NEW YORK — In the wake of the Gilbert Arenas incident, Knicks president Donnie Walsh said the franchise knows which of its players have guns and that they have been instructed not to bring them to work.
“The guy who addresses them every day is John Donahue,” Walsh, referring to the Knicks Director of Security, said before New York beat the Bobcats, 97-93, Thursday night. “I had him talk to the team and to let them know, ‘Hey, you can’t bring a gun into the facility and you’re in New York. You can’t carry a gun.'”
Asked directly if he knew which Knicks have guns, Walsh said “We know, we know. I don’t study it every day so I can’t tell you that. That’s why I have faith in John because he knows….In New York I guess they leave them home.”
While New York City has strict anti-gun laws, as Plaxico Burress found out the hard way, Walsh said he’s lived in various parts of the country where guns are allowed.
“I’ve been in North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana and Denver,” Walsh said. “There you can carry guns anywhere you want to carry them. And that’s an issue. A lot of people feel strong you should be able to carry guns. Some people think nobody should have guns.”
Walsh grew up in The Bronx and said guns were never a part of his life.
“It’s not my world. I grew up here. I never saw a gun,” he said.
Still, during his tenure with the Pacers, Walsh had to deal with the situation where Stephen Jackson, now with the Bobcats, fired shots in the air in apparent self-defense after he was hit by a car outside a strip club.
“The Indiana people didn’t react to [shooting the gun],” Walsh said. “It was more being in a strip joint after practice.”
Knicks guard Larry Hughes says he has played cards with Arenas in the past, but denied a report that he had been “cleaned out” of $17,000 while playing cards with Arenas.
Hughes said he hasn’t been in touch with Arenas since NBA Commissioner David Stern suspended him indefinitely Wednesday for bringing guns into the Wizards locker room.
“We all have to make smart decisions and that’s what it comes down to,” Hughes said. “One thing is realizing your mistakes and learning from them and becoming better from them, so I’m sure that [Arenas] understands the consequences of everything that’s going on and just hope that he learns from it and becomes better from it.”
Hughes said he had never seen guns in a locker room, or anything close.
“We’ll probably never see anything like this happen again,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
WALSH SAYS MILIIC LOOKS TENTATIVE
Darko Milicic, a former No. 2 pick in the NBA Draft, is firmly planted on the inactive list, but Walsh said his agent hasn’t requested a trade.
“His agent hasn’t asked me for trades or anything like that,” Walsh said. “The only thing I’ve heard Darko say is he’s going to Europe next year.”
Walsh conceded that it was possible Milicic might not finish out the year with the Knicks and that he could opt to return to Europe before then.
“When he plays in Europe, he plays very well,” Walsh said. “I don’t quite understand why he hasn’t played well here. I don’t, because he’s definitely got talent.
“When you watch him in practice, he’s just playing, he gets a lot done. When he comes in a game, it looks like he kind of freezes up a bit.”
(Photo courtesy Washington Post)
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