|
crzymdups
Posts: 52018
Alba Posts: 0
Joined: 5/1/2004
Member: #671
USA
|
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/sports/basketball/04knicks.html?ref=sports
Curry, Minus Brown, Could Equal Minutes
By HOWARD BECK
Published: October 4, 2006
CHARLESTON, S.C., Oct. 3 — Eddy Curry’s hair has been redesigned, woven into a neat pattern of zigzagging rows that stretch from his forehead to his neck. The new look is suggestive of a fresh start, but it could just as easily represent the maze of twists and turns that have tested Curry’s resolve the last two seasons.
A year ago this week, Curry was poked and prodded incessantly by doctors looking for potential defects in his heart. Curry had been publicly rejected by the Chicago Bulls — his hometown team — over heart concerns and was traded to the Knicks. To his delight, Curry got a clean bill of health, a $56 million contract and a promise of better days.
The good feelings were quickly shattered. Coach Larry Brown kept pulling Curry from games, even when he appeared to be on a roll. Brown repeatedly questioned Curry’s conditioning and his weight. In the season’s final weeks, Curry often sat out the fourth quarter in games as Brown played Jackie Butler, an undrafted journeyman.
When Curry retreated to Chicago after the season, he made it a point not to talk about the experience. And family members knew better than to ask.
“They knew how rough a time that was for me,” Curry said Tuesday after the Knicks’ first training camp practice. “A lot of my family would come and visit me last year and see how depressed I was and how down I was and they felt bad for me.”
Curry also admitted to homesickness, and found solace back in the Windy City. He worked out diligently with Michael Jordan’s former trainer, Tim Grover. He played daily pickup games with other N.B.A. players. He consulted Juwan Howard for tips on playing in the post. He spent weeks working with the Knicks assistant coach Mark Aguirre, refining his moves.
“This is probably the hardest I’ve seen him work,” Quentin Richardson, a teammate and fellow Chicago native, said of Curry, who, he added, he has watched “every summer since before he got in the league.”
“I think he worked and took it a little more serious this summer,” Richardson said. “I’m definitely expecting to see better things from ‘E.’ ”
Appointing franchise saviors is almost an annual rite for the Knicks. Isiah Thomas wore the mantle when he was hired as president, then passed it to Stephon Marbury. Brown followed Marbury, then famously feuded with him.
Brown was fired. Marbury has led the Knicks nowhere in more than two seasons. Thomas is working under a one-year ultimatum. The savior role is up for grabs, and Curry — along with the second-year forward Channing Frye — is perhaps the best candidate to take it.
Although he is entering his sixth N.B.A. season, Curry is just 23 years old. Scouts have always been enamored of his size and athleticism, if not his passion. The heart problems appear to be behind him. His conditioning is said to be vastly improved. Thomas is vowing to give him all the playing time he needs to spread his wings. The stage is set for a long-awaited breakout season.
“Definitely, I feel like this is that year for me,” Curry said.
Thomas has not stated specific goals, other than to be “a special big man,” Curry said. Scouts widely view Curry as a potential All-Star. All he needs, Thomas said, is the chance to shine — the chance that Brown did not always give him.
Referring to Curry’s modest statistics — 13.6 points and 6 rebounds a game, but a team-best .563 shooting percentage — Thomas said, “It probably had more to do with minutes played than anything.”
“I don’t think there are a lot of centers out there who did that in 25 minutes a night,” said Thomas, who vowed to increase Curry’s playing time from his 25.9-minute average of last season.
Curry said, “If I show him that I can play the whole game, I’ll play the whole game.”
That, of course, will depend on Curry’s stamina. He lagged behind teammates during end-of-practice sprints Tuesday morning, but Thomas said he was extremely satisfied with Curry’s conditioning. Thomas mentored a pair of eventual All-Stars, Jermaine O’Neal and Brad Miller, while coaching the Indiana Pacers. “I believe I can have similar success with him,” he said of Curry.
REBOUNDS
Jerome James, whose first season with the Knicks was marred by injuries, is hurt again. James suffered a partial tear of the plantar fascia in his right foot when he stepped on Channing Frye during the Knicks’ first practice. James sat out the evening session and will be re-evaluated Wednesday. ... Malik Rose aggravated an existing right hamstring injury during the morning practice and also sat out the evening session. ... Nikoloz Tskitishvili, a former lottery pick trying to make the team as a free agent, got off to a bad start: His cellphone rang during a team meeting. Isiah Thomas made his players run an extra set of sprints as punishment. “I look for golden opportunities such as that,” Thomas said gleefully. ... Commissioner David Stern wrapped up the arbitration hearing over Larry Brown’s salary dispute on Tuesday. Lawyers for Brown and the Knicks must file posthearing reports to Stern before he makes a decision. Stern is leaving Wednesday for N.B.A. preseason games in Europe and could take a couple of weeks to issue a ruling.
¿ △ ?
|
