Gary A. Vasquez-USA Today Sports
On Monday afternoon, Yahoo! Sports‘ Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the New York Knicks and recently waived small forward Metta World Peace reached an agreement in principle.
The reported two-year deal certainly does not come as any real surprise as the Knicks had heavily been rumored to be the favorite for the free agent that was one time known as Ron Artest. New York is taking a chance with World Peace, bringing the Queens-native back home with this latest acquisition.
World Peace is getting older, but he is still a capable contributor and he should fit well within the Knicks’ lineup. New York acquired former No. 1 overall pick Andrea Bargnani in a trade earlier this off-season, which will allow Carmelo Anthony to return to the small forward position. World Peace will likely be the sixth man behind Anthony, unless head coach Mike Woodson wants to get creative at times, which is pretty much exactly what World Peace is all about.
Speaking of Woodson — well, there’s no doubt that this is going to be his biggest test as a head coach. After taking over for Mike D’Antoni, who ironically enough was World Peace’s head coach this past season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Woodson has done a terrific job in turning this Knicks squad around. New York earned the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference this past season, but they were ousted in the semifinal round.
Woodson will have to tackle the personalities of Anthony, World Peace, Tyson Chandler, J.R. Smith this season. That, on paper, sounds difficult in itself.
Follow Paul Seaver on Twitter: @PaulSeaverRS
