Perry said he sees similarities between that team and the Knicks team he is inheriting.

“People forget, our very first season in Detroit, we were 32-50,” Perry said, again adjusting his pen, water and keyboard on his desk. “We knew we had rebuilding to do. We had lost Grant Hill in free agency. So, I’m not afraid of building projects or whatever. It takes a lot of hard work. It takes — first and foremost — establishing a culture of accountability.”

Leaning back in his chair and placing his thumb and forefinger on his chin, Perry stopped short of elaborating on what a culture of accountability looks like for the Knicks, a wayward franchise that seems to produce new calamities on a weekly basis. The bar is low.

Consider last season, when Joakim Noah, their starting center, was suspended for failing a drug test. Or the game when Derrick Rose, their starting point guard, did not even bother to show up. Or the other game when Madison Square Garden security, at the behest of the owner, James L. Dolan, had Charles Oakley arrested and hauled out of the arena in handcuffs. (Oakley, who just happens to be one of the franchise’s most beloved former players, has since filed a civil suit.)

And let’s not forget the team president, Phil Jackson, who somehow managed to alienate both of his star players, Carmelo Anthony and Porzingis, as a disastrous season dragged on. Porzingis, clearly disgusted with the direction of the franchise, went so far as to skip his exit interview with Jackson, who retaliated by shopping Porzingis on the trade market ahead of the draft. Dolan finally pulled the plug on the Jackson experiment a few days later.

Before joining the Knicks, Perry worked for three months as vice president for basketball operations for the Sacramento Kings. Kimberly was still living in Orlando, working on selling their house, and planning to join him permanently in Sacramento. Chelsea had just finished her final year at the Tisch School of Arts at New York University (she completed her first three years at the University of Michigan and spent her senior year as a guest student in New York). She was living in Brooklyn and pursuing a career in film.

“There might’ve been no one happier when I got this job than her,” Perry said of Chelsea. “The job itself commands me wanting to be here. With that being said, what are the odds of the opportunity opening up for her family to move here and be alongside her? I was teasing her. I said, ‘Now, O.K., you have to make sure Mom is comfortable and that she knows how to get around and get on subways and where to go eat.’”

Before her parents moved to the city, Chelsea was working at a fast-food restaurant and was on call as a production assistant. With her family in town, she has quit her restaurant job and is doing freelance film and production work while interning for a fashion photographer.