily could've changed things. Sorry FWk nothing personal the Knicks have been abysmal and everyone associated is part of the disaster
Nobody is blaming the fans. I do blame the clueless sheep who believe everything they read in the NY rags. By sucking the oxygen out of intelligent analysis we get treated to a regular dose of intellectually toxic rumor, innuendo, recrimination, and political sadism. Yeah, I BLAME THAT.
I've been a fan of this team since the mid-sixties and saw them play at the old mecca. Followed them thick and thin. I've also watched the agents, money-changers, and greedy bastards pervert both the game and the sport.
In the NBA it is no longer true that your record is what the win-loss column indicates. And this is so because of the introduction of a draft that rewards losing and skin-flint running of teams. I have long advocated that teams who participate in the draft cannot double-dip year after year. IMO, you get a top seven pick this year you cannot get another until the year after next.
Fans like you use wins and losses like blunt weapons to embarrass and humiliate administrators who dedicate their lives to making this team better. That is not cool. It is not fair. AND you miss the point.
Phil and co are doing what has to be done. They didn't invent ugly rebuilding, the NBA did.
And I personally HATE IT. But its the way the NBA rolls and we have no choice to roll with it. The Knicks are not abysmal - they are in the process of becoming. Their losses are largely orchestrated for lottery position. You can't put that on their backs as being incompetent. By focusing on wins and losses in a blown season you miss the contingency plan, if not this year then next more smartly.