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Knicks Reportedly Pass on Allen Iverson

Nov 20, 2009 – 12:20 PM
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Matt Watson

Matt Watson %BloggerTitle%

Allen IversonA four-time scoring champ leading Mike D'Antoni's up-tempo offense? It looked like a match made in heaven on paper, but the Knicks have apparently decided the intangibles surrounding Allen Iverson -- including ugly exits with two teams in the span of seven months -- outweighed the potential gains.

According to Howard Beck of the New York Times, the Knicks went back and forth on the issue, with a team source suggesting Thursday afternoon there was a 90 percent chance the team would offer a contract. Ultimately, however, the team's brain trust decided that "Iverson posed too great a risk" -- a damning indictment if there ever was one, considering the 2-7 Knicks are currently on pace for a 15-win season.

If not with the Knicks, where will Iverson land? Not the Heat, according to Michael Wallace of the Miami Herald, who reports that the team has denied reports out of New York suggesting they were in pursuit of A.I.

What about the Bobcats? Despite Larry Brown's affection for his former player, that doesn't seem likely either, especially after Charlotte filled their need for a scoring playmaker with the recent acquisition of Stephen Jackson. Brown has admitted to placing calls around the league on behalf of Iverson but nevertheless sounds reluctant to bring him aboard his own team given the focus on developing his young backcourt.

"Here's what happened -- when he thought about coming with me, he said, 'Coach, I don't care if I start, you just give me an opportunity to start,' " Brown said in a recent radio interview. "And I said that's fair. I hope I do that with all my players. But I told him that if he came with me, I have two guards sitting there and they would be unhappy, and I didn't think that was fair."

So what's next? Barring the unexpected, Iverson will likely be forced to spend at least the next several weeks waiting in limbo, either waiting for injuries to create a starting opportunity or a contender to make a compelling enough offer for Iverson to swallow his pride and come off the bench.
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