Nix on Iverson

A pathetic team that has thrown this season down the drain in pursuit of next year's free agent group decides AI is not worth the risk, no matter how badly this team sucks:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/21/sports/basketball/21iverson.html?_r=1&ref=sports

 

So the Answer wasn't the answer? I hear the argument that the Knicks are trying to land one or more of the big name FAs next year. Who exactly wants to go to NY? What kind of supporting cast is there? I can think of a half dozen places I would rather go before I would play for the Knicks.

 

Terrible move. The Knicks have essentially told their fans that they are not interested in putting a competitive team on the court this year. OK, I will not attend my usual game or two because of it. Screw James Dolan. I also hope like hell that LeBron James and Dwyane Wade laugh in his bloated, callow face next year.

 

But...but...it's a chance to play in NEW YORK!

(Not to say that anybody here has made that argument, but it does seem to the people who assume the Knicks are going to land one of the big names are thinking).

 

There are many delusional Knicks fans -- as well as some delusional Dolanites -- who believe LeBron is a lock for New York next season and that's all they need to become title contenders.

100% wrong on both counts.

 

Agree completely.

In fact, I see the whole 2010 thing backfiring them. It would not surprise me to see them end up with Joe Johnson and little else. It would make my day.

 

Does anyone know exactly how much money the Knicks will have this summer to spend on free agents?

 

I can see the Knicks falling flat with the 2010 free agents, but I don't think the supporting cast argument will play that big of a role. Is LeBron's supporting cast in Cleveland right now some great stockpile of talent? If LeBron was on the Knicks this year instead of the Cavs, the Cavs would be the team with about two or three wins right now. And if he does go there and they get another decent free agent with their cap space, they'll be fine. if you have a superstar, you don't need a lot to build around him. The Lakers of 05-07 were trotting out Kwame, Smush, Cook and Walton - and Odom - out there with Kobe. The second Bynum started developing they were one of the top teams in the west in 08, then the Gasol trade put them over the top.

LeBron might stay put. But I don't think it's going to be because he cant' fathom leaving that supporting cast - or Mike Brown - in Cleveland.

 

Signing Allen Iverson would do nothing to promote that end -- in fact, would retard the process.

 

No, it wouldn't, unless you really think that taking minutes away from Nate Robinson and Chris Duhon is a big deal. I don't. AI remains the superior player to both, even at his age, and neither of the incumbents are part of the Knicks' ultimate solution.

You want to strip the team of talent to position for the pipe dream of getting LeBron or Wade next year? Fine. I'll wait until next year and see if that happens before I plunk down $300 to watch a game at the Garden.

 

Last season, Allen Iverson turned the Pistons from a slightly-above-average team to a well-below-average team.

He didn't help teams much to win even in his prime. He's well past his prime, and is now a catastrophic liability on defense and intolerably disruptive on offense. You can put up with his "give me the ball and go rebound" offensive game if he can score 90% of the time, but not if that figure goes to 55%.

 

The Knicks ain't the Pistons, and I'd be very interested -- interested enough to buy a ticket, perhaps -- to see how this Hall of Famer, who remains a better guard than the Knicks have on their current roster, fits in D'Antoni's offense.

It's certainly worth a one-year, $1.3 million deal for a team that's going absolutely nowhere and will be playing to empty seats and sending me e-mail discounts before Christmas.