New Knicks Scout Alex Kline, 26, Brings Relationships With, And Intel On, NBA And College Players

Rob Kennedy is a lifelong Knicks fan.

In recent years, he’s been a frustrated Knicks fan. Like so many others.

The Knicks, after all, haven’t made the playoffs in seven years — and missed them again this year.

But Kennedy, the longtime President of the New Jersey-based Hoop Group, thinks the move the Knicks made in hiring Alex Kline, 26, as a scout will pay dividends down the line.

“Here’s what I think he does for the Knicks: Alex has really good relationships with a lot of people and he’s very well-liked but he’s got some real deep relationships with people — with certain players but also with AAU coaches, college coaches, so Alex is a relationship-builder,” Kennedy said Friday by phone.

“And in any business, and especially in the NBA and in free agency, his ability to tap into those relationships that are deep, I think gives them an opportunity hopefully to have a leg up on some people.”

Kline’s meteoric rise through the basketball world has been well-documented.

His mother, Mary, passed away from brain cancer when he was 10.

An only child, he was raised by his father, Robert, in Pennington, N.J.

At the Pennington School, Kline gravitated into the basketball world and soon co-founded a Website called A Box of MESS.

He also contributed to my site, ZAGSBLOG.com, and branched out to form his own site, TheRecruitScoop.com, which he later sold to Yahoo when he was 15.

Kline would travel around to high school and AAU events, often with his father sticking around to support him, to scout young players.

In a typical “Recruiting Rundown” from ZAGSBLOG from 2011, Kline would offer updates on players like Karl-Anthony Towns, Isaiah Briscoe and Tyler Ennis, all of whom would end up spending time in the NBA.

The players liked and trusted Alex because he was their age, showed interest in them as people and could relate to them on a different level than adult recruiting gurus.

By 2011, Kline started the Mary Kline Classic in honor of his mother. The annual showcase event attracted top high school talent from the Northeast and beyond.

Towns, Donovan Mitchell, Markelle Fultz, Michael Porter Jr., Jamal Murray, Derrick Jones, Isaiah Whitehead, Ryan Arcidiacono, Mikal Bridges, Phil Booth and De’Andre Bembry all played in the game.

“Besides honoring my mother, I like the fact that this event always brings together so many people I know,” Kline, then 19, said in 2014 when he was a student at Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Communications and was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list that also included Lebron James, Kevin Durant and Usain Bolt.

“It’s a reunion, essentially, of my basketball family, my high school and college friends, and everyone along the way. It’s pretty exciting to know that many people are willing to spend one of their days supporting you and what you’re doing. It also makes those people vulnerable in a good way. There are a lot of macho exteriors who never talk about their personal life. When that day does come around, it brings a lot of emotion out of people, and it’s amazing to see.”

By 2016, Kline was hired as a scout with the New Orleans Pelicans. He was on staff when the team drafted Zion Williamson No. 1 overall last year.

“I certainly wasn’t the person who was against it,” Kline told Mike Jensen of the Philadelphia Inquirer last year.

Now he joins a revamped Knicks front office led by fellow South Jersey native Leon Rose that also includes GM Scott Perry, assistant GM Frank Zanin (pro scouting) and assistant GM Walt Perrin (college scouting).

He joins the Knicks at a tenuous time. They are done for the season and won’t play another regular-season game until early December. They must hire a new head coach, with Tom Thibodeau the clubhouse favorite, along with Kenny Atkinson. They hold two first-round picks in the now-October NBA Draft.

And the franchise is also facing heat for its tepid response to the death of George Floyd, which some NBA experts believe will hurt the Knicks in terms of attracting talent.

Let’s be frank: the hiring of Kline as a scout isn’t going to cause any free agent to sign with the Knicks. Towns won’t suddenly demand a trade to New York because of Kline’s presence on staff.

But his presence should help the Knicks in the long-term. He knows a lot of players, AAU, high school and college coaches — and he’s well-liked and respected by them.

Ed Bright is the director of the Sports U AAU program that featured Towns and Naz Reid of the Minnesota Timberwolves, among others. He goes back with Kline to when Alex was scouting his players and bonding with them.

“I couldn’t be prouder of anyone else I’ve met in my travels in basketball,” Bright said. “We’re talking about a kid with a great heart, a great love for the game, has built up tremendous knowledge and will truly bring great value to the New York Knicks what will grow within that organization.”

Kennedy believes Kline’s relationships will yield valuable knowledge going forward, too.

“When you have relationships, a lot of times you end up with intel,” Kennedy said, “because people trust you, they know you. If you tell Alex something, he’s not going to get it out there and do something.

“Besides just the relationships with people, that leads to intel, and that sometimes can be the final tipping point for an organization. I think at the end of the day it’s going to be about fit and money, but sometimes figuring out what that fit means to a player or his agent, having a relationship with those guys lets you better figure out exactly what that fit is that someone is looking for. And I think that’s where Alex can help.”