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After a failed three-game stint with the Memphis Grizzlies, Iverson will be formally waived on Tuesday, and Knicks President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh confirmed to the New York Daily News on Monday evening that he will explore signing the future Hall of Fame guard. The Knicks have an open roster spot and could sign Iverson to a relatively low-risk one-year-deal for the veteran's minimum, one that would enable them to waive the often petulant former NBA Most Valuable Player should he turn out to be more of a headache than he's worth.

On the floor, the Knicks have lacked a go-to scorer over the first 10 games of the season, and they've had a revolving door at shooting guard, where Larry Hughes, Nate Robinson, Wilson Chandler and Toney Douglas have all seen a considerable amount of time. Iverson could bring stability to the position, and throughout his career, the Georgetown product has been nothing if not a scorer.

So, the question begs to be asked -- can "The Answer" be the Knicks' answer?

The answer rests within what has led to the worst start in team history.

When Walsh took charge of the Knicks prior to the end of the 2007-08 season, he made no secret of his desire to purge the team of its long-term, salary-cap-crippling contracts in order to set the team up as a major player in the 2010 free agent market, and he's done just that. Of the 14 players currently on the Knicks roster, seven -- Hughes, Robinson, David Lee, Chris Duhon, Al Harrington, Darko Milicic and Marcus Landry -- have contracts that will expire following this season. That means that come July, Walsh will have plenty of flexibility to remake the roster as he sees fit.

It also means there is a very realistic chance that half of the current team will not still be Knicks one year from now.

Looking at the way the team has performed thus far, it's hard to argue that those types of wholesale changes would be a bad thing. However, it is worth noting that as much as the team has struggled, it's not because of a lack of talent. Lee led the league in double-doubles a season ago. Robinson has proven that he has the ability to score 30, or even 40 points on any given night. Hughes started for a Cleveland Cavaliers team that reached the NBA Finals. Harrington's inside-out game has made him a dangerous NBA scorer for over a decade. Duhon was the Knicks' most important player for the better part of last season, when a playoff run in New York did not seem impossible. Milicic was once a No. 2 overall draft pick.

No, what's plagued the Knicks is not talent, but unity. Winning basketball, regardless of the system being played, is about being cohesive on the floor. It takes five men, each playing a role, to come together as one unstoppable force.

By definition, that cannot happen on this Knicks team.

With half of the team -- the veteran half -- playing for contracts, likely in other cities, it is not only difficult, but near unreasonable to ask them to buy into any sort of team concept. Sure, in a utopian NBA, they would put their own scoring tallies and statistics aside and willingly take on reduced roles in the interest of the long-term benefit of the New York Knicks franchise. In reality, however, they must look out for No. 1 above all else. After all, the middling veteran who fails to produce in his contract year is the one who finds himself fighting for a roster spot at the league minimum a season later, if not on the fast track to a post-basketball career.

And thus, that brings us back to Iverson. At the height of his career, Iverson was, quite literally, the heart and soul of a Philadelphia 76ers team that came tantalizingly close to an NBA title. Few players were more dedicated to their city and team, nor as unstoppable, as Iverson. He's still just over a season removed from averaging 26.4 points-per-game for the Denver Nuggets. But, at 34 years of age, is he still that same player, still that same guy?

The Nuggets didn't think so when they traded him to Detroit just three games into last season. Neither did the Pistons, who ultimately put their faith back in old standby Richard Hamilton, as opposed to Iverson, by season's end. He then spent most of the offseason unsigned, with nary an offer from any team in the league, waiting until September to join the Grizzlies, who, like the Pistons, decided that Iverson's best role was a supporting one, off the bench.

Iverson, however, in no uncertain terms, made it perfectly clear in both Detroit and Memphis that he remains entirely unwilling to accept such a role. Why, you ask? Pride, maybe. Or, perhaps just like the rest of the struggling, veteran Knicks, he's just another guy with no choice but to put No. 1 first, doing what he has to do to keep his grip on his place in the game.

So, Walsh and the Knicks can bring Iverson into the fold. He could bring some energy to Madison Square Garden, perhaps put up a slew of 30-point games. He'll certainly put plenty of butts in the seats. He likely wouldn't even have to come off the bench, though his playing time would come at the expense of young players -- the long-term, team-oriented Knicks -- like Douglas and Chandler. But never mind that. The bottom line is that Allen Iverson could do many things for New York.

Just don't expect him to be The Answer.