After all the debate and teeth-gnashing, after countless head-fakes from Donnie Walsh and Mike D’Antoni, the Knicks have reportedly decided NOT to go after Allen Iverson. Well.
Obviously, as we mentioned earlier, we think this is the right move — even if everyone else at this magazine who isn’t a book critic disagrees with us — but certainly, it’s odd that it came this far, with so many steps toward Iverson, only to back off at the end. The Times’ Howard Beck had the scoop, probably because he was the guy who had reported there was a “90 percent chance” yesterday.
In an abrupt reversal, Knicks officials decided late Thursday not to offer Iverson a contract, putting an end to their brief flirtation, according to a person close to the deliberations.
Although team officials were highly intrigued by Iverson, a four-time scoring champion, they finally decided that he posed too great a risk because of his long history of problems on and off the court.
Our arguments, if you remember, were not that Iverson was a Stephon Marbury off the court, but that he would be more trouble than he was worth on the court. The Knicks have decided the opposite.
The result is the same. This is the Knicks team you’re going to see the rest of the season. Whether or not they’ve made the right call, that’s the one thing we know. This is all you get. Enjoy.