LONDON — Rasheed Wallace never talks publicly about his foot injury, but yesterday emphatically denied rumors he may not ever get back on the court because of the stress reaction in his left foot. The Knicks are fearful the stress reaction will turn into a stress fracture and are being overly cautious.
“No, my season ain’t over,’’ Wallace said at yesterday’s morning shootaround. “A little foot injury is not going to stop me.’’
Mike Woodson said the notion the Knicks are getting worried about Wallace is untrue. This week Wallace was supposed to start running, but it has been postponed because he still has pain. He’s been out a month and said he hated to miss yesterday’s game against his former team, the Pistons.
“He’ll play eventually, but not tonight,’’ Woodson said before the game. “It’s news to me [that he may not be back]. It’s not coming out of our camp.’’
Wallace’s injury is compounded because Marcus Camby is out another three weeks with plantar fasciitis. He wore a boot to yesterday’s shootaround.
If Wallace retires, would Woodson hire him as an assistant coach? Woodson was asked if the fiery Wallace would make a good head coach because of his defensive smarts/communication.
“I doubt that,’’ Woodson said. “It’s not about money with Rasheed. I don’t know if he’ll have the patience. He has the mindset to do it. You got to have patience to do this. He might jump on the officials.’’
* Several London soccer standouts attended yesterday’s game, and one former tennis star, Greg Rusedski. Red Bulls star Thierry Henry was courtside. … Tyson Chandler was also back in the arena in which he won Olympic gold in August and had 10 points and 14 rebounds. … Kurt Thomas was the lone DNP. … The Knicks sat in the owner’s box at the Chelsea-Southampton match Wednesday. Knicks strength coach, Dave Hancock once worked for Chelsea.
* Carmelo Anthony’s No. 15 will be retired by Syracuse when the Orange play host to Georgetown next month. Anthony led Syracuse to the the national championship in 2003 to cap his only season with the Orange.