Saved by a trade?

As Cuttino Mobley announced his retirement Thursday because of the condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy _ or as he described it, "a thick heart" _ one thing about the whole episode stands out.

Before this season, while still with the Clippers, he passed the team's routine physical, as he always did while also with Houston, Orlando and Sacramento.

Thus, had he not been traded to the Knicks last month, who discovered a heart condition he remembers first being told about in "[19]99, 2000," but wasn't as serious as it is now, he'd still be playing for the Clippers _ and, theoretically, he could have dropped dead right on the floor.

That's not to criticize the Clippers' medical procedures or those of his previous three teams, nor blindly praise the Knicks'. But Mobley did say that while the Clips performed an EKG on him that was routine, the Knicks also performed an MRI that revealed the extent of his problem.

He also said that when the condition was first broached with him almost a decade ago (one he said that, in retrospect, he's been told he likely started to develop at 18, 15 years ago), he understood the risks of playing with it because he was told there wasn't the risk there is now.

"I don't have a choice," he said of the decision he announced Thursday. "They [the doctors] didn't give me a choice."

What he also said was that doctors told him his isn't the specific condition that killed Hank Gathers and Reggie Lewis, but as time has passed, they've all been lumped together.

Nor is it the same as Eddy Curry's irregular heartbeat.

Still, Knicks president Donnie Walsh did say that because of what the team went through to clear Curry, it may have been more attuned to dealing with such problems than perhaps another team.

So in the simplest of terms, getting traded to the Knicks could have saved Mobley's life.

- Steve Adamek

it's a bit of hyperbole but the times story indicates the trade and the thoroughness of the exam may have saved his life. luckily we'll never know. he should be fine. sadly a guy like alexei cherepanov didn't have the 'luxury' of that kind of medical care. don't mean to be overly dramatic, but erring on the side of caution cannot be bad.

Amazing how the conspiracy theories fly before the real story comes out. What ever happened to hearing the full story before jumping to conclusions.

I wish Mobley well. Hope he lives a long and happy life. I'm sad that he won't get to play for us. He was a good dude.

Posted by TMS:

any way we can get a so pathetically bad it's ridiculous exception for Big Turd?

Unfortunately the guy wants to play and would refuse any attempt to end his desire to have courtside tickets to all Knick games for the next season and a half while gaining all-access to the players and coaches. Every kid's dream. AND getting paid a lot to do it.

Now, Curry... heh, perhaps this leads to a new twist in his career - or hopefully ending of such career. His contract is now fully guaranteed as far as he wishes to take it (player options) and now would be the time to decide to go see those specialists who might have told him he couldn't play basketball. It'd be a win/win. He is a bum who doesn't care and we want his non-caring bum ass out of here. A Curry retirement means: He gets all his money, we don't pay lux tax on his contract, and we can petition the league to get his final year off our cap so he becomes essentially a 2010 expiring.

GET IT DONE!