Leon Rose released his first interview since he took over as team president in March, discussed his vision for the Knicks and preached positivity, but provided little substance.
Rose’s public debut appearance came through an interview with Mrs Mike Breen on the MSG Network.
Breen asked if it was disheartening when the Knicks were excluded from the NBA’s plans to return, and Rose replied that his disappointment is related to the fact that the interrupted season caused him to lose valuable evaluation time.
Rose said one of her main goals after accepting the job was to make serious assessments in the final months of the season, but COVID-19 had other plans.
“Obviously, this was destroyed due to the pandemic,” he said.
However, Rose has been unable to provide rudimentary assessments of a handful of players currently on the list. Mitchell Robinson and RJ Barrett are “two young core pieces,” he said, and “can’t wait to work with” Kevin Knox. As for Frank Ntilikina, Rose said “given the right circumstances, I think it can really thrive.” He also called Dennis Smith Jr. a “special talent” and described Julius Randle as a “solid veteran”.