|
JrZyHuStLa
Posts: 25677
Alba Posts: 3
Joined: 1/5/2007
Member: #1241
|
Collins' scoped knee adds to Knicks rehab list
BY ALAN HAHN
LAS VEGAS -- Yet another Knicks player is on the mend this offseason, and the organization kept it quiet until yesterday. There's really no major conspiracy -- Mardy Collins had some routine arthroscopic surgery to "clean out" his left knee six weeks ago. But considering the medical staff's busy year with Quentin Richardson (back surgery), Jamal Crawford (ankle fracture), Jared Jeffries (wrist fracture) and David Lee (vaguely labeled sore right leg injury), you can see why the Knicks weren't eager to announce another medical issue with one of their players.
Collins, who said the knee had bothered him since college, started running last week and practiced here with the Knicks' summer league team. But it's unlikely the second-year guard will play in any of the five games this week.
Lee also is here working out with the team, but he won't play, either. For the first time since the season ended, Lee endured full-contact five-on-five basketball yesterday.
"It responded very, very well," Lee said. "I'm not trying to windmill on people and stuff like that - but I'm still playing above the rim right now and sprinting up and down the court feeling good."
He'll stick around here for a loosely organized big-man workout that is supposed to start tomorrow, though no one is sure exactly who else is showing up for it. Eddy Curry initially was a maybe. Zach Randolph last week said he planned to come. Jerome James? The Knicks won't commit to any names.
We do know that Isiah Thomas got in last night and will be here. But Knicks coaches cannot be directly involved in workouts for veteran players.
The Knicks open the summer league tomorrow night against Kevin Durant and the Seattle SuperSonics. They play four other games, including Tuesday against the Chinese national team and Thursday against the Sacramento Kings. Will Kings general manager Geoff Petrie use this time to take a closer look at the Knicks' prospects in consideration of a Ron Artest deal?
One name you can scratch off the list is Lee, whom Thomas has no interest in dealing. In fact, should Richardson not be totally 100 percent at the start of the season, Lee could be an option to start at small forward.
"I feel comfortable out there at small forward; a lot of our stuff is interchangeable," Lee said. "I definitely feel comfortable doing it. It's just whether or not Isiah wants to do it."
Notes & quotes: With a very full backcourt (and Collins' obvious emergence on the depth chart), the Knicks will take a long, hard look at Nate Robinson - as will the rest of the NBA - in this summer league to see if he can play a traditional point guard role ... The Knicks added 7-1 center Keith Butler to the summer league roster. Butler teamed with Knicks first-round pick Wilson Chandler at DePaul.
|
7/9/2007 6:06 PM
