Eddy Drops 20 (as in Lb's)

Eddy Curry says he is "about 20 pounds" lighter than he was last season. That's the most he'll give you. Ask him his exact weight -- 275? -- and he stops there.

"Something like that," he says.

His listed weight is still 285, which was what he was listed at last season. But so is Jerome James and no one believes that, either. I've asked the Knicks for his actual weigh-in number this season. Waiting on the answer.

But there's no doubt Curry looks leaner, though he's still a big dude. He says he put in his usual work, but also was a little more careful with his diet. One reporter literally asked him if he "stopped eating s--t."

Curry replied with a Shaq-esque deadpan, "I never ate s--t before, so I don’t know what it tastes like."

He joked that maybe the home invasion affected him in some way. Made him lose his appetite.

He then considered the headlines that might produce: "Eddy Curry is Depressed," he said.

Hardly.

He looks good. He says he wanted to get quicker. He wanted more stamina. "I knew I wanted to be able to play at a high level for a large amount of minutes out there so I could help the team," he said.

Curry spent the first half of his summer in Chicago with basketball fitness guru Tim Grover. The second half, after the home invasion, was at the MSG Training Center.

"He’s definitely worked hard over the summer," Isiah Thomas said. "I think he’s finally understanding his body and how to work himself and knowing what’s good for him and what’s not good for him . . . He’s an extremely disciplined athlete right now and an extremely disciplined player."

The 15 minutes of practice we were allowed to watch involved more half-court stuff. This time they were working on offensive sets. Zach Randolph and Eddy once again were not on the same 5-man team, but Eddy said they played a lot together during practice before that.

* * *

Randolph is clearly a work-a-holic. Drenched in sweat, constantly moving and talking on the court. After practice, he lost a three-point shooting contest with Jared Jordan and gave Jared the 20 pushups he owed him. But don't take that as a sign he can't shoot. Zach has a great stroke, soft touch on the ball. Weird body, not very fluid in his movement, but a terrific shooter with three-point range. Expect to see him a lot up foul-line extended and in the corners, spreading that defense away from Curry down low.

Despite the trouble back home -- his grandmother, Lettie, is on dialysis and not doing well -- he's been in great spirits. He even had good things to say about his former team, the Portland Trail Blazers.

"I love Paul Allen," he said. "They have great guys . . . It was my time to move on. Sometimes a player needs a fresh start. They had Lamarcus [Aldridge] playing forward and they got the No. 1 draft pick, so they tried to kick me to the curb. But, you know what? It’s all good. I’m happy for them."

But he couldn't help adding, “If I were the GM, I would have kept me and Oden.”

Why didn’t they want you?

"Ask Kevin Pritchard."

* * *

The link includes:

Some audio from Isiah Thomas:

He likes how the team is competing...

He agrees with my suggestion that Eddy's challenge this season is to become a great defensive player

Interior Defense wasn't the main problem

Seeing a lot of things he likes with Zach and Eddy

http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/blog/

Glad to see McCurry finally losing weight. So how much does he weigh now?? 315 pounds??