In a Q-and-A in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, Brooklyn Nets GM Billy King sat for an interview that ranged from his political aspirations (he would like one day to govern your state), to hobbies (loves The Young And The Restless) and Kris Humphries’ wedding, which I’ll get to later. It’s not long and you should read it, but here’s the best part: Allen Iverson‘s famous “practice” press conference led an embarrassed King to turn in his resignation as 76ers GM.
I wrote back on the speech’s 10th anniversary about the level to which basketball fans and know-nothings alike have embraced it. King, however, was horrified how a press conference meant to tell the media Larry Brown and Iverson were back on working terms together turned into a something … else.
In the interview, he said:
I thought, Let’s do a press conference so that everybody knows they’re on one page. We did the press conference, and it becomes legendary. You can go online. Everybody imitates it.
[NYT:] It went on for half an hour on live TV. How did you feel?
I called Ed Snider and resigned because I said, This is a disaster. Later, Ed said you’re not resigning. I went to the Palm, had some Scotch, and I’m thinking, both of these guys are making a lot more money than I am, they’re in a good situation and this is what I’m dealing with.
In effect, management told him to not be so hard on himself for a player going off script after a tense standoff with a coach. Not that AI has been his only player in the middle of the public eye. Take Kris Humphries, for example. He’s one of the most consistent rebounders in the NBA but King, ever the evaluator, says he saw trouble for Humphries’ relationship with Kim Kardashian just from seeing her at Nets games. And the wedding? Take it from here, Billy.
I was at the wedding. Having been to a lot of weddings, I felt like I was watching a sitcom rather than a wedding.
What do you think?
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