It appears that the New York Knicks have talked power forward Rasheed Wallace out of retirement.
According to Marc Berman of the New York Post, Wallace will be at New York's training facilities on Monday, and although nothing has been signed yet, you can bet the Knicks are going to attempt to get him to sign on the dotted line.
That's not necessarily a bad thing.
Hear me out before you criticize me with the whole, "Rasheed's pushing 40 years old, and the last thing the Knicks need is another athlete with an AARP card in his wallet."
Granted, 'Sheed was drafted back in 1995 by the Washington Bullets—yes, the Bullets—and hasn't played in an NBA game since the 2009-10 season when he was a bench player for the Boston Celtics. But the man played with attitude in all 15 of his NBA seasons and no team can ever have enough attitude.
Even when Wallace was coming off the bench for Boston, he averaged 9.0 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per game. Those are respectable numbers, and the Knicks would certainly benefit from having this kind of production backing up Amar'e Stoudemire as opposed to Chris Copeland who we're still unsure of.
Rasheed is a proven power forward that would ease New York's woes when Amar'e needs to be removed from the floor. He provides a rebounding entity and the ability to score—insert Jared Jeffries joke here. Pairing Sheed and Marcus Camby in the front court is nothing to snicker at, even if they're a bit older than other front-court duos.
A second unit of Jason Kidd, J.R. Smith (when Iman Shumpert is healthy), Steve Novak, Rasheed Wallace and Marcus Camby is capable of holding their own on the court, especially against other teams' benches—and even some starting lineups.
Not to mention the power forward has already found some support from his would-be teammates.
Tyson Chandler was asked how Rasheed looked during his workout, and the Knicks center had this to say (h/t Tim Bontemps of NY Post):
I hope he [comes],” Chandler said. “I don’t know what the situation is, butHe’s a great communicator on defense and we know he can knock down the open 3 and jump shot.
To have myself and Amar’e [Stoudemire] with Marcus Camby and Rasheed as backups ... That’s pretty nice.
If the Defensive Player of the Year thinks Rasheed Wallace can help New York, then I'm all for bringing the 38-year-old out of retirement...and you should be too.
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