New York Knicks: The most racially diverse front office in the NBA
By Eric Snyder
The New York Knicks hired Scott Perry as General Manager on Friday and became the most racially diverse front office in the NBA.
The New York Knicks‘ list of issues is nearly endless, but their front office broke new ground this week. With Steve Mills as team president and Scott Perry as general manager, they become the most diverse front office in the NBA.
In the NBA, there is no mandate to interview minority candidates for front office or coaching positions. The NFL developed the “Rooney Rule” to require teams to interview at least one minority candidate. Whether the NBA needs a similar rule is debatable, but the need for front office diversity is not.
A June 2016 article in The Undefeated by Marc Spears speaks to the racial discrepancy in NBA front offices. In the thirty NBA team president and general manager positions filled since 2010, only six African-Americans were hired. The Knicks get most things wrong every offseason, but this time they did something right by hiring Scott Perry.
On one hand, token minority interviews do nothing to improve racial equality in NBA front offices. On the other, there are plenty of deserving candidates of all races that just need an opportunity to prove themselves. Scott Perry is the Knicks GM based on merit and not because of his race, orientation or sex…and that’s exactly how it should be.
With Steve Mills promoted to president of Knicks and Scott Perry the new GM, they are the lone African-American president-GM duo in the NBA.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) July 14, 2017
Equality to the front
The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport‘s (TIDES) latest report on diversity within the NBA dated June 29, 2017 is an important document. Fortunately, the NBA received an “A” for racial hiring practices and a “B” for gender hiring. There is still room for improvement but it does appear the NBA is becoming a more diverse place. As the report states:
"“Those who identified themselves as African-Americans or Black comprised 74.4 percent of all NBA players (a decrease of 0.1 of a percentage point) while 80.9 percent of players were people of color (a decrease of 0.8 percentage points).”"
It is insane that the New York Knicks have the only African-American front office duo in the entire NBA. According to the above report, 74 percent of the NBA is made up of African-American players. Compare that to only six African-American’s hired to an NBA front office since 2010. NBA owners can finally learn something from James Dolan.
On March 19, 1966 Texas Western College became the first all-black starting five to win a NCAA Championship by defeating Kentucky.
The Knicks’ pairing of Steve Mills and Scott Perry is obviously not on the same impact level as Texas Western. However, there is still much work that needs to be done within the NBA.
Only up from here
Instead of seeing improvement in front office diversity, the NBA remains static on this front. Even in league offices, only 35 percent of “professional staff positions” were held by “people of color,” according to the TIDES report.
If there were a perpetual 50/50 split in the number of white NBA players and minorities, the lack of diversity could be explained away. Yet, nearly 81 percent of current NBA players are “people of color,” according to TIDES.
Eighty-one percent of NBA players are minorities with only 30 percent of coaches being minorities. Even worse, only 10 percent of NBA general managers are minorities.
These numbers are ridiculously appalling and the NBA needs to change immediately. Normally, saying the NBA needs to become more like the New York Knicks would be laughable. On the diversity front, however, they are leading the way.
The lack of diversity within NBA front offices and league offices leads to some very difficult questions. Why won’t owners interview or hire minority candidates? There are only three NBA owners who are minorities. Is there a “good ol’ boys” club within NBA ownership? Are they only comfortable with people as white as them?
The New York Knicks are not to be emulated outside of their minority hiring practices. James Dolan has done plenty of dumb things that he deserves blame for. Similarly, he deserves credit for creating a diverse front office unlike any in the NBA.
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Nobody is accusing NBA owners of being racist. However, they do need to take personal inventory on how they view minority coaches and management personnel. The New York Knicks became an NBA leader when they hired Scott Perry as general manager. Hopefully, the only racially diverse front office in the NBA can inspire other teams to be the same.