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The New York Knicks announced over the weekend that they’ve hired former Sacramento Kings VP Scott Perry to be their new general manager.

Several weeks after ousting Phil Jackson as the President of Basketball Operations, team owner James Dolan elevated GM Steve Mills to the position and gave Perry a five-year deal.  Terms of the contracts were not disclosed.

Perry was the Vice President of Basketball Operations in Sacramento.  He will have complete freedom to run the team the way he likes in New York, but sources say he will report directly to Mills.  Ultimately, Mills will have the final say in the front office and it remains to be seen how the two will coexist together.

“Today is a new day for this franchise,” Mills said in the news release after the moves were announced by Dolan. “Scott will immediately begin to put together a basketball operations department that is among the best in the league. We will all be united in implementing our strategy, which is to build our team by developing young players, emphasizing athleticism, length and defense. We have several rising young stars in the organization and we expect to add more young talent to this core. Our message to our fans is clear: we will be disciplined in sticking to this strategy, hold our players and staff accountable to the high standards that we have set for ourselves, and deliver results.”

It’s no secret that Perry is coming into a tough situation.  The Knicks are in the middle of a long rebuild and haven’t made the playoffs since 2013.  Sure, he has Kristaps Porzingis on the roster, but the forward is currently unhappy with the organization after they shopped him leading up to last month’s NBA draft.  It’s never a good thing when the best player on your team is unhappy, so Perry will have to schedule a meeting with him right away in order to smooth things over. Mills signed Tim Hardaway Jr. to a four-year deal in free-agency and Jackson drafted French point guard Frank Ntilikina with the eighth pick before he was fired, but the roster also features the bloated contracts of Joakim Noah and Courtney Lee.  The Knicks do have all their first-round draft picks moving forward, so Perry will at least have something to work with as he tries to bring the franchise back to NBA relevancy.

Then there’s the Carmelo Anthony dilemma. Now that Perry is on board, the focus shifts to Anthony and whether or not he will still be shipped out of town.  The Knicks were involved in trade discussions with both the Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers in regards to Anthony, but talks broke down as the Knicks did not like what either team was offering in return for the future Hall-of-Fame player.  Perry and Mills may try and convince him to stay in New York, but reports say he wants to go to Houston and play with All-Stars Chris Paul and James Harden.  Anthony is entering the twilight of his NBA career and does not want to be part of a rebuild.  At this point, it’s all about that elusive championship ring for him.