Knicks Decide to Pass on Iverson
With rumors abound about Allen Iverson, New York Knicks president Donnie Walsh spoke out on Friday, saying that the Knicks would not pursue A.I., despite his availability.
Walsh, coach Mike D’Antoni, and Knicks owner James Dolan met late Thursday night to discuss the possibility of bringing “The Answer” to New York.
“It did get interesting for a while because Allen’s a great player and has always been a great player,” Walsh said Friday. “You’re 1-9 and you’re thinking, ‘We’ve got to get some help in here.’ But when we rethought it and I talked to Mike and he talked to me, we feel that could hurt our development of the future, and so we want to go the way we’re going.
With young guards Toney Douglas and Nate Robinson, along with starting guards Chris Duhon and Larry Hughes, the Knicks felt that Iverson could cramp the minutes in the backcourt and limit the development of their younger players.
“In the beginning I didn’t think it fit,” Walsh said. “Then I started thinking about it, and it’s enticing to think that you can get a guy that can score the ball that way. But as I went on, I started to think that he’s going to take time from some of the players that we want to develop, he’s probably not going to be there when the team is at its full strength down the road, and so we’re better off sticking with what we’ve got.”
One thing that wasn’t limiting their decision – the possibility of Iverson replacing Duhon. Duhon has fallen out of favor with D’Antoni, and is also not part of the Knicks’ long-term plans for the future.
Walsh admitted that Knicks fans may be disappointed by the management’s decision, but believes that the Knicks must focus on the players that they have.
“Yeah, I’m always concerned about that, but I don’t think you can build a basketball team based on polls,” Walsh said. “I hope we do the right thing, I hope the fans eventually see why we did what we did. There’s always a second stage to this, and I hope it’s favorable to us. In other words, ‘Well, they were smart not to do that then, because now this guy’s good.’ So we’ll see. But I did my best in trying to analyze this.”
