Rasheed Wallace has bad news for Knicks fans who think the only direction the franchise can go is up.
The former Knicks big man called recent headquarters hires a “mental fart,” alleging that hiring a former agent at Leon Rose to be president, and his friend and CAA consultant William Wesley as executive vice president. , could be counterproductive.
“I mean, damn, it’s gotten worse,” Wallace said Thursday on CBS Sports Radio, when asked about the Knicks’ direction. “We all think it can’t be no [worse], they are going to hit bottom, but they keep going lower and lower. I’m a little confused by everything, if you ask me. It is one thing to have a former agent and agency come and give your opinion here and there, but to hire them full time, you are taking on a lot. Because now, unfortunately [James] Dolan is taking his luggage.
“Whoever has had problems with them or who has problems now is going to arise and affect them. Now that they got those executive positions with the Knicks, they may not get these certain players. Or just going through the vine because there might be other agents who might be mad at Leon Rose for trying to do this or that while he was an agent. It will be interesting, man. My thought is more power to them. I was with them for a while, but this is just a brain fart here. “
While Rose may face the challenges of being a former agent, he is not the first to overcome it. Warriors president Bob Myers and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka are former agents who have done very well on the team. And being a former player hasn’t always led to success in the main office, either, for those who’ve tried it.
Wallace said Wesley “is my man” and did not want to speak ill of him, unlike another former Knick, Stephon Marbury, who criticized Wesley’s hiring, but said the Knicks need “basketball minds” in their main office.
“Who are people going to trust? People are going to trust those who walked that path, “Wallace said. “When the guys are sitting there, at some point it’s going to explode because that’s how it always is.”
Wallace raised an assistant coach he played for in the Trail Blazers who did not play basketball and said the players did not respect what he was saying because of that.
Other former players, like Kendrick Perkins, Scottie Pippen and Jamal Crawford, praised Wesley’s hiring.
While Wallace said he had “no problem” with Dolan, whom he called “down-to-earth,” he said the Knicks owner is not to blame for the franchise struggles.
“I can blame him to some degree,” said Wallace. “But mine is that he’s not the one playing.”
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