NY Knicks: Rasheed Wallace calls Leon Rose hire a ‘brain fart’

Rasheed Wallace has doubts about the New York Knicks new front office.

Former NBA star Rasheed Wallace has concerns about the New York Knicks new front office with Leon Rose as team president. In an interview with CBS Sports Radio, the former Knick called the hiring of Rose – who was one of the game’s leading player agents – a “brain fart” and worries it could cost the organization in recruiting players who are represented by competing agents.

"“We all think they are going to hit rock bottom, but they keep going lower and lower,” Wallace said on The Zach Gelb Show this week. “I’m just a little confused about it all, if you ask me. It’s one thing to have a former agent and agency coming in and giving you their input here and there, but to hire them full-time, you’re taking on a lot. Because now, unfortunately, Dolan is taking on their baggage. Whoever they had beefed with or problems with, now it’s going to come up and affect them. Now that they have executive positions with the Knicks, they might not get these certain players … There could be other agents who could be mad at Leon Rose for trying to do this or trying to do that while he was an agent […] This just is a brain fart right here.”"

Rasheed Wallace doesn’t understand why the Knicks went with a former player agent.

The rugged power forward thinks the Knicks would be in better shape if they had hired “basketball minds” to lead the team.

"“[William Wesley] is my guy, I’m not talking bad about him in anyway,” Wallace said. “But for what’s needed with [the Knicks], you got to have those basketball minds in there. And who are people going to trust? People are going to trust those who walk that path.”"

Wallace believes players respect those who have played the game and made their living on the court, which Leon Rose, as an agent, hasn’t done by that definition.

The North Carolina product played his final season in the NBA with the Knicks, coming out of retirement to play 21 games for the 2012-13 squad that won 54 games and advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Rose was named team president in early March. Since taking over the role from Steve Mills, a lot has happened in the world, and consequently, not much has happened on the court. However, Rose has been busy in filling out his front office staff with some of the “basketball minds” it seems Wallace is alluding to by bringing in well-respected scout Walt Perrin, along with scouts Alex Kline, Frank Zanin and his brother TJ Zanin.

In the CBS Sports interview, Wallace was complimentary of owner James Dolan, saying he was “down-to-earth” in knowing the players and the names of their kids. While he still blames the beleaguered owner for where the franchise stands, he noted that Dolan isn’t the one on the court playing.

The Knicks are currently searching for a head coach after David Fizdale was fired in the first step that led to the major organizational shake-up. Interim coach Mike Miller did an admirable job this past season and will be considered on a full-time basis, but it seems Rose will go in another direction, with reports indicating that Tom Thibodeau is the leading candidate for the position.