we have a lot of Isiah fodder to chose from, but please dont mention Ewing and Curry in the same breath, not to Knick fans.


Isiah: No need to hurry Curry



BY MICHAEL OBERNAUER
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

The good old days returned to Madison Square Garden Saturday night. There was a dominant Knicks center in the house, soaking up cheers from the home faithful.
Only problem was that Patrick Ewing was in the stands, just one more spectator watching Eddy Curry struggle through another dreary performance in a Knick loss.

While Knicks fans gave Ewing a resounding welcome home, his presence also was a jab-in-the-eye reminder of what a premier big man looks like. But Isiah Thomas holds to a shatterproof certainty that Curry will develop into that mold, and yesterday the coach renewed his pleas for patience with his young center.

"We have a lot of time," Thomas said after practice in Greenburgh. "We're not asking Eddy to dominate the league at 23 years of age. That's a tall task for anyone. I don't remember too many 23-year-olds coming in and dominating, regardless of how long they've been in the league. Twenty-three is still 23."

Thomas had better hope that patient people have tickets tonight, because Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets are at the Garden, bound to give Curry another learning experience. Houston's 26-year-old, 7-5 center took Curry to school when the teams met in Houston Nov.10, outscoring him 35-7 (on 15-of-21 shooting to Curry's 2-for-11) and outrebounding him 17-5 in the Rockets' 103-94 win.

So what's the plan this time against Yao?

"Don't let him get 30 or 40 on me," said Curry, who shot 2-of-9 for seven points and sat out the fourth quarter of Saturday's loss to Boston. "We gotta do somethin'. I mean, Yao went crazy last game."

Said Thomas: "We'll play him different and hope it works. I don't know if it'll work."

Still, he has made a Ewing-esque guarantee about Curry's future, and yesterday named some other top-tier big men in arguing that the sixth-year pro will take as long as they did to develop. Those names included Yao, Jermaine O'Neal - whom Thomas acquired and coached in Indiana - and one guy whose number hangs from the Garden rafters.

"I saw Patrick Ewing in the gym (Saturday) night," Thomas said. "I remember Patrick at 23. Do you remember what the Knicks' record was when Patrick was 23? ... I'm just saying, it takes awhile."

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING: Thomas offered no apologies for his protests to officials that drew two technical fouls Saturday and cost his team two points with the Knicks trailing by six late in the game. He called it "an abnormal reaction to an abnormal game" in which the Knicks and Celtics combined for a staggering 113 free throws.

it is a totally moronic statement. i hope he's packing his turtlenecks up and planning on enjoying them in his new location.

Ewing at 23? 21 pts, 9 rebs, 2 blocks. 2nd year in the league.

I find 90% of what Isiah says insulting. Actually I think he is a scary person....someone who would never admit a mistake no matter how small it is.

I think any curry regression we are watching is the result of him buckling under the pressure.

I think Isiah is simply trying to save him from being totally destroyed.

The best thing that could happen to curry is he either figures it out and starts playing better or he gets traded somewhere else where he doesn't have to have the franchise moniker attached.

Curry should have gone to college.

I wonder what Ewing would have done in the league had he not had the benefit of 4 years at Georgetown under John Thompson.

Curry has never been beaten down. The closest was by Skiles who sat him during crunchtime because he D was a liability, and Skiles said "your D is a liability."

A college coach would have beaten him down. Instead he's beed coddled at most every stage and he is being coddled now. He's been in the league for 6 years. When do you say what you see is what you get?

I posted this in another thread about Isiah comparing him to Yao, Jermaine and Ewing:

He forgot to mention those 3 centers stayed in shape and played defense. 2 things Curry doesn't do.

In his rookie year, Yao averaged 2 blocks and 8 boards in 29 minutes per.
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/yao_ming/career_stats.html

Jermaine, when he got minutes when he came to Indy averaged 3 blocks and 10 rebounds(his 4th year)in 32.6 minutes per.
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/jermaine_oneal/career_stats.html

Ewing averaged 2 blocks and 9 rebounds in his rookie year in 35.4 minutes per.
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/patrick_ewing/

Eddy Curry has yet to have a season of 1.5 blocks and 7 boards and 30 minutes per game INDEPENDENTLY of one another.
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/eddy_curry/career_stats.html

The problem is Isiah Thomas when it comes to Eddy Curry, theres no doubt. I remember 2 years ago that Jeff Van Gundy had enough of Yao playing like a total softee and he knew something had to be done. He didn't coddle Yao, he brought in someone (Patrick) to work with Yao and make him a tougher player, I'm sure Yao hated it but look at him now, he's one of the most dominating player in the NBA. Van Gundy was extremely worried if that would even work because Yao was such a soft laid back kid. The same can be said for Eddy.

Isiah needs to seriously cut this crap out and sincerely find someone to work with Curry, Aguirre just ain't doing a damn thing with him. Time to bring Patrick back and see if he can do the same thing with Eddy that he did with Yao.

[Edited by - nyk4ever on 11-20-2006 09:42 AM]

Posted by fishmike:

for those that dont know Ewing's rookie year he averaged 20/9 with 2 blocks

Also, Curry isnt getting better. He's actually getting worse, and his BBIQ is regressing

regressing? to what? -30. can it get any lower?

Isiah's defense of Curry is exactly what coaches are suppose to do. Protect the team and protect the player. The alternative is to throw the player under the bus and we see how well that went last year.
Other examples of this is Pop defending Bowen down is San Antonio. Is he suppose to say, "yeah my player has borderline dirty tactics". No.
Today I read (hoopshype) Van Gundy is saying no McGrady hasn't lost a step and is as dangerous as always. Why is he saying this? Because it's protecting his team and McGrady. To want Isiah to do any less for his players is off base IMHO. We all want Curry to play up to his capabilities.

It's sad hearing this come from one of the great PGs mouths who really knows so much about the game. It's so unfortunate that his ego is so enormous. Isiah should know what Ewing has gone through when he came into the league, and the crap he recieved when he was in college, and I'm not just talking about a beatdown by John Thompson. I'm talking about all the scrutiny and the predjudice he's had to face. It was ugly for him. And he stood up to it. Stayed in shape. Was classy! Became a defense monster from day one and his offense became 10X more than expected. He had a lot more than a 15 foot baseline J and he worked on every aspect of his game, every day and EWING admitted to his mistakes. He played through the boos at the end of his career and did what he always did. He then accepted a lesser role so Spree and Houston could be the go to guys.

He's shown nothing but class and how great a player and person is, and Eddy Curry isn't 1/10th of what Ewing is.

How dare you Isiah. Get out of NY.

Posted by djsunyc:

djsunyc - you are starting to scare me