Knicks Name Steve Mills New General Manager and Team President

The New York Knicks are replacing general manager Glen Grunwald with former Madison Square Garden president Steve Mills.

Marc Stein of ESPN first reported the surprising development:

Bleacher Report's Jared Zwerling provided confirmation from the Knicks that they were shaking up the front office once again:

Al Iannazzone of Newsday reports that the Knicks say Grunwald will remain with the organization, but only in an advisory role moving forward.

The move happens less than two years after Grunwald was promoted to the role of executive vice president and general manager after serving in an interim capacity.

On the surface, the Knicks seemed to enjoy a solid offseason under his guidance. The team added Andrea Bargnani, Metta World Peace and Beno Udrih to a roster that was good enough to finish second in the Eastern Conference last season.

Although those moves may not be enough to help New York eclipse the two-time defending champion Miami Heat, they represent further signs of progress. Apparently, it was not enough for Grunwald to maintain his position.

The change represents the third in as many years for the Knicks, as Adam Zagoria points out:

Marc Berman of the New York Post gives Knicks fans a refresher on Mills:

Only time will tell if the move pays off for the Knicks, but changing the general manager after an offseason of moves is already complete is a head-scratching choice. Normally, a team would want the new executive to make those decisions.

But the Knicks rarely do things the conventional way. Replacing Grunwald with Mills is just the latest example of that.