Is Curry a big mistake?
Shaun Powell

November 7, 2006, 12:03 AM EST

He fills the No. 1 criteria for success at his position: He's big. He can run the floor. He can find his way around the basket without seeking directions, is capable of big nights and still hasn't touched his potential. If he ever does, he might not change the game, but he will change his team.

Obviously, we've just summed up Eddy Curry, the center the Knicks are still getting to know. But that also describes Greg Oden, the center the Knicks will never know.

Here's what everyone in basketball knows: When they traded for Curry, the Knicks blew any chance of getting The Next Great Big Man, should the 7-foot consensus high school player of the year leave Ohio State after his freshman year. Among other goodies, the Knicks gave Chicago the right to swap first-round picks next June in what could be one of those special drafts in which the top pick is a true lottery jackpot.

Just ask last night's Garden visitors, the Spurs, who were blessed with two winning tickets, David Robinson in 1987 and Tim Duncan in 1997, and have three championships to show for being lucky.

"I can't describe how fortunate we've been," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "There's nobody who wouldn't want David for a decade and Tim for a decade after that."

The legacy of Isiah Thomas with the Knicks will not live or die with Stephon Marbury, his pet player. Isiah's job status rests with the decision he made when he ignored red-alert warnings about Curry's heart and intensity level and hunger and not only gave him a big contract but took the Knicks right out of the Oden sweepstakes. No other general manager in basketball thought Curry was worth all that, and pretty soon, we'll see if Isiah was smarter than all the rest or just a bigger fool.

When Knicks owner James Dolan turned to Isiah last summer and demanded "significant progress" or else, without defining "significant progress," let's assume he was referring in part to Curry this season.

The Knicks must and should see a better center, but given his history of disappearing in games, nothing is for certain. Should Curry turn mean enough to land a role in "Saw IV," learn to attack more and foul less, the Knicks probably will win games, never worry about a center for 10 years and keep sending Isiah paychecks. If Curry averages more silly fouls and turnovers per game than tough rebounds and can't dominate the souped-up power forwards that most teams stick at center, and if the Knicks wind up with a lousy record and Oden winds up with the Bulls, Isiah will be christened the worst executive in New York sports history.

There's another scenario: Curry finally figures it out next year, but by then Isiah is long gone, living in shame with Larry Brown.

That's why Curry's time is now. Besides, this is his sixth season since he made the jump from high school. Isn't that long enough?

So far, in this young and pessimistic Knicks season, Curry is giving mixed messages. Through three games, he was one of the few bright spots. But last night, he was yanked, along with three other starters, and the Knicks played their best ball without him.

They trailed by 19 with a little over eight minutes left and Curry was booed when he went to the bench. In just over four minutes, they cut the Spurs' lead to one with a 20-2 run, helped by Malik Rose's smart "D" on Duncan. Then Curry returned, heard boos, committed a turnover, had a shot blocked and missed a hook, and the Knicks' rally ended. His mild numbers were 13 points, 11 rebounds and five painful turnovers, and they pale next to these numbers: three straight losses for the Knicks with six games coming up against playoff teams, four on the road.

"I didn't play well," he said. "That's going to happen. I know what's at stake and what I need to do. The better I play, the more chances my team has to win."

Usually, when a big man comes up big, his team wins. Except these are the Knicks, and this is Curry, still searching for himself. Until he finds what he's looking for, the big man the Knicks need is suiting up for Ohio State now, maybe Chicago later.

Posted by Andrew:

Posted by PhilinLA:

He's been one of the best players on the team so far and they don't get him the ball enough.

On offense.

Posted by nixluva:

Actually Curry has been better defensively than he's been in the past. He's definitely putting more effort into his D. Overall he's doing very well. He could use more touches tho. He could also benefit from Steph, Francis, Jamal and Frye playing better. Those players doing better will create more space for him. When they aren't a threat he will get more attention.

I'll just remind everyone that it's SUPER EARLY and things will likely change for the better in time.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by izybx:

Curry: 18.0 ppg, 8.3 rebounds, 0.8 blks, .564 fg%, 3.5 TOs.
Shaq: 14.0 ppg, 7.0 rebounds, 1.5 blks, .500 fg%, 4.0 TOs.
Ming: 25.0ppg , 8.3 rebounds, 1.3 blks, .667 fg%, 3.3 TOs.
llgauskus: 9.0 ppg, 8.3 rbs, 0.7 blks, .409 fg%, 3.7 TOs.
Howard: 14.8 ppg, 10.5 rebounds, 2.75 blks, .59 fg%, 4.25 TOs.

Curry is not the problem.

he's been a problem on the defensive end, but he's never been a good defender to begin with... Eddy's shown tremendous improvement in consistently putting forth an effort to be assertive on the offensive end... i'll take that for 4 games into the season... hopefully his defense will improve before the Allstar break, but no doubt he is definitely not the problem this team is having right now... we need our "star players" to step up & be stars.

Posted by SugarRayRichardson:

Posted by izybx:

Curry: 18.0 ppg, 8.3 rebounds, 0.8 blks, .564 fg%, 3.5 TOs.
Shaq: 14.0 ppg, 7.0 rebounds, 1.5 blks, .500 fg%, 4.0 TOs.
Ming: 25.0ppg , 8.3 rebounds, 1.3 blks, .667 fg%, 3.3 TOs.
llgauskus: 9.0 ppg, 8.3 rbs, 0.7 blks, .409 fg%, 3.7 TOs.
Howard: 14.8 ppg, 10.5 rebounds, 2.75 blks, .59 fg%, 4.25 TOs.

Curry is not the problem.

The haters like to hate no matter what the kid does. He could be averaging 22-12 and they still would hate. The bottom line is he is a work in progress that is improving. He is still only 23 and is already one of the leagues most productive centers